Praying for the destitute, those without Hope!

Praying for the destitute those without Hope

Who can we honestly say that our conscious belief is for one particular person that is calling on us for prayer?  Do any of us ever hear from some in the middle of the night?  

Ofen I am awakened in the early hours by a voice of someone with small ejaculations such as calling my name or just a couple of words; “did you hear me?”  At first I thought my wife was trying to get my attention but after skiing her if she said something I realized the person was from the other side.  

As I have written more than once about my seeing a man standing by my bed, or my wife on a couple of times viewing a man standing by my side of the bed or near me late at night as I was writing.  I placed these incidents as souls from purgatory trying to get my attention.  Since I wrote at least seven articles regarding purgatory and how God will allow one or more to reach out for prayer I consider myself happy that he has chosen me for this ministry.  It can be called a hidden ministry since only a couple people have shared these encounters with me.  

One of the moments my wife and I share with the dead is walking in the cemetery.  My pastor once said that another way to find Christ outside of Church is by walking through the holy ground of the dead.  It is not a place of fear or the renewed memories of those we love, but a feeling of life, although the bodies are decomposing, their spirits are close by.  How else could anyone not realize that when we pass away our spirits may still be seeking our prayers.  Of course only Catholics (and not all) believe in the theology of purgatory.  There are some preachers who will tell you that all souls go to heaven, immediately after falling asleep.  However, if they read the CCC 1030 - 1032 the explanation is very succinct.  

“All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.”  (CCC 1030).  

There may be one reason so many refuse to accept purgatory is because of Catholic teaching.  I have noticed some TV evangelists seem to skirt around biblical verses that adhere to Catholicism.  This is certainly one of quite a few other truths that we believe in:  the Pope, the Blessed Mary in her Immaculate Conception, Assumption, and the rosary.  How many people who are not Catholic hang rosary beads on their rear view mirrors?  Or the number of people who seek the waters of healing at Lourdes?  Many who are not Catholic.  

“Let us help and commemorate them.  If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation?  Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.”  (footnote to 1032 from a homily by St. John Chryostom).

St Ambrose in his book of “Offices: says; “all that we offer to God in Charity to the dead, is changed into merit for ourselves, and we shall find it after our death increased a hundredfold.”  (from the book “Purgatory by Fr. F.X. Schouppe, S.J.)

When the souls in Purgatory appear to the living, they always present themselves in an attitude which excites compassion; now with the features which they had during life or at their death, with a sad countenance and imploring looks, in garments of mourning, with an expression of extreme suffering; then like a mist, a light, a shadow, or some kind of fantastic figure, accompanied by a sign or word by which they may be recognized.  (Taken from the Author’s Preface of “Purgatory”).  

We should all be open to a visit of a soul allowed by God to seek anyone whom he deems in the state of a  holy atmosphere, to pray for one or more souls from Purgatory.  Anyone who is open to this ministry fits that description.  

Ralph B. Hathaway