We have the authority of Holy Scripture for the efficacy of prayers: “It is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead.” It is holy because it is most pleasing to God; it is wholesome because we have reason to believe that through the infinite mercy and compassion of His Sacred Heart, Our Lord accepts prayers offered in atonement for the sins of those suffering in purgatory. If the prayers we offer for temporal goods are often heard and granted, how much more so when we offer them for spiritual goods, for the souls tenderly loved by God? Well might St. Augustine say: “One cannot conceive a holier or more wholesome practice than praying for the dead.” The “Imitation of Christ” has the following: “Full of love and charity, we must remember in our prayers the souls of the faithful departed, but particularly the souls of our parents, friends and relations, and those who have been our benefactors on earth. For that is a work of real love and charity. As we entertain the most earnest hopes that we shall be remembered when we shall have departed this life, we ought to make every effort in our power to assist them to arrive speedily at their promised abode of bliss, and by our prayers shorten the weary days of their pilgrimage in purgatory. And we must remember that every one who actively assists in the deliverance of these poor souls, gains for himself the greatest advantages. By offering his prayers for their eternal repose, he by no means loses the fruits of those prayers, for they are remembered to him, and are before him when his time comes to die. And moreover one is rewarded even in this life for such prayers.” Prayer. Release, O Lord, etc., etc. Twenty‐sixth Day. The holy sacrifice of the Mass is the surest and most effectual means we possess for procuring the eternal repose and happiness of the departed. “The sacrament of love, the revelation of unity, and the bond of friendship,” says St. Augustine. “We pray for all who have departed this life, with the most confident conviction that the prayers at the altar are the most profitable to them,” says St. Cyril. And again: “Supposing a king who was offended by a subject has banished him from his kingdom, and the friends of the outlaw wish to restore him to the king’s favor, and for that purpose form a deputation to the royal personage, and presenting a costly gift, venture to plead for pardon for the offender; would not the king comply with their request, and either grant the pardon, or mitigate the punishment to some extent? Well, in like manner we, although sinners, plead for pardon from the King of heaven and earth for our banished friends, and with much surer hopes of success, for the gift we offer is not an earthly crown, but is the body and blood of His own well‐beloved Son, Who has bled for the sins of the whole world.” The holy sacrifice is, I again repeat, the most effectual and the most powerful means we have for assisting the suffering souls in purgatory. Prayer.