Purgatory: Doctrinal, Historical, and PoeticalSadlier, J., Mrs.
Religion
Purgatory: Doctrinal, Historical, and Poetical
Sadlier, J., Mrs.
Purgatory
THE HOLY FACE AND THE SUFFERING SOULS.
The holy souls in Purgatory are ever saying in beseeching accents:
"Lord, show us Thy Face," desiring with a great desire to see it;
waiting, they longingly wait for the Divine Face of their Saviour. We
should often pray for the holy souls who during life thirsted to see,
in the splendor of its glory, the Human Face of Jesus Christ. We should
often say the Litany of the Holy Face of Jesus, that our Lord may
quickly bring these holy souls to the contemplation of His Adorable
Countenance. We should pray to Mary, Mother All-Merciful, who, before
all others, saw the Face of Jesus in His two-fold nativity in
Bethlehem, and from the tomb, to plead for those holy souls; to St.
Joseph, who saw the Face of Jesus in Bethlehem and Nazareth; to the
glorious St. Michael, Our Lady's regent in Purgatory, one of the seven
who stands before the throne and Face of God, who has been appointed to
receive souls after death, and is the special consoler and advocate of
the holy souls detained amidst the flames of Purgatory. We should also
pray to St. Peter for the holy souls, he to whom Christ gave the keys
of the kingdom of Heaven. The holy souls are suffering the temporal
penalty due to sin. This Apostle had by his sin effaced the image of
God in his soul, but Jesus turned His Holy Face toward the unfaithful
disciple, and His divine look wounded the heart of Peter with repentant
sorrow and love; also St. James and St. John, who with him saw the
glory of the Face of Jesus on Mount Thabor, and its sorrow in
Gethsemane, when, 'neath the olive trees, it was covered with
confusion, and bathed in a bloody sweat for our sins. These great
saints, dear to the Heart of Jesus, will surely hear our prayers in
behalf of the holy souls. St. Mary Magdalen, who saw the Holy Face in
agony on the cross, when its incomparable beauty was obscured under the
fearful cloud of the sins of the world, and who assisted the Virgin
Mother to wash, anoint, and veil the bruised, pale, features of her
Divine Son; the saint, whose many sins were forgiven her because she
had loved much, will lend heed to our prayers for the holy souls. We
should also invoke, for the holy souls, the Virgin Martyrs, because of
their purity, love, and the sufferings they endured to see in Heaven
the Face of their King.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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