A slightly different ‘Faith on the Road’ journey today. The past few days this has been heavy on my heart. Recently, God reinforced these thoughts and this post.
“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live” John 11:25
Recently, my wife and I on our RV journey of faith took us through Maine. As we drive to see some of the fantastic sites Maine offers, we would pass very old cemeteries. Some of the towns were founded in the late 1700’s with small old cemeteries from those early days of the nation. Men and women who fought to build a nation, now forgotten under marbled tombstones with often unreadable names or dates.
“And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’” Luke 12:19-20
How long after your passing will you be remembered? Maybe a 2nd generation might visit your grave and pray for you. Maybe? Your spouse and children and if you heavily impacted their lives, maybe your grandchildren. Then what?
This is what got me thinking. What about those souls in Purgatorial turmoil who are caught because they have no one to pray them free? Yes, the Church gives us indulgences which can be shared to the souls in Purgatory. But, the best way, in my opinion, is direct prayer.
We need to honor and pray for the faithful departed especially those who have nobody to pray for them any longer.
I always make the sign of the cross as an offered prayer when passing a Catholic cemetery, now, any cemetery. A quick sign of the cross as I drive past to call upon God’s Divine Mercy to the most desperate of souls in the cemetery. A quick prayer for any and all souls ‘present’ there that they may be set free of Purgatory’s cleansing flame to rejoice in God’s Holy, Holy, Holy presence.
I ask each of the Road of Faith followers to begin making this a practice of their own journeys and spiritual offerings. After all, bury the dead is a corporal work of mercy. Your prayer now, presented to bring the mercy of God in full upon those resting in the cemetery you pass, presented now as you drive past is given in full to the soul as they lose their eyes however many years or even centuries ago.
A simple sign of the cross can empty Purgatory. Then, trust the Divine Mercy of God to fall upon the souls most in need.
Go beyond that even, Road Of Faith, let’s make it our mission to empty the halls of Purgatory by begging Jesus to open the floodgates of Divine Mercy.
May the souls of the faithful departed, through the Mercy of God, Rest In Peace!
“Now will I praise those godly men,
our ancestors, each in his own time:
These were godly men
whose virtues have not been forgotten;
Their wealth remains in their families,
their heritage with their descendants;
Through God’s covenant with them their family endures, their posterity for their sake.
And for all time their progeny will endure,
their glory will never be blotted out;
Their bodies are peacefully laid away,
but their name lives on and on.
At gatherings their wisdom is retold,
and the assembly proclaims their praise.” Sirach 44:1,10-15
Beautiful!