Exiit qui seminat - Prayers For Souls in Purgatory

Every November the Church focuses on our obligation to pray for the faithful departed, a spiritual work of mercy. Not only do we call to mind our family members and friends who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith, but we also remember those 'holy souls' that have no one to pray for them. St. Pio of Pietrelcina would often talk about how souls in Purgatory would come before him in prayer to ask for his intercession. Padre Pio stated that “more souls of the dead than of the living climb this mountain to attend my Masses and to seek my prayers.” On her deathbed, St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine, asked her son to remember her at Mass after her death. In his final moments, Padre Pio asked for the prayers of his brother friars for the state of his soul. Every time we pray, every time we come to Mass, we can and should offer our prayers for the Holy Souls in Purgatory and for all the dead along with our needs and the needs of our loved ones. St. Gertrude, a saint and mystic from the 13th century, wrote a prayer specifically for freeing souls from Purgatory into heaven: "Eternal Father, I offer You the most precious blood

of thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal Church, for those in my own home, and in my family. Amen.” Let us remember this prayer not only in this month dedicated to the Faithful Departed, but always. And may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.