ST. JOSEMARIA ON THE HOLY SOULS IN PURGATORY.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that: “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).”
In this regard, St. Josemaria writes:
“Purgatory shows God’s great mercy and washes away the defects of those who long to become one with Him (Furrow, 889).”
“The holy souls in purgatory. Out of charity, out of justice, and out of excusable selfishness—they have such power with God!—remember them often in your sacrifices and in your prayers. May you be able to say when you speak of them, “My good friends the souls in purgatory” (The Way, 571).”
“At the beginning I felt the company of the souls in purgatory very strongly. I felt them as if they were tugging me by the cassock, asking me to pray for them and to ask them for their intercession. Since then, due to the great services they have done for me, I like to preach about and foster in souls this reality: my good friends the souls in purgatory (from The Way: Critical-Historical Edition, edited by Pedro Rodriguez, p. 740).”
Let us never cease on helping and praying for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, asking them favors as well, for they are our friends, and they are in the anteroom of Heaven.
Eternal rest, grant unto them O Lord. And let your perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.
