Poorest of the Poor

Filipinos are known to care for their own. I know of friends who clean up and embrace those with terminal tuberculosis or those with open dripping cancers, some who personally assist their sick spouses who have become severely constipated, still others who never left months-long stay in the hospital. Yes, we serve our loved ones till death.

When death comes, we still give our best – the freshest floral bouquets, mass cards, vigil prayers, the best funerals.

Often, most of us stop there, remembering our beloved departed only during their birth and death days, and during All Souls Day.
Days before All Souls Day, tents are set up, burial grounds are mowed and specifically pegged, sound systems installed, mahjong sets and playing cards prepared, halloween costumes brought out, some candles included, and soooo much food ready for cooking. 99% of our preparation satisfies the living, not the dead.

Many of us, other races included, do not know that our dear departed need our care more after death, than when they were alive. St. Augustine said that “whether we believe it or … we don’t, the fact remains that the pains of Purgatory are beyond everything we can imagine or conceive…. GOD’s justice demands expiation of their sins, but by an amazing dispensation of HIS providence, HE places in our hands the means of assisting them, .. the power to relieve and even release them. (Read Me or Rue It, Nihil Obstat by Rev. Fr. Leonardo Agcaoili, Imprimatur by the late V. G. Auxiliary Bishop of Manila Hernando Antiporda, D.D.)*

St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine asked him to remember her soul in his masses. The “Council of Trent declares that the Ecumenical Synod teaches that the souls detained in Purgatory are helped by prayers and good works of the faithful, but principally by the acceptable sacrifice of the mass… By no other sacrifice can the souls be.. more speedily released than by the .. mass,” St. Thomas Aquinas added (Source: The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass Explained, Rev. Fr. Martin von Cochem, Capuchin).”**

Fr. von Cochem further explained that “one mass we celebrated or assisted at during our lifetime has much more value as satisfaction for our sins than one mass said after our death. If we assist/ celebrate mass while in a state of sin, GOD may bring us to detest that sin and grant us the grace of contrition, and we therefore, may return to the state of Grace. This is impossible after our death. If we neglected this and died in mortal sin, no mass offered for us could possibly obtain for us the chance to return to Grace.”**

The Holy Mass is the highest form of prayer that benefits both the living and the dead. It is free, and takes only an hour from our 24 hours daily allowance. Celebrated in humble submission to the will of GOD, the mass claims, cleanses, in fills, seals, and covers us for GOD.

The Prayer Warriors of the Holy Souls continues to invite all to 2nd Mondays of every month to its noon mass at the San Pedro Cathedral. We further enjoin everyone to memorize to heart and pray with us this prayer which JESUS promised to St. Gertrude will release 1,000 souls from Purgatory. With one heart and one mind we pray: ETERNAL FATHER, I OFFER THEE 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, THOSE IN MY HOME AND WITHIN MY FAMILY. AMEN.

To GOD be all glory!