Visit 27 Jesus Eucharistic and the Holy Souls in Purgatory

I. In the words of St. Chrysostom, Christ is " the Victim, which gives solace to the dead"—"Victims dormientibus solatium ferens."

II. After the death cf the Son of God upon, the cross, His soul descended into that mysterious land where the souls of the just who died before the coining of the Messias were awaiting their deliverance—" To them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death light is risen " (Is. ix. 2). Daily and hourly Jesus renews the offering of Himself on our altars, that we may live to eternity and that the Holy Souls may be liberated from the prison of purgatory. St. Augustine says: * There is no doubt that the dead receive help through the prayers of the Church and through the holy sacrifice" (Senn. clxxiiJ.

III. Let us not forget the Holy Souls in purgatory;1 let us frequently receive holy communion and assist at the holy sacrifice of the Mass for their benefit.

CONSIDERATIONS.
As we ccntemplate the empty tabernacle on Good Friday, our hearts are sad; we feel as if, in addition to the sorrowful anniversary which we are keeping of the crucifixion and death of our Savior, we had lost the Blessed Sacrament. We know that this is not really the case, but the words' of St. Mary Magdalen—‘ They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre and we know not where they have laid Him ’—keep coming to bur lips, and our thoughts turn to that Limbo, where Jesus descended to the joy of the Fathers so eagerly and anxiously awaiting their deliverance, and thence to the sorrowful yet blessed regions where souls are daily and hourly waiting for their release and thirsting for the Masses and communions which shall wash away their stains in the precious blood and enable them to enter into the joy of their Lord. dddHow anxiously must they watch for the hour during which Masses are said, sure at least of the ‘ Memento of the Dead,’ which will bring refreshment in their pains! St. John Chrysostom dwells freauently in his works upon the close connection which there is between the sacrifice of the Mass and the souls in purgatory, and says that it was not in vain that the apostles enjoined the ‘ Memento of the Dead •' in the celebration of the sacred mysteries. They knew the great benefit and utility the souls would derive thence. Indeed when all the people are joined together in prayer, and all the assemblage of the priests lift up their hands towards heaven, whilst the adorable sacrifice is being offered on the altar, how can we fail to appease God on behalf of the souls, ail praying thus together for.them? St. Chrysostom would likewise reprove the tears of those who wept over their dead, bidding them instead of weeping have recourse to the Most Holy Eucharist and offer prayers and sacrifices for them instead of useless tears. ddd"The fender heart of Jesus, imprisoned day after day within the narrow limits of His tabernacle, cannot fail to have compassion upon the souls of His children captive in purgatory. Suffering was ever a direct road to His tenderness, and by the plenitude and riches of the means which He has given us for alleviating those especial sufferings (the principal being the application of His own body and blood), we can form some idea of the depth of that compassion which He feels for the afflicted souls and of the joy with which He blesses our efforts in their deliverance. " We often feel that we do nothing for the Lord Whom we love so much—that all our love seems to consist in protestations, that our lives are miserably poor in good works, our progress in virtue almost imperceptible. dddHere then is a way of dong something for Jesus which we know will give Him pleasure—namely, helping to redeem the suffering souls and by our suffrages swelling the ranks of the glorified in heaven. Alas I how often we forget them, these souls, absorbed as we are in the present, in ourselves, our miseries, and our wants! How often we make aimless prayers, which, if applied to them, would bring an ocean of soothing to their pains 1 and communion without any special intention, which, if offered for them, might be the final suffrage wanting to complete their term of banishment. dddd"Masses are heard, visits are made to the Blessed Sacrament, where we omit altogether to mention them. The holy souls, once in heaven, are not likely to forget those who opened their prison-gates; they, on the contrary, render us a thousandfold for our poor prayers, obtaining us help and graces which we should have never dreamed of asking, pushing, us, almost in spite of ourselves, along the road to heaven, and, finally, diortening for us, in our turn, our sojourn in that dreary prison whence we helped to release them. dddPrayer is heard everywhere, and every where we should pray, either by thought, word, or aerion, yet nowhere is prayer so powerful with God as in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Thai a kind of prayer-inspiring atmosphere surrounde the tabernacle is no effort of imagination or delusion of our senses. Even those who are not within the pale of the Church have felt it, and instances are known (Father Hermann, for one) where involuntarily and unintentionally such persons have dropped on their knees on passing before the Blessed Sacrament, or at the moment of consecration, without being able to account for the sensation which compelled them to do so. ddd"St. Jane de Chantal once fancying that she could pray with more recollection in the quiet of her own chamber than in the church, was told by her director to put away such a thought as being a temptation, as assistance at holy Mass and public prayers before the Blessed Sacrament were of far greater profit (even when accompanied by constant warfare against distractions and dryness of spirit) than* the most fervent private devotions. We may gather from this how greatly we may profit the holy souls by assisting at Mass, visiting the Blessed Sacrament on their behalf, saying the Rosary publicly, offering the prayers of the Church in communion with the faithful, in preference to practising private acts of piety for their sakes to the neglect of the fuller channels to which we might have recourse. Saints have told us, moreover, that it has been revealed to them that the purgatory of some souls who were especially devout to the Blessed Sacrament during life, consists in dwelling near the tabernacles of our churches—a peaceful and consoling purgatory on the one hand, but on the other a purgatory which must enormously increase the pain of loss. ddd"Let us make a resolution of beseeching the holy angels henceforth to help us in our love of the Blessed Sacrament. By the eagerness which they showed in serving St. Dominic on account of his making his nocturnal prayer before the tabernacle and by the zeal which they have displayed on innumerable occasions in procuring holy Viaticum for the dying, we may be assured of their power as well as of their desire to assist us. Let us implore them to give us greater devotion, greater purity of mind and heart and the grace (one of those graces which it is their special province to bestow) of light to know the secret faults, those hidden imperfections, which, coiling themselves round the folds of our hearts, unseen by men, undetected by even our director and scarcely acknowledged by ourselves, act as slow poison upon our best motives and holiest intentions. ddd"Let us make to ourselves intercessors also of the souls in purgatory, remembering them whenever we are worshipping before the Blessed Sacrament, in order that we may contribute to the glory of Our Lord, both by their presence at His heavenly court and by the increase of fervor and devotion in ourselves which their gratitude will impetrate on our behalf. Let ua choose the sweet and tender Magdalen " (as St. Catharine of Sienaj calls the greatest of penitents) for .one of our special patrons in our preparations for communion, now and at the hour of our death, imitating her fidelity and love, her pious haste in seeking her Lord in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea and in the little tabernacle of St. Maximin, bringing with us to our communions the sweet spices of her contrition, humility, abhorrence of sin, her absence of human respect her complete donation of herself to the Jesus Who calls each of us from the recesses of the tabernacle as distinctly as He drew her to His feet in the house of Simon or from’the heights of her solitary cavern amidst the mountains of Provence until we are prepared to follow ‘Jesus Risen ’ in ‘ a life of a new kind, a glorious life, a life in which we avoid all that which has hitherto been an occasion and a cause of sin and death to us ... a righteous life which renews the soul and leads her to life eternal ’ (St. Thomas). dddA life which derives all its nourishment, all its joy, and all its strength from the Blessed Sacrament, which is the plenary effusion of the riches of the love of Jesus Christ, ‘ effusio divitiarum amoris Christi’ (Cone. Trid.)." —Mrs. Abel Ram, in " Emmanuel." ddd0 my King, my Master, and my Savior, the desires of ,my soul call to Thee; my eyes bathed with tears of repentance dare not gaze at this altar which is the throne of Thy love, and of Thy glory. 0 Majesty of my God! I sink down into the depths of my misery, and nevertheless I feel that I love Thee, 0 my Redeemer! I know that Thou possessest every good, and that Thou vishest me to share it. Resist not the ardor of my desires. Thou Whom I ever seek in the darkness and trials of this life. Cast upon Thy penitent children a look of forgiveness, and unite me one day with them, in Thy heart which is life, happiness, and heaven. Amen. "Blessed and praised at every moment be the most holy and adorable Sacrament." ICO days' indulgence once a day.

Our Lady of the Most Holy Sacrament, Mother and model of adorers, pray for us, who have recourse to thee.

St. Joseph, pray for us, that like thee, we may die in the arms of Jesus and Mary.


PRAYER TO THE HOLY GHOST
0 Holy Ghost, Thou Teacher and Sanctifier, Who givest light and strength to my soul, bless me that I may be more faithful to Jesus, my Savior and my God, Who is hidden in the Blessed Sacrament, and that I may love Him more and more. In the light of the tabernacle I ask of Thee, 0 Holy Spirit, to fill my heart with pure desire for Jesus, the Living Bread. Give me grace to adore Him with the zeal and humble ven­eration of the holy angels; grant that His will may be done on earth as it is in heaven, and that His will be done in my soul. Help me to thank Him for all His gifts, and, most of all, for Himself. By this Holy Sacrament He strengthens souls on earth, gives rest to souls in purgatory, and gladdens souls in heaven. He is the hidden manna, promised by Himself to all who overcome them­selves and love Him. May I taste the sweetness of Jesus! Set up more and more Thy kingdom in my soul, that I may keep my body under and bring it to subjection, lest I should be a castaway from Jesus and from Thee.

SPIRTUAL COMMUNION
0 Jesus, my Savior, Who art truly present in the Blessed Sacrament for the nourishment of our souls! since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, I humbly and earnestly beseech Thee to re­fresh me spiritually. I love Thee above all things and I desire to possess Thee within my soul. Come into my mind to illumine it with the light of heaven; come into my heart to enkindle therein the fire of Thy love. Unite me so intimately with Thee, that it may be no more I that live, but Thou that livest and reigneth in me forever.



FRUIT OF THE VISIT.
I. Behold Christ seated in -thy heart, as thine elder Brother, and the First-born among many brethren; regard thyself as the very least of His brethren, or rather as one utterly unworthy even of such a name, since thou art so unlike Him in thy words and deeds and thoughts (Rom. viii. 29). The Holy Souls in Purgatory.

II. Love Him with thy whole power; that with all thy might thou mayest follow' faithfully the coun sei and example of thine elder Brother.

III. Ask Him for the gift of " Understanding n that thou mayest be able to explain the hidden meanings of the Scripture and by the contemplation of heavenly things mayest detach thy thoughts and affections from all the vanit’es of this miserable world.

EUCHARISTIC GEMS.
St. Augustine. a.d. 430.
In the ninth book of his "Confessions," St. Augustine, describing the happy death of his mother, St. Monica, writes: " ‘Lay this body anywhere,’ she said; ‘ let not the care of that disquiet you: this only I request,—that you would remember me at the Lordts altar, wherever you be ’ (chap. xxvii.). ... I closed her eyes; and there flowed withal a mighty sorrow into my heart, which was overflowing into tears; mine eyes at the same time, by the violent command of my mind, drank up their fountain wholly dry. But when she breathed her last the boy Adeodatus hurst out ’into a loud lameni; then, cheeked by us all, held his peace. . . . For we thought it'not fitting’to solemnize that funeral with tearful lament and groanings; for thereby do they for the most part express grief for the departed as though unhappy or altogether dead; whereas she was neither unhappy in her death, nor altogether dead (chap. xxix.). ddd"And behold, the corpse was carried to the burial. We went and returned without tears. For neither in those prayers which we poured forth unto Thee, when the sacrifice of our ransom was offered for her, when now the corpse was by the grave’s side, as the manner there is, previous to its being laid therein,.did I weep even during these prayers (chap, xxxii.). . . . By little and little I recovered my former thoughts of Thy handmaid— her holy conversation towards Thee, her holy tenderness and observance towards us, whereof I was suddenly deprived—and I was minded to weep in Thy sight, for her and for myself, in her behalf and in my own, and I gave way to the tears-which I before restrained, to overflow as much as they desired, reposing my heart upon them; and it found rest in them; for it was in Thy ears, not in those of man, who would have scornfully interpreted my weeping (chap, xxxiii.). ’. . . ddd"Accept, 0 Lord, the free-will offerings of my mouth. For she, the day of her dissolution now at hand, took no thought to have her body sumptuously wound up, or embalmed with spices; nor desired she a choice monument, or to be buried in her own land. These things she enjoined us not; but desired only to have her name commemorated at Thy altar, which she had served without intermission of one day; whence she knew that holy sacrifice to be dispensed, by which the ‘handwriting that was against us is blotted out5 (Col. ii. 14); through which the enemy was triumphed over, who, summing up our offences, and seeking what to lay to our charge, ‘found nothing in Him* (John xiv. 30) in Whom we conquer" chap, xxxvi.). dddVerbum Supernum, Prodiens.
The heavenly Word proceeding forth,
Yet leaving not the Father’s side,
Accomplishing His work on earth,
Had reached at length life’s eventide.
By false disciple to he given
To foetnen for His life athirst,
Himself the very Bread of Heaven
He gave to His disciples first.
He gave Himself in either kind,
His precious flesh, His precious blood ;
For love’s own fulness thus designed
Of the whole man to be the food.
By birth their fellow-laborer He ;
Their meat when sitting at the board;
He died their Ransomer to be;
He ever reigns their great Reward.
0 saving Victim, opening -wide
The gate of Heaven to man below j
Our foes press on from every side,
Thine aid supply, Thy strength bestow.
To God Almighty, One in Three,
Be everlasting glory given ;
Who life will give eternally
To us whose only home is Heaven.
—St. Thomas Aquinas