Ah! It is my Son, it is my Daughter, who groans.
"For my father and my mother have left me." - Psalm 26:10
Leaning in spirit on the entrance to the gulf of Purgatory, what do I hear? Ah! my heart recognizes the voice! Yes, it is my son, my daughter, who groans] What can be done to relieve my child? Oh! I know. I will prostrate myself in spirit in this abode of expiation, and there, seeing my child suffer, suffer much; moved with the deepest tenderness, I will pray, grieve, and say to God: ^' God of mercies, in whose presence nothing defiled can appear till purified by expiation, my child suffers. Thou wouldst destine him to glory, but for a time he is delivered to trial; marked with the seal of life, nevertheless he groans in the shade of death which has ravished him from me. Ab! pardon, accept me for my child: behold me a victim, strike me; discharge the arrow of Thy justice at me, but spare my child I If Thou requirest a holier victim, I will offer the sacrifice of propitiation in which, through Thy divine Son, my supplications, tears, prayers, and expiations will become acceptable; put an end to his tribulations, miseries, and torments^ and introduce him into the abode of peace, happiness, and glory."
Such is true parental love: it does not exhaust itself in fruitless regrets, in useless tears, but prays, sacrifices, and immolates itself to aid the soul of the beloved child who ordinarily suffers in the place of purification, when he dies some years after reaching the age of reason, during which time he has not been entirely faultless.
Saint Francis de Sales - A Mother pardons the Murderer of her Son
Saint Francis de Sales relates the following anecdote which happened at Padua, where he went through part of his studies:
"The students of this university," said he, "had the bad habit of running about the streets with weapons at night, asking, 'Who goes there?' and firing upon those who made no reply.
"It chanced to pass that a scholar giving no answer to this question was killed, and that he who had murdered him sought refuge in the house of a good widow whose son was his friend and companion. He implored her to conceal him, confessing what he had done.
"This good widow shut him up in a secret place, and behold! a short time after the news of her son's death readied her. It did not require a long inquiry to know who was his murderer. In tears, she went to him and said, 'Alas! what had my son done that you killed him so cruelly?' The other, convinced that she alluded to his friend, began to weep and tear his hair, and, instead of seeking pardon, fell on his knees, begging to be placed in the hands of the law, so as to make public atonement for such a horrible crime.
"This extremely merciful and Christian mother was so touched by the sorrow of the young man that she replied that, provided he asked pardon of God and promised to change his life, she would allow him to go unpunished. This great act of clemency was so pleas- ing in the sight of Heaven, that the soul of her child was permitted to appear to her, assuring lier that in consideration of the charitable pardon granted to the one who had unintentionally killed him, and for which she could have easily and legitimately sued for vengeance, his soul had been released from Purgatory, where it would otherwise have been long detained.
"Oh! blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy for themselves and others!"
Practice
Associate your child, or continue to pay, as if in life, his membership to the Work of the Holy Infancy, which Saves so many orphans.
Prayer
Remember, O most pure spouse of the blessed Virgin Mary, my sweet protector, Saint Joseph! that no one ever had recourse to Thy protection, or implored Thy aid, without obtaining relief. Confiding therefore in Thy goodness, I come before Thee and humbly supplicate thee. Oh! despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.
- text taken from Month of the Dead by Father Celestin Cloquet, translated by a Sister of Mercy, with the Imprimatur of Archbishop Michael Augustine Corrigan, Archdiocese of New York, 18 October 1886