Blood! Blood! Divine Blood is necessary.
"He that knoweth his brother to sin a sin which is not to death, let him ask, and life shall be given to him who sinneth not to death." - 1 John 5:16
Without doubt, prayers for the dead are efficacious. Yes, they are always like a refreshing dew which lessens the violence of the avenging flames. But nothing equals the Blood of our Saviour in extinguishing this consuming fire.
Blood! Blood! divine Blood is necessary for our prompt and entire deliverance, cry the suffering souls.
Just one, thy prayers are useful and desired; but the voice of the Blood of Jesus pleads infinitely better in our behalf. Moreover, this redeeming and atoning Blood pays our debts and delivers us.
Sinner, thy prayers issuing from a heart at enmity with God, and persevering in a state which death would but overtake to plunge forever into the depths of hell, how dost thou wish to win the clemency of the Sovereign Judge for us?
But hearken. If thou persistest in thy wish to aid us, notwithstanding thy frightful condition, behold the way to do so, indirectly it is true, but efficaciously and easily. Have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered for our intention. The Blood of Jesus works through its own virtue.
"I except from the rule of dead works," says Father Bourdaloue, that grave and wise preacher of the time of Louis XIV, "the Sacrifice of the Mass, the merit of which does not depend on the sanctity of the offerer, much less on him who has it offered, but is only attached to the person of Jesus Christ and the value of His precious Blood; from whence it follows that a sinner, even in the state of licentiousness, can contribute to the repose of the souls in Purgatory; and how } By having this Sacrifice, of which one of the chief properties is that of being sovereignly propitiatory for the living and the dead, offered for them. He can do it, I say, and still more ought to doit, since this Sacrifice is the only way left him by God to supply the inability to aid these predestined souls he otherwise finds in himself; for then God regards the Victim presented to Him, who is Jesus Christ, and not the one who officiates or the care with which He is offered."
Therefore, behold the holiest Victim and richest ransom to present for the souls in Purgatory, in Masses said, offered, or heard. Nevertheless, let us observe that though a single drop of the Blood of our Redeemer would alone be sufficient to ransom all the world and to extinguish the expiatory fire of Purgatory, God does not will it so. It is even certain that the infinite value of this divine Blood is not always or entirely applied to the soul for whom it is presented.
The proof of this doctrine is in the teaching and practice of the Church. From this it follows that it is good to have the Holy Sacrifice offered many times for the same person.
Testimony of Saints on the Efficacy of the Mass
Saint Augustine offered the Holy Sacrifice for his mother, Saint Monica, during the space of twenty years.
Saint Bernard relates that he was severely reprimanded by an angel, for having after eight years discontinued praying and celebrating holy Mass for his father.
Saint Malachy had a sister who died after leading a worldly life. For a long time he recommended her soul to God at the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice. Having ceased to do so for the space of thirty days, he was informed in a dream that his sister waited sorrowfully in the cemetery, and that she had been thirty days without spiritual nourishment. He renewed his practice of praying, and every day said a Mass or had one offered for her intention. Sometimes it seemed to him he saw her at the door of the church, then even in it. Finally, after the expiration of some days, whilst he was at the altar, she appeared to him in the midst of a band of the blessed, in possession of eternal happiness. This gave him great consolation.
We read in L'Advocat des Ames du Purgatoire, of 1645: "Blessed de Suso relates that while pursuing his studies he made an engagement with one of his brothers, that the one who survived the other would say every Monday, for a year, the Mass for the Dead, and that of the Passion on Wednesday, for the repose of the soul of his companion. Some time after the deceased came to reproach Suso for his infidelity; at which he replied he had not said all the Masses, but had prayed for him every day. 'That is not enough,' said his friend, 'for less than to pour the Blood of Jesus on my flames will not extin- guish or soften my martyrdom.' This gentle reprimand obliged Suso to fulfil his promise, and the soul of his com- panion lingered not long in Purgatory, as very soon he saw it ascend to heaven."
Practice
Have Masses celebrated, or assist at some, for the faithful departed. Cause all those that you desire after death to be offered for you during lifetime; so much the more since Saint Anselm teaches that a single Mass said or heard for the wants of your soul, whilst you are on earth, will be more profitable than a thousand after death. Priests would do well in procuring the benefit of a privileged altar, and to associate themselves in the work for deceased priests directed by the Jesuits at Angers.
Prayer
I adore Thee, O Jesus, my Saviour! really present in the Adorable Sacrament; I adore Thee, spotless Lamb, holy Victim Who takest away the sins of the world. However guilty the souls in Purgatory appear in Tliy eyes. Thou wilt be appeased, God of mercy, and wilt pardon them at the sight of the precious Blood shed by Thy divine Son for their purification. However rigorous has been the account they were obliged to render at the moment of death, I am confident, O my God! that I offer Thee a Victim fully proportioned to their debt.
Eternal Father! I offer Thee the precious Blood of Jesus, in satisfaction for my sins, and for the wants of holy Church.
- 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