Expiation
"But he himself shall be saved: yet so as by fire." - I Corinthians 3:15
"Let us aid the souls in Purgatory," says Saint Chrysostom; "aid them by all that we suffer; for God is careful to apply to the dead the merits of the living."
Suffering is the great satisfaction God demands of their love indebted to His justice; therefore suffer for them that they may suffer less.
There are here below two kinds of suffering, one voluntary, the other forced. Now, both kinds of suffering, supported in union with our Lord for the relief of the souls plunged in the expiatory flames, are very efficacious in procuring aid and even entire deliverance for them.
Oh! if we had a lively faith, what mortifications would we not make in behalf of the souls who suffer in sucli a terrible manner! Fasts, hair-cloth, discipline, and other austerities would be our ordinary exercise. But at least can we not sometimes deprive ourselves of some delicate morsel, abstain from something gratifying to our senses, as inhaling the perfume of a flower, listening to melodious music, saying a useless or dangerous word, going with frivolous companions? Would we not even sacrifice an allowable pleasure, a lawful but dangerous affection, a profitless reading made through pure curiosity, a culpable habit, an object of luxury and pure vanity? "Choose the best victim," says Father Felix; "choose above all what is dearest to your heart, put it on that altar near the Lamb immolated for the salvation of all; offer even your very self for those you most love, and then the price of the personal sacrifice will become the ransom of fraternal suffering."
Mortifications, either forced or independent of our wills, which can be rendered meritorious by our acceptation and resignation, form the tissue of our lives. They come from the mind, mortified by its own ignorance in a thousand circumstances; from the heart, meeting with frequent deception, ingratitude, selfishness, and even treachery, in place of the charity, gratitude, and devotedness it has the right to expect; from the body, subject to all kinds of tribulations, sorrows, infirmities, and sicknesses; from the weather, almost always contrary to one's wishes; from fortune, which baffles all our plans, sufferings, and fatigues, ruining in the twinkling of an eye every design, and destroying by a single contrariety, a single caprice, the work of many years; from creatures in general, and in particular from the person who misrepresents our most innocent intentions, our most sincere undertakings, our most lawful steps; who praises a little only to criticise the more, and approves in our presence only to blame elsewhere.
All this well supported for the souls in Purgatory is of great use to them.
Humiliation rendered Meritorious
A person highly esteemed in the world being in Purgatory for as many days as she had spent years on earth, received aid from the prayers of the Venerable Sister Margaret Mary. Our Lord revealed to this religious that among all the good works performed by this soul, He took special notice of certain humiliations she had received and suffered with a Christian spirit uncomplainingly, and even without speaking of them, and that, as a reward, her judgment had been mild and favorable. This fact and all those concerning Margaret Mar}^ are related according to the words of Mother Superior Greffier, so prudently distrustful of the extraordinary favors bestowed on this humble religious, and who only commenced to credit them after many proofs.
Practice
Make an act of mortification of the body or heart today, or accept one you chance to meet with contrary to your desire.
Prayer
Amiable Redeemer, permit not that the sufferings of Thy Passion be useless for the salvation of our souls. Have pity on me; let one drop of Thy precious blood fall on my heart, that, softening its criminal hardness, it may link it henceforth to Thy love. Have pity also on the poor souls who groan in the flames of expiation; grant them, in fine, the ineffable favor of seeing and loving Thee in heaven. Amen.
May the most just, most high, and most amiable will of God be done in all things, be praised and magnified forever.
- 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