All Souls' Day
So what do you do for the souls in Purgatory?
When as I was little grade school kid, one of our teachers told us that when you pray for the souls in Purgatory, they are so grateful that when they get to Heaven they will happily pray for you.
As my life progressed and it became clearer and clearer that I was going to need all the heavenly help I could get, I made it a point to offer little sacrifices for the Holy Souls.
But I kept losing track of things. So finally, one day about 25 years ago, I came up with a plan: henceforth I would have three standing sacrifices that i would offer for the Holy Souls. Two things I have to do on a regular basis- so there's volume right there- and that I really don't like to do (the sacrifice part). And the third thing I only do once a year but I really hate it.
Since today is All Souls', I thought I would share my master plan for releasing all the poor guys in Purgatory.
The two things: a) pump gas into my car, a tedious exercise at best but in the winter it really sucks, and b) blow dry my hair.
Anyone out there love to blow dry their hair?
I didn't think so.
The third thing I usually do at the beginning of Lent, thereby making it a twofer on the sacrifice front: get a dental checkup. Being the generous sort I am I also throw in any subsequent dental work. One year I had some godawful root canals that I am sure had Purgatory temporarily empty.
So I offer these ideas to you, my fellow Catholics who are hoping one day someone will pray you out of Purgatory, too.
Which I am pretty sure includes most of us.
When as I was little grade school kid, one of our teachers told us that when you pray for the souls in Purgatory, they are so grateful that when they get to Heaven they will happily pray for you.
As my life progressed and it became clearer and clearer that I was going to need all the heavenly help I could get, I made it a point to offer little sacrifices for the Holy Souls.
But I kept losing track of things. So finally, one day about 25 years ago, I came up with a plan: henceforth I would have three standing sacrifices that i would offer for the Holy Souls. Two things I have to do on a regular basis- so there's volume right there- and that I really don't like to do (the sacrifice part). And the third thing I only do once a year but I really hate it.
Since today is All Souls', I thought I would share my master plan for releasing all the poor guys in Purgatory.
The two things: a) pump gas into my car, a tedious exercise at best but in the winter it really sucks, and b) blow dry my hair.
Anyone out there love to blow dry their hair?
I didn't think so.
The third thing I usually do at the beginning of Lent, thereby making it a twofer on the sacrifice front: get a dental checkup. Being the generous sort I am I also throw in any subsequent dental work. One year I had some godawful root canals that I am sure had Purgatory temporarily empty.
So I offer these ideas to you, my fellow Catholics who are hoping one day someone will pray you out of Purgatory, too.
Which I am pretty sure includes most of us.
That's an amazingly sensible way to offer things up. Seriously, it makes so much sense to me. I hate to do so many things, that it would be awesome to clear out Purgatory and beat down my procrastination all in one go!
ReplyDeleteThanks! That's a head-smack "Well, duh! That makes sense!" kind of plan. Wish I had been doing that instead of beating myself up for doing nothing.
ReplyDelete