least refreshment. He does not harbour him as he would have done a passing stranger, but he introduces him into the blissful abode for which he sighs, and whose entrance was closed to him from the time of creation. He clothes him not in a perishable garment, but in a robe of immortality which will eternally preserve him from cold and heat. He visits to assist him, not during a slight attack of fever, but amidst the ardour of pitiless flames which torment him without allowing him any repose. Finally, he descends into his prison to break his chains, and give him the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Resolution.-Offer up something to-day, for the most suffering soul in Purgatory.

Aspiration. "Come, ye blessed of My Father." (Gospel according to St. Matthew xxv. 34.)

EXAMPLE.

ST. AUGUSTINE'S REPRIMAND.

St. Augustine strongly reproved the temerity of a writer of his time, who said that we ought not to fear Purgatory, since the torments suffered there would not last for ever. "What does it signify," he said, "how long a time I shall spend there, so that I enter heaven at last ;" and St. Augustine says in answer to this: "Let no one speak thus, for the fire of expiation will be more

terrible than any suffering in this world, however dreadful we may imagine it to be." (Sermo. VI. de Sanctis.)

NOVEMBER 13TH.

Meditation for the Thirteenth Day of the Month of the Souls in Purgatory.

INCREASE OF MERIT.

Prelude. Let us represent to ourselves in heaven the souls released from Purgatory making the crown of their deliverers.

Meditation.-Theology teaches us that God rewards the good works of the just in three ways: by merit, impetration (or obtaining the grace demanded), and satisfaction; and, as Father Faber tells us, "the greatest of all is merit, for by it we become more acceptable to God, and more His friends, receiving greater grace, and so acquiring a new title to greater glory. Doubtless, then, if a man could turn all the satisfaction of his good works into so much fresh merit, over and above the merit there was there before, he would be a gainer by it, and for this reason the glory of the blessed is without comparison a greater good than the pains of Purgatory are an evil; and so the right to greater glory is a better thing than the right to less pain. He, then, who offers the satisfaction of his good

works and his indulgences for the souls in Purgatory, does just this: he converts his satisfaction into merit," and assures more fully his right to an eternal inheritance. Eternal salvation is such an immense blessing that to have some certainty of it we would joyfully suffer any torment of Purgatory, and instead of Purgatory being longer or harder to those who give all the fruit of their good works to the holy souls, it is, on the contrary, a means of their going straight to heaven, as we shall see in the following example.

Resolution.-Adopt the practice of offering to God the satisfaction of all our good works in favour of the souls in Purgatory.

Aspiration. "Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (Gospel according to St. John x. 13.)

EXAMPLE.

COMPLETE REMISSION.

Denis, the Carthusian, relates that, amongst other pious practices, St. Gertrude was accustomed to offer Our Lord all her mortifications and penances for the souls in Purgatory. Being near death, like all other saints she contemplated, on one hand, her sins with great sorrow, and on the other, remembered that she had offered all her satisfactory works in expiation of the sins of others instead of her own; and she began to

grieve and fear that, having given everything to others without reserve, her soul on leaving her body would be condemned to horrible sufferings. In the midst of her trouble, Our Lord appeared to her and consoled her, saying: "To show you how willingly I have accepted your charity towards the dead, I now remit to you all the suffering which you would have had to endure in the next world; and, as I repay a hundredfold, I will give you special marks of your generosity, and overwhelm you with glory." (Montfort: De la Charité envers les Ames du Purgatoire, ix. 9.)

NOVEMBER 14TH.

Meditation for the Fourteenth Day of the Month of the Souls in Purgatory.

GRATITUDE OF THE DELIVERED SOULS.

Prelude. Let us represent to ourselves the joy of a soul leaving the prison of Purgatory. Heaven is open before her, the angels and saints welcome her with fraternal joy, and the Heart of Jesus inclines Itself sweetly towards this new citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem; and she, in her turn, directs her gaze towards the soul to whose satisfactions she owes her deliverance.

Meditation. The soul that we release from Purgatory is laid under a particular obligation to

us, both because of the singular benefit it receives from entering all the sooner into glory, and also because of the tremendous sufferings from which it is delivered. Thus, it is bound to obtain for its benefactors perpetual graces and blessings from God. The blessed know that the good they have received is infinite, and being most grateful, they strive to show gratitude proportionate to the greatness of their enjoyment. But we gain more than the friendship of the souls we deliver: we gain the love of their guardian-angels, and of the saints to whom those souls were specially devoted; and we become also more dear to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, because of His pleasure at the release of His dear spouse, and her entry into His celestial joy. Resolution.-Pray sometimes with particular confidence to the souls whose deliverance may have been hastened by our previous satisfactions, or which may have obtained their entrance into

heaven.

Aspiration." According to the kindness that I have done to thee, thou shalt do to me." (Genesis xxi. 23.)

EXAMPLE.

GENEROSITY OF BLESSED MARY OF THE ANGELS,

Mary of the towards the souls to pay for them.

Angels carried her charity in Purgatory as far as offering One year, on the eve of the