Let’s get the obvious out of the way, here: Purgatory is real!
That there is a purgatory we learn from the teaching of Christ, and especially from the practice and doctrine of the Church. Moreover, it is a remarkable fact that nearly all the nations of the earth believe in a purging fire. In addition, we know from sound reason that there must be a purgatory.
Christ’s words are: (Matt. xii. 32); He compares purgatory to a prison: “Amen, I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matt. v. 26). And St. Paul adds that many shall be saved, yet so as by fire (1 Cor. iii. 15). The practice of the Church in the following points reminds us of purgatory: the prayer for the dead said in every Mass (the Memento after the Consecration); the Masses for the dead, in particular those on All Souls Day, on the day of death and burial, and on anniversaries; the passing-bell (which calls upon us to pray for the departed), and the solemnities on All Souls Day, which were first introduced in 998 by the abbot Odilo of Cluny, and later extended by the Popes to the universal Church. St. John Chrysostom reminds us that “the practices of Christians are not meant for mere show, but that they are ordained by the Holy Spirit.” The bishops of the Church at Florence (1439), and Trent (1445-1463) expressly defined that there is a purgatory. The idea of purgatory is common among the nations. The Egyptians believed in the transmigration of souls into animals. Among the Greeks we have the story of Prometheus, condemned to be bound to a rock and his liver gnawed by a vulture, because he stole fire from heaven. The Jews had the same belief, for they offered sacrifice for the dead, as we saw in the case of Judas Machabeus. The early Christians were accustomed to pray for the dead during the holy sacrifice. St. Augustine relates that his mother St. Monica, on her death-bed, said to him and his brother: “Bury me where you will; only, I pray you, think of me always at God’s altar.” St. John Chrysostom declares that the Christians from the very beginning prayed during Mass for the dead by order of the apostles. St. Cyril of Jerusalem writes: “It is of great service to pray for the dead when the holy sacrifice is being offered.” Hence the oldest Mass-books contain prayers for the dead. Reason also teaches that there must be a purgatory. We know, for instance, that nothing defiled can enter heaven (Apoc. xxi. 27); yet there is many a man not so wicked as to be lost forever; and if he can enter neither heaven nor hell there must be a third place where he can be purified.
The practice of the Church, as evidenced in the old calendar, sets apart this important day! The people in purgatory need help! So, in your quest to get some inside help, this part is easy: scratch their backs and you know how the saying goes… they’ll scratch yours. It’s really kind of easy to make a cohort of pals that will remember how you helped them out of the lurch of purgatory. Easy, that is, if you do it now in this life, when the opportunity is right in front of you.
The practice of having a Mass per year to help these poor souls is incredible. In all the ways we can help the poor souls, where even a single Our Father can instantly release a soul, imagine how much more an entire Mass, offered everywhere can do! We owe it to them, after all:
The faithful on earth can help the holy souls in purgatory by good works; in particular by prayer, fasting, alms-deeds, by offering or being present at Mass, by receiving the sacraments and gaining indulgences.
The holy souls cannot help themselves, since they can no longer do good works to satisfy for their sins. After death “the night cometh when no man can work” (John ix. 4). Hence they must pay off their debt by enduring the pains which God has laid upon them. Yet we on earth can help to diminish their pains by Masses, by prayer and almsgiving, and other works of piety (Council of Lyons, ii., 1274); the holy sacrifice is of all things the most helpful to them (Council of Trent, 25), and according to St. Bonaventure the offering of holy communion is of very great assistance. “Not by weeping,” says St. John Chrysostom, “but by prayer and almsgiving are the dead relieved.” No pompous funeral nor profusion of wreaths are of any avail without good works; it is far more to the purpose to give to the poor the money which is spent on idle show. As to the prayers, God does not regard so much their length as their fervor. Christ once said to St. Gertrude: “A single word from the heart has far more power to free a soul than the recital of many prayers and psalms without devotion; the hands are cleaned better by a little water and much rubbing than by merely pouring a large quantity of water over them.” We are not to conclude from this that in ordinary cases a short prayer, an Our Father, for instance, will at once set free a soul. “For,” says Maldonatus, “God would be very cruel if He kept a soul, for which He had shed His own blood, in such terrible suffering for the sake of an Our Father which had been omitted.” The Church uses holy water in the burial service because it has great efficacy for the holy souls. But the greatest help which we can give is the Heroic Act, that is, the resignation in their behalf of all the satisfaction made to God by our good works. Those who make this act gain, every time they approach the Holy Table, a plenary indulgence applicable to the holy souls; and priests, who make the Heroic Act, have, every day they say Mass, the personal privilege of a privileged altar (Pius IX., Sept. 10, 1852).
The familiar envelope on which we write the names of particular souls of friends, acquaintances, and family.
This obligation is especially bound by those in our family. Think of you family, though, how many of them today pray, let alone think to pray for their deceased family members? how much do they need our help here!!!
The relatives of the departed are bound to help them.
To them apply the words of Holy Writ: “Have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath touched me” (Job xix. 21). God sometimes reveals the unhappy state of the dead to their relatives. In the year 202 St. Perpetua saw in a dream her young brother imprisoned in a dark place, all covered with dirt, and parched with thirst. She began to offer up fervent prayer for him, and soon after he appeared again to her but this time beautiful and happy (Meh. vi., 413). When St. Elizabeth of Thuringia received news of the death of her mother Gertrude, Queen of Hungary, she began to pray and scourge herself with disciplines, and soon she had the satisfaction of seeing her mother in a vision, and of knowing that she was delivered from purgatory. Yet we should not rely too much on the good works which our relatives may do for us after death; for the proverb comes often only too true: “Out of sight, out of mind;” and besides, after all, the works done for us after death can avail us only to a limited extent. “One Mass devoutly heard during life,” says St. Anselm, “is of more value than a great sum left for the celebration of a hundred Masses after death.” “God,” says St. Bonaventure, “values more a little voluntary penance done in this life than a severe and involuntary satisfaction in the next.”
At the end of the day, it’s also just good stewardship. Our Lord gave the example of the steward who, knowing he was about to be fired, went to all the people the owed things to his master, and had them cut the amount in half. By this, he made an in road for himself to get a new job. The lesson is clear: do that with Heaven! How else, than to cultivate people who will be able to say to Jesus, “I wouldn’t be here without his prayer for me, Lord, help him out of purgatory!” Don’t you want some people saying that of you when you need it?
If you missed the envelope, be sure to at least say this traditional prayer today:
Thy mercy, Lord, we humbly crave
For souls whom Thou didst die to save.
Suffering amidst the cleansing fire,
To see Thy face they yet aspire.
Grant them, Lord, a swift release,
And bring them where all pain shall cease.
Eternal rest give unto all the faithful departed, Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace.
Amen.
Photo by elycefeliz 
This article, Make some friends in high places. Poor Souls: Who will pray for you? is a post from The Bellarmine Forum.
https://bellarmineforum.org/make-some-friends-in-high-places-poor-souls-who-will-pray-for-you/
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