Purgatory

"Their [the holy souls] silence is their loudest call, because it is the echo of God's silence...They are silent because they live, just as we chatter so loudly to try to make ourselves forget that we are dying. Their silence is really their call, the assurance of their immortal love for us. O silent God...God of those who are silently summoning us to enter into Your life, never let us forget our dead or our living. May our love and fiathfulness to them be a pledge of our belief in You, the God of eternal life.

Let us not be deaf to the call of the their silence, which is the surest and sincerest word of their love. May this word of theirs continue to accompany us, even after they have taken their leave of us to enter into You, for thus their love comes all the closer to us.

When we pray 'Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let thy perpetual light shine upon them,' let our words be only the echo of the prayer of love that they themselves are speaking in the silence of eternity."  From: Encounters with Silence by Karl Rahner

We should do as much as we can for the Holy Souls, even just an short prayer for them at Mass, at adoration, lighting a candle of them, giving alms for them. In praying for the Holy Souls, God is beholden to us  Giving for the holy souls is entirely disinterested, and thus very good in the sight of God. "Of all the prayers, the most meritorious, the most acceptable to God, are prayers for the dead, for they imply all the works of charity, both spiritual and corporal," St. Thomas Aquinas points out. 

Their suffering is so much greater than anything we could experience here on earth. Is it then like another hell? Absolutely not, for the flames of purgatory are flames of love, and the souls in purgatory if given the chance to skip it and head straight to heaven, would not for they see their sin and their imperfections and they desire to perfect themselves for God. Their worst pain is to be deprived of the face of God, for they caught a glimpse of Him at their judgement and it is the most wonderful sight they could imagine.

Here on earth, if we realize that we have some imperfection or a sin upon our soul, we can work on it, go to confession, and make restitution. The Holy Souls are no longer able to help themselves or to do anything like fasting, giving alms, or praying for forgiveness. If we pray for them and assist them on this last step to heaven, how grateful will they be? They are now saints and will shower their prayers and assistance upon those who helped them in their time of need, on the last leg of their trip. Whenever I have some horribly difficulty something to deal with, I always turn to the Holy Souls.

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen