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

sunshine...

Sunshine...we all long for the light. Does this mean something amazing? Do I want to become the light or the essence of light?

Nonsense. Can't things remain simple? I make my bed, I corner it and I tuck it in. The pillows go at the top. The folded afghan rests at the foot. It is good to eat, bad to eat too much or too little. Is there such a thing as being too wrapped up in oneself? Heck Yes! There are so many people walking around who give no thought to others and want everything to bow down to their every wish because, I believe, they think themselves somehow superior to those around them.

The life well ordered. Is there such a thing? I like to the think that one day I will have an ordered life. but for now my filing system lies on the floor of my loft, in 17 different piles strewn around. Oh sure...I've got file folders. It's just so terribly hard to get them in there. In my dreams, I make a lovely dinner with minimal effort every day, drink coffee from a tea cup. Of course, that's probably not right either according to Emily Post.

Reflections on Truth

What is Truth? According to Chesterton.

1) Truth will always be true. It's veracity does not rest on what day it is or what age in which we live. What was true in 1398 B.C. was true in Mexico in 1600, in China in 400 A.D., in Rome in 66A.D., in Jerusalem in 70 A.D., in the United States in 1775, in Ireland in 1916, England in 1940, in Georgia in 1864, in Germany in 1987.
2) Truth is consistent.
3) Truth is whole. Anything less than the whole is a heresy, a lie, a half-truth or perhaps even less. If you are missing a piece of the truth, you cannot be said to know the truth.
4) Truth is good, never evil. Truth always coincides with virtue, as a lack of truth always coincides with vice. Though we all love the truth, it makes us uncomfortable. A lack of truth lives with evil.

Fiction Vs. Truth.
Truth is stranger than fiction because we have made fiction to fit ourselves. Truth is real whereas fiction is realistic. Truth is holy, superior, and high and fiction low, debase, and evil.

Other than the fact that truth makes us uncomfortable is the fact that speaking the truth can get you into a fight. Every person knows that they are to love truth and to hate evil. If this were not the case, people would not spend so much time, effort, wind, and energy to make evil appear true. One should always defend what you love. Therefore, though perhaps unpleasant, a fight for truth is an act of love.

Truth is muddy, which encourages doubt and a lack of faith. Doubt is reactionary and prejudicial. Tolerance is preferred nowadays to truth. Those who denounce intolerance have no theory to denounce it. The idea is that it doesn't matter what you believe now so long as you don't hurt anybody else. The logic of that statement is debatable. However, on the flip side is that everyone is concerned with what everyone else believes. People are never so hypocritical and intolerant as when they are being impartial. Tolerance refuses to fight, to act for the truth, and if it is not true, it must needs be a lie.