The Irish standard., 1915-10-30


their memories and water their graves
with our tears; but, without prayer,
that is a useless luxury. In life we
loved them; in death let us forget
them not. OF what worth is our friend.
ship in life if we forget them in death
when they need us most? 1t is said
that few souls go straight to Heaven.
Most of them have transgressed in
some way, either more or less, and
have to pay the penalty of Purgatory
before they reach that wondrous spot
of which it is said: Eye hath not
seen, ear hath not heard, nor hath it
entered into heart of man to conceive
the beauty of Heaven" Such words
should spur us on to live the Chris
tian life, the ideal Catholic life which
teaches us that it is our duty to pray
for our dead.
Our dead those loved ones who have
gone before: there is consolation in
the thought that we shall meet again;
that in reality there is no death, that
1t is only a passing away, a severing
Of the soul from the body to be re-
united when purified from sin; that
when this is accomplished we shall
join the heavenly choirs, to sing ever
lastingly Alleluiah.
The Master Sculptor created us to
His own Divine image and likeness.
Think of it!-made to Gods image and
likeness. The thought is we'll nigh
overwhelming. And yet, many of us
show little appreciation and seek the
destruction that destroys both soul and
body. Through our own fault we lose
the right to eternal happiness embod-
led in the heaven promised us if we
are faithful. We have to pay the PEN
atty of sin. There is no getting out of
it. We cannot sin and expect to gain.
Heaven, and yet dozens of times in
the course of single day we err. It
is human frailty. We repent, then err
again. Such is the life of the average
man or woman. The Saints are in
cluded in this list. Though there are
many hidden lives amongst us whose
holiness and sanctity might entitle
them to be called Saints, yet even
these are not perfect and when they
die they, too, need our prayers. How
great, then, is the necessity of the
average man or woman, when death
calls them, to have friends on earth
to pray for them.
November is drawing near-the
month of the Holy Souls. Countless
unseen hands are constantly stretched
out to US in appeal for our prayers.
imploring us to say rosary, or the
Stations of the Cross, or to have q
Mass said for them to relieve them
from their sufferings. Shall we neg
lect their appeal? Some day we may
be suffering the pains of purgatory for
our transgression. More than likely
most of us shall there are few saints
among the average men and women
and how grateful we shall be if our
friends on earth pray for us. How
sad 1t must be for the poor suffering
souls who have no friends to think of
them! We should make it a point
while we have the opportunity always
to remember the souls who have no
one to pray for them and to say an
extra prayer of them, so that when it
comes our turn to die we may have
intercessors among the radiant choirs
of angels who pray ceaselessly before
the Great White Throne.
Yes, it is holy and wholesome
thought to pray for the dead that they
may be loosed from their sins. In
the hurry and turmoil of everyday life
we sometimes forget to pray for the
Holy Souls" We seem to have time
only to hear Mass on Sundays or holi-
days. Many of us seldom pay a visit
to the Blessed Sacrament and still few
er of us have Masses said for the dead.
The truth is we are too selfish, too
much engrossed in schemes for our
own welfare to think of anything else.
But there will come day when we
shall regret it-and shall cry "Mea
Culpa," perhaps in vain. So, while
we have time, don't let us neglect the
Holy Souls.
In reading the big dailies did it
never strike you when glancing over
the long list of obituaries that perhaps
your name would be in the next. There
Is no telling, for we know not the day
or the hour. On the other hand, the
good Catholic can read this list with
equanimity. He or she is not afraid of
death. They may have the natural
sorrow of leaving a beautiful world
but 1t is soon lost sight of in the
thought of the still more beautiful land
towards which they are drifting after
we'll spent life.
One of the best preparations for q
happy death is to remember the Door
souls in Purgatory in our prayers, par
ticularly during the month of Novem-
Der. We shall gain many benefits both
in this world and in the next. There
are churches on Long Island and in
Brooklyn dedicated to this purpose.