The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-11-20
FRIENDS WE LOVED CALL US IN
THEIR NEEDS.

Communion OF Saints-in the great
family of Jesus Christ-the elect of
God, gathered from East and West,
says the Mount Angel Magazine
Hearts that truly beat in unison with
| the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the
Immaculate Heart OF Mary cannot
turn away with indifference from
that touching cry for help: "Have
pity on me! have pity on me! at least
you, my friends!" If hitherto we have
| thought too little of those "who hove
gone before us with the sign of
faith" if we have been like the rest
of men wrapped up in the thought of
self, immersed in the trifies of today,
forgetful of those whose lives were
once closely linked with ours, and
should be still, now in the mouth OF
the Holy Souls we may "rise to better
things" to truer thoughts of life, to-
a deeper sense of the value of time,
to a fuller understanding of the will
of God in our regard, and especially
to an appreciation, altogether new, of
the solicitous service which the
/ Church Militant on earth owes to the
| Church Suffering in Purgatory.
i Not because in serving others We
shall most securely serve ourselves,
nor yet because we hope to secure
the gratitude of saints who soon will
reign with God in Heaven; but be-
cause those who are now in the
cleansing fires are of our own flesh
and blood, our brothers and sisters in
Jesus Christ, we will do what we can
to help them from this time forward,
regretting if we have been negligent
till now. 1t should be enough for us
to know that those who have a claim
upon our love are stretching out their
hands to us for help, and crying:
''Have pity on mel" Yet to remem-
Der the dead with anything beyond a
, transient thought is the exception,
and to leave them in Gods hands to
, pay their debt, after making few
feeble efforts to help them in the first
: days of our bereavement, is the rule.
: Such conduct is almost as usual as it
is unreasonable. Those who thus for
/ get parents and brethren and friends
t may fear that they will be in their
> turn forgotten, for God keeps His
mercy for the merciful.
81 While dear friends are with us we
2 fatter ourselves that we love them
} with a disinterested love; that in do
: ing them good service we are not
! thinking Of ourselves at all; that we
, are even willing to submit to much
= inconHanienee for theIs sake. And
EaIl1the while it is too often our own
| satisfaction that we seek, even in
: our self-sacrifice, rendering kind
offices, not for sake of the good we
b do thereby, but for the happiness
\ which ACQUIRES to ourselves, as men
d give aims sometimes from no higher
h motive than is found in the pleasure
of giving. 1t is not true that al
human friendship is thus infected with
selfishness, but a great deal of that
which looks like the pure gold Of
charity is not such. The value of oul
friendship in the present may be
:, estimated by it's value in the past
:. Our treatment of the dead will serve
], us for the tombstone of the sincerity
:. and purity of our affection. ''The
: heart that has truly loved never for
gets.
" Those who once were dearly loved
our playmates in childhood, ou1
chosen companions in later life, whC
sat at the same table, who knelt a
:, the same shrine, who shared our JOYS
= and sorrows, and, it may be, now ant
:, again spoke to us of death and eteT
: nifty, with wondering words abou
- that other world, and who then passed
! from our sight into that other worlt
!, are they remembered now? Do WI
pray for them or to them? Or ar
=. they in good truth, if we must b.
q honest with ourselves, really NOTHING
more to us now than faces that lool
l. upon us in a dream? Is their connec
= ton with us a reality of our presen
: life, or are they merely creatures o
the past, belonging to state o
s things which has vanished from OH
hearts and minds? According to on
% answer must be the estimate whicl
we form of the generosity with which
we love our friends and help our fel
III low-creatureS.
:. The Holy Souls in Purgatory ar
unutterably dear to God, because o
all the graces and merits they hav
re won and can never lose, and becaus
q of the keen sufferings which they ar
n bearing with such heavenly patienc
id in their love of Him, and their de
le sire to be more worthy. of Him. TIL
c. Virgin Mother watches with a moth
IS ers' holy anxiety while the last fain
IN traces and shades of sin fade off from
K each beautiful soul, longing for TIL
e. moment when all shall be paid, AM
IS these her dear children received int,
St their long-expected happiness. 81
lei Joseph, the particular patron of thes,
le patient holy ones, is eagerly lookinI
W forward to the moment when he ma.
ID bear his charges into the Father
g bosom. And think you that God AM
N Our Lady and st. Joseph will no
p love and bless those who by thei
N holy liberality shall hasten that me
is ment which they all so earnestly de
s. sire? And when those benefaetor
8, shall send their petitions through
n Purgatory. and some dear suffere
Or shall cry to Heaven Grant them wha
n they ask for, for they have don
ne done great things for us, = can yol
u think the prayer win be unheard