“Do you know,” Blessed Fulton Sheen once said, “that I think perhaps we spend too much time—there must be some—praying for the departed souls and not enough time praying to them? Take the example of parents, husbands that are dead, wives, children. They are our intercessors. And perhaps we limit their influence in heaven simply because we do not sufficiently invoke them.”
When he said this, Sheen was preaching a retreat in Ireland on the subject of St. Thérèse (later published in book form as St. Thérèse: A Treasured Love Story), and he was talking about the power of intercessory prayer.
At first glance, his words might startle those of us who have learned to pray fervently for the dead and to be very careful, for their sake, not to assume our loved ones went straight to heaven. How could it be possible to spend, in Sheen’s words, “too much time” praying for the dead?
But the answer is in the words Sheen said after that: “not enough time praying to them.” If we are solely praying for them and not praying to them, the time we spend is lopsided. Bishop Sheen was helping us by pointing out a part of the Catechism that is often overlooked: the part that talks about the intercessory power of the souls in purgatory.
“Our prayer for [the dead],” the Catechism (par. 958) says, “is capable not only of helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective.”
This sentence makes it clear that there are two sides to this intercessory coin:
- Our prayers help the dead.
- Their prayers help us.
It’s the second point that Blessed Fulton Sheen is emphasizing here. The souls in purgatory need our prayers—and they also want to give us theirs. When we pray for them, our prayers are like a key that unlocks their ability to pray for us. In purgatory, souls are not able to pray for themselves, but they can pray for others, and they long to help us just as we long to help them.
“The Souls in Purgatory Protected Her”
In her autobiography Story of a Soul, St. Thérèse shares a passage from a letter her mother, St. Zelie, wrote to Thérèse’s sister Pauline in 1874, when Thérèse was one and a half years old. In this letter, Zelie tells Pauline how she used to put little Thérèse in her own big bed and push the cradle alongside it to protect the child from falling out.
One morning, however, Zelie forgot the cradle. When she came back in the room later that morning, Thérèse was nowhere in the big bed. Then Zelie heard a whimper coming from a chair at the head of the bed, where little Thérèse was sitting up, still asleep, with her head resting on a cushion. She was uncomfortable in that position but unharmed.
“I can’t understand how she fell onto the chair in a sitting position since she was in the bed,” Zelie writes. “I thanked God, feeling it was providential as she could have tumbled onto the floor. Her good Angel watched over her and the souls in purgatory protected her. I pray every day to them for her. This is my explanation for it; explain it the way you like.”
St. Zelie prayed to the souls in purgatory for her little daughter Thérèse every day. There can be no doubt that the prayers of the souls in purgatory helped lay the spiritual foundation for Thérèse to become one of heaven’s most powerful intercessors.
The holy souls are an army of prayer warriors, waiting to intercede for our intentions as soon as we unlock that door with our prayers for them. Remembering Bishop Sheen’s words, we can confidently turn to our departed loved ones for intercession more often, so that we do not “limit their influence in heaven.”
One way to help us do this is to make a habit of following every prayer for a departed soul with a prayer asking their intercession for us. When we visit the cemetery and pray there for the dead, we can immediately also ask them to pray for us. We can turn to them with all the intentions, big or small, that we carry in our hearts.
A Special Gift for the Souls in Purgatory
In His infinite goodness, God gives us a special gift each November to give to the departed souls—or rather, eight gifts: eight days of extra ways to gain plenary indulgences for the holy souls.
From November 1st through 8th, Catholics can obtain a plenary indulgence for the souls in purgatory by visiting a cemetery and praying there for the dead, even if only mentally.
Also, on November 2nd, Catholics can obtain a plenary indulgence for the souls in purgatory by visiting a church or oratory and reciting an Our Father and Creed.
In addition to performing the acts above, the faithful seeking to gain a plenary indulgence must be in a state of grace and fulfill the usual conditions for obtaining a plenary indulgence, which are:
- Make a sacramental Confession (a single confession, within about 20 days before or after, will suffice for all the indulgences a person obtains within that time period).
- Receive Holy Communion (once for each indulgence obtained; preferably on the day of the indulgence, but can be within about 20 days before or after).
- Pray for the intentions of the Holy Father (also within about 20 days; the choice of prayer is left to the faithful, but an Our Father and a Hail Mary are suggested).
- Be free from attachment to all sin, including venial.
One plenary indulgence can be obtained each day. The indulgence is partial if the conditions are partially fulfilled. These November 1-8 indulgences can be applied only to the souls in purgatory. (For the rest of the year, here are four daily ways to obtain a plenary indulgence either for oneself or for the souls in purgatory.)
A note about the last condition: Sometimes people wonder whether it is possible for them to be completely detached from venial sin. The answer to this can be found in Mark 10, when Jesus tells His disciples how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God, and they wonder who then can be saved.
“For human beings it is impossible, but not for God,” Jesus tells them. “All things are possible for God.”
Even if it would be impossible for us to be completely detached from sin, it is not impossible for God. As Matthew 7 reminds us, “Ask, and it will be given you;” for our Father in heaven gives “good things to those who ask him.” Let’s ask Him, then, for the grace to be detached from all sin. You might add this little prayer to the prayers for the indulgence: Dear Holy Spirit, if I am not detached from all sin, please make me detached now, so that I may gain this plenary indulgence that my Mother, the Church, offers to me, Her child.
God is on our side. He wants us to be able to obtain this indulgence as an act of charity for the souls in purgatory, and He will help us fulfill the conditions if we only ask.
And just as God wants us to be able to give this gift of our prayers to the holy souls, He also wants us to be able to receive the gift of prayers from them in return. These dear friends are ready and waiting to pray for us the moment we start praying for them.
May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace—and may they pray for us and for every intention we hold in the depths of our hearts. Thanks be to God for the communion of saints!
