Throughout the month of November, the Church encourages us to help a particular group of souls who can’t help themselves: the Holy Souls in Purgatory. They are the souls of the faithful who have died and are being purified before they are able to enter into the glory of Heaven. …

This focus is not surprising when you know that on several occasions the children of Fatima, and St. Stanislaus Papczynski, had visions of the Holy Souls asking for prayers. According to one account, St. Stanislaus was at a gathering with family and guests when he had a profound mystical experience of the Holy Souls in Purgatory. He then retreated to his cell for three days to pray for them. He told his confreres, “Pray, brethren, for the souls who suffer in Purgatory, for they suffer unbearably!”
Lucia asked Our Lady of Fatima about Amelia. She was a friend of the family who recently died, and she use to come to the house to learn weaving from her sister. Lucia asked Our Lady of Fatima if Amelia was in Heaven. Our Lady said: “She will be in purgatory until the end of the world.” To save souls and convert sinners, “….All must pray the rosary to obtain grace. Sacrifice yourselves for sinners: and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice… ‘Oh Jesus, it is for love of you, for the conversion of sinners, [I do this] in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’ ”
How can you help?

1. Offer up your Holy Communion, your sufferings, and your sacrifices for the Holy Souls;
2. Have Masses said for your deceased loved ones or for unknown souls, or lost and forgotten souls; souls who no longer have existing family here on earth to pray for them;
3. Come 30 minutes before Mass on weekends and pray the rosary;
4. Become a Rosary Leader;
5. Meditate on the Church’s teachings on what we call the Four Last Things – death, judgment, Heaven, and hell – with the purpose of helping you to face death with courage and confidence;
6. Think of death as another sign of God’s mercy.
7. Adore the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Offer prayers and daily actions and sufferings for the souls in Purgatory.
8. Attend First Fridays and First Saturdays
As Scripture tells us, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor 5:10). — Cynthia Saar