Our Lady of Suffrage
Love of the Blessed Virgin Toward the Souls in Purgatory
Since our Divine Redeemer gave us Mary as our Mother, when, dying upon the cross, He said to His disciple,” Behold thy Mother,” the Blessed Virgin regards all as her beloved children. But she maintains most tender feelings of maternal love towards the suffering souls in Purgatory. Let us then, please this Mother of Love by offering abundant suffrages for the souls in Purgatory. Taking into consideration the great prerogatives of the Blessed Virgin, and the infinite love of the Holy Trinity towards her, we cannot doubt that by her merits and intercession every penitent suffering soul would be delivered at once from Purgatory, were such according to the inscrutable ways of God.
But God has His own designs founded on His infinite wisdom, justice and mercy. The Blessed Virgin does not pray to have all the suffering souls delivered at once, for her will is in perfect conformity to the Will of God, and she exercises her dominion over the souls in Purgatory in perfect union with this Divine Will. St. Bernardin of Siena applies to Mary the text of Holy Writ, “I have walked in the waves of the sea,” (Eccl. xxiv. 8), and adds: “She descends into the sea of fire, quenching the flames for the suffering souls.” St. Dionysius, the Carthusian, at tests that the souls in Purgatory experience the same joy and relief, at the mere mention of her name, that consoling words bring to the bedridden sick.
Prayer:
O most holy and glorious Virgin Mary, Blessed Mother of our Lord, we place our petitions for the suffering souls in thy hands. Cleanse these souls from all imperfections, and, by thy intercession, obtain for them eternal rest. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord. Amen.
Special Intercession: Pray for the souls who were most zealous in their devotion to the Blessed Virgin.Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (Three times.)
Practice: Say the Litany of the Blessed Virgin for the suffering souls. Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!
