The book, The Month of the Holy Souls, presents daily considerations for the month of November in the form of meditations and practical examples. The example for today is as follows.
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EXAMPLE
A young man, belonging to an honorable family, had, although faithful to his religious
practices, thought little of helping the souls in purgatory.
He seldom or never prayed for his deceased relatives; and not only did he neglect this duty, but he persuaded others to do the same, saying: “Why should we care about the dead, for they are certain to be saved, and they cannot lose or offend God anymore.”
He did not believe in apparitions of the souls in Purgatory, and only turned into ridicule those he heard spoken of. God permitted for his correction that some of these souls should leave their prison, and appear under the most frightful forms to him who was doing them so great an injury. In all sorts of places, and at every hour, did they assault him, uttering distressing cries, appearing under strange forms, and leaving him no rest day or night.
The lesson succeeded, a great change was wrought in the young man, who left the world to enter into the Order of St. Dominic; and becoming a priest, he devoted himself in a special manner to the relief of the souls in Purgatory. He offered so many prayers and Masses for them, and preached so often and so eloquently in their behalf, pleading so earnestly for them, that he obtained the name of the advocate of the dead; and this he truly was, for no other could give such convincing reasons for proving that the greatest act of charity in this world, was to pray for the dead.
The good Dominican died in the odor of sanctity, and his soul, without doubt, joined in heaven those whom his suffrages had liberated from Purgatory. Let us endeavor to imitate so great an example of charity.
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This anecdote comes from Month of the Souls in Purgatory by Abbé Berlioux, originally published in English in the year 1886. This book contains meditations and an example story for each day of the month. In an effort to preserve short inspiring stories from our Catholic past, every day for the month of November you can find the example story for the day published on the website under people/stories.
The same author also published similar books for the months of March (St. Joseph), May (Our Lady), and June (Sacred Heart). We are planning to post the stories for these months in the future, as well as re-publish a collection of these four books as a set, so be sure to check back in a few months.