Penance and Restitution?
For me, crisps, coffee, wine and chocolate are the vices I usually give up during lent. Unfortunately for the first few days I find myself drinking more tea to account for the caffeine my body craves from my lack of coffee! It’s all very well giving up something for a few weeks but is there any value in it apart from loosing some left over ‘Christmas’ calories that are still hanging around from lockdown number 3. Many of us do in good faith and tradition give up something for lent, but do we actively ‘offer’ up the denial of our goodies. This is were the value in fasting from things we like is at it’s most powerful. When we offer it up for ‘a reason’ then the act of denial has purpose. There are many reasons to offer up penance this lent, but in this blog I’m encouraging you offer it up for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.
In this clip, Dad speaks about why souls can be held in purgatory, when they die.
As we know the Holy Souls can’t pray for themselves, but we can by our offerings and prayers, alleviate their suffering, help their restitution and bring them to peace in heaven. Not only that, but we could also pro-actively offer up our suffering for our own sins to make restitution and avoid purgatory. While it may not be possible to attend confession this lent, maybe we could take the time to reflect and say sorry to God for anything weighing on our heart until we can eventually receive absolution in person.
During this season of lent, we can offer many prayers but in preparation for Easter we can unite our sufferings with The Stations of the Cross, a most powerful prayer to help souls move to the light of heaven. To order your copy now click on the following link and thank you for actively offering your lent for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.
Stations of the Cross and other prayers for The Holy Souls in Purgatory
Happy fasting!
In Jesus & Mary we trust…
Eilish