July and August, 2007

Dear Prayer Warriors,

One of the priests who joined us as a Prayer Warrior is studying communications in Rome. He has been very kind over the past year by making himself available to do the Gregorian Mass for many of you who had requested the Gregorian Mass for your deceased friends and relatives. Many of the priests who are continuing their studies in Rome do not get mass stipends or an income from their monasteries in their country of origin, and so depend on groups like Friends of the Poor Souls to help them with their basic needs by sending as many mass stipends as possible. Father has been chosen to do some internship this August at EWTN in Alabama which he says is quite an honor at his college. He is very excited to have been chosen. It will be his first trip to the United States. He recently sent us the following email:

Dear Mary Ann and Bob,

Greetings and peace to you from Rome. I am fine and getting busy now with exams which are here with us already. Soon I will be finishing and will start preparing for the journey to Alabama for my internship with EWTN on 1st August. I am excited to be coming there and it is so nice to know that with your continued support things are working out so well that I am left saying thanks to God for you.

I visited the Sacred Heart Parish (Sacro Cuore Parrocchia in Prati) here in Rome to see the relics, prayer books, clothing and table tops that were touched and scorched by the holy souls that were allowed to leave Purgatory and return to their family or fellow religious and beg them for Masses and prayers. (If you recall, we sent out a newsletter a few months ago about this very museum.) I said a prayer for your mission since I was so touched that I offered some masses for the Holy Souls to be celebrated in that church. It is so great a thing to see what the Holy Souls need from us, prayers and masses every day. I am happy to know I am associated with prayers for them through your great ministry. Thanks for being of great help to these souls that indeed need our prayers daily.

Some scorch marks were left on the table and on the book “The Imitation of Christ”. Everybody should be offering prayers for them every day. This is what St. Leonard of Port Maurice said, “If you deliver one soul from Purgatory, you can say with confidence – Heaven is mine.”
I am so happy every day to be offering masses for the Holy Souls through your ministry. God bless your mission always.

Your friend,

Fr. George

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Another Prayer Warrior sent us the following email:

I was reflecting on the second judgment and how we will be judged for all our actions & the repercussions of those actions. For example, if one made the horrible mistake of aborting a baby. We will be judged on how we snuffed out that life & how that life was planned by God to do great things. On the flip side I think of how you & Bob have touched and inspired so many earthly creatures to pray for the deceased. God has a special love for His souls in Purgatory. These are the ones who won the battle. But now the poor souls rely on us. And God is counting on our prayers as well. What joy there will be on the final judgment for you & Bob. How you touched so many souls in Purgatory & souls on earth. We cannot even fathom the domino affects and good acts that are attached to your souls.

The Blessed Mother said at one of the apparitions that more souls go to hell for impurity more than any other sin. While the devil is trying to dissuade all hearts from purity, the Blessed Mother is stronger than he, and she loves to help retain and restore innocence. "It is in beauty that God and the devil are fighting, and the battlefield is the heart of man."
Let us pray for each other as we try to imitate St. John's purity and fight the good fight! Keep up the good works.
God bless – G.D.

It is our duty to pray for the dead. We must fulfill our obligation as a Catholic.

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How many of these souls in Purgatory are beginning their painful imprisonment this very moment! How many of them have been there for a long time and shall be there for a longer time to come! And what a holy legion, almost entirely purified and cleansed at the present moment, shall rise to heaven this very day!

How happy the Poor Souls are! They have escaped hell forever. They are certain to obtain eternal happiness. They are friends of God; they are saved. And yet, how miserable they are at the same time. They must still suffer temporal punishment for the sins which have been already forgiven them. The gates of the heavenly fatherland are still closed to them; they are sentenced to expiating fire.

I Regret: Wasted time.
I Regret: Extravagance in the use of earthly possessions.
I Regret: Neglect of so many splendid graces. - The benefit of a single grace is greater than all the material value of the whole world." (St. Thomas)
I Regret: The evil which I have done.
I Regret: The scandal which I have given.
I Regret: My neglect of acts of mortification.
I Regret: The little amount of charity I have shown the Poor Souls in my life on earth

Pray for the souls of priests, religious, and all those in Purgatory. The sufferings of the souls in Purgatory are so great that a single day appears to them like a thousand years. Pray also for the most forsaken soul in Purgatory. Pray for the soul nearest to Heaven.. Pray for the soul in Purgatory which is farthest from eternal rest. Pray for the souls for which you are most bound to pray.

Offer the Poor Souls, by way of suffrage, the benefit of some indulgence gained by prayers or some devotional exercise in honor of the divine Heart of Jesus.

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A CERTAIN mother, inconsolable at the death of her only son, wept for his loss long and bitterly, without however, helping him by those means which religion affords such as masses and good works. To give her affection a useful direction, God sent her a vision. She beheld a procession of youths, clad in white garments, enriched with various ornaments, and directing their joyous course toward a magnificent temple. This temple represented heaven, the white garments were the garb of faith, and the ornaments upon them were the works of charity. The bereaved mother, having her lost son unceasingly in her mind and heart, anxiously looked for him among this chosen band, but her searching glance could not discover him till all the rest had passed. She then beheld him, but clothed in a dark robe, and she saw that he advanced but slowly and with difficulty. This sad sight caused her tears to flow anew, and, with a voice broken with sobs, she exclaimed: "Why, O my son, are you so sad, and differ so much from your companions? Why do you remain so far behind?"

The young man sorrowfully replied: "Mother, you see these mournful and sullied garments. Behold in them what your obstinate grief and tears for me produce! Your unreasonable grief weighs heavily upon me and impedes my progress. Ah! Cease to abandon yourself to mere natural feelings, and, if you truly love me, if you desire to see me happy, arouse your faith, and aid me by works of faith and charity. Assist me by your pious suffrages, as is done by other mothers not less affectionate, but more wise and more religious than you. Then I shall be enabled to join the happy company you have seen, and attain to that heavenly bliss, for which I long with so much ardor."

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Please remember to pray for all those enrolled in the Golden Book. Please also remember to have masses said for your deceased loved ones. They are counting on our prayers and sacrifices to shorten their Purgatory.

Friends of the Poor Souls
Established September 15, 2004
Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows
Robert & Mary Ann Luetkemeyer, Coordinators
For more information, please write us at:
436 Vasey Oak Dr.
Keller, TX 76248
OR email holysouls@att.net
http://friendsofthepoorsouls.blogspot.com/