“I looked up the statistics … something like 200,000 people plus die each day, which means that there are plenty of people to pray for just in a single day that go to purgatory”…
“And, so, if I pray for those who are suffering, that brings solace and comfort. Just like if somebody is thirsty and I bring them water, it helps slake their thirst.
And, so. if I can do that on a physical level to alleviate thirst, I can certainly do so on a spiritual level to alleviate their thirst for God and their desire to be with Him in heaven.”
(Fr. Thaddaeus Lancton, MIC, The Rosary Hour Podcast Live Record Session, 3 August, 2024)1
LINK TO DEVOTION NOW:
https://divinemercyplus.org/podcast/90-days-souls-purgatory2
Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (check)! Join today and pray for Holy Souls… and link here for the prayers for Days 4 and 5:
4 AUGUST 2024 | 2nd EDITION, SUNDAY | DOMINGO
(2nd Edition for non-subscribers to this podcast with partial subtitles in Portuguese for summer pilgrims, updated 6 AUGUST 2024. NOTE: A full translation will be available via the ENCONTRO SERIES that you can access via obtaining a free subscription to ODIARIO.SUBSTACK.COM, a new initiative that will evolve in the Year of Prayer as we enter Jubilee 2025). More details on this evolving conversation below:
THE ROSARY HOUR PODCAST NEWSLETTER | SPECIAL INVITATION TO PRAYER
Dear friends, those who are beloved in God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ:
May God show Mercy upon you and grant you peace today. And may His charity be abundantly fulfilled in you as we contemplate how to be part of this year’s opportunity to increase the number of prayers for Holy Souls in Purgatory, who are part of the Communion of Saints, and for whom we might intercede during the next 90 days. Why? To assist them as they journey with us toward Heaven — we who seek to work for food that endures for eternal life, for “Everything in this world passes away” (Bishop Barron).
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS Today’s guest to the Rosary Hour Podcast helps us answer the folllowing essential questions:
How can I help more Holy Souls enter into Heaven?
How can I increase our goal of holiness through fervent prayer?
Why should I pray for Holy Souls?
What should I practice to support Holy Souls in the Year of Prayer?
ABOUT TODAY’S GUEST: Father Thaddaeus Lancton, MIC
Father Thaddaeus Lancton, is the current Formator of the Marian Seminarians in Steubenville, Ohio (USA), and the Rosary Hour Podcast is so happy he could spare the time to speak to us about this prayer podcast given his schedule before the very intense Encuentro Latino, or Latin Encounter, which Father Anthony told us is a very important yearly celebration held at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA.
“Purgatory is what the Holy Spirit wants to do in us, in this life or the next. He wants to purge us of all sin.”
“We intercede by being in the same place of repentance, sorrow, and conversion. They experience it and therefore we must experience it.” (Fr. Thaddaeus Lancton, MIC, The Rosary Hour Podcast Live Record Session, 3 August, 2024)
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Our common goal for this episode: to ensure that our readers (and all their family, friends and relations reading this little post today, on the Memorial of St. John Vianney, patron of priests) could partake, somehow, in this important invitation by the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception.
We are thankful for the opportunity to begin to explore the responsibility we all have to pray for Holy Souls. We are reminded of this task in Luke 16:19-31 (c.f. the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition):
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. 24 He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ 27 He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ 30 He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
There are many ways to analyze the above scripture and one excellent segment relevant to today’s post is from the Orthodox Church translation of a sermon by St. John of Kronstadt, with Translation by Igumen Seraphim (Bell) as follows:
"Further, Abraham presents another reason to the rich man as to why Lazarus cannot come to him, the former rich man, and with the slightest comfort—only a drop of water on his finger—precisely because an impassable abyss has been established between those imprisoned in hell and those in paradise. This must have struck the rich man with a new horror of hopelessness in pardon, the horror of despair, and he no longer asks Abraham for himself, but for his brothers, that he might send Lazarus to them to testify to the actual existence of hell and eternal torment in its flames, and to the existence of paradise—the eternal dwelling and place of joy of those who have lived holy lives, or who have suffered punishment for sins and repented. But the former rich man is denied this also, and he is told that his brothers should listen to Moses and the prophets, i.e., read and obey their writings.
The rich man again begged Abraham for the same thing, and he was again refused. If they did not listen to Moses and the prophets who spoke by the Holy Spirit, then they would not believe the dead as proof of the existence of eternal torment and eternal life.
A good, instructive lesson to all the current crazy smart people who do not believe in the existence of human souls after death, in the actual existence of eternal fire, in the eternity of the torment of unrepentant sinners, and in the future bliss. They, too, would like the dead to come to them more often and assure them of the truth of what is said in the Gospel, but the dead will not come to them to assure them that the eternal Truth itself has spoken once and forever—Christ our God. And if they want to change their way of thinking and living and attain eternal life, then let them diligently read and listen to the Gospel and fulfill what is written in it.
This is a brief discussion of today’s Gospel. Reflect on what is written in it and believe with all your heart everything that is written in it. One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from what the Truth itself, Christ, has said, and all will be fulfilled (Matt. 5:18). Amen."
SEE: https://orthochristian.com/157148.htmlSUMMER READING: “Purgatory Explained by the Lives and Legends of the Saints” by Father Francois Xavier Schouppe (Published 1893). Readers interested might access that book here:
https://www.saintsbooks.net/books/Rev.%20F.X.%20Schouppe,%20S.J.%20-%20Purgatory.pdf
HOW the ROSARY HOUR PODCAST WILL FOLLOW FR. THAD'S PODCAST?Thank you, and enjoy, and God bless you.
PRAY THE ROSARY EVERY DAY. PRAY THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES TODAY.
THE ROSARY HOUR PODCAST TEAM
p.s. You can find the “90 Days for the Souls in Purgatory” with Fr. Thaddaeus Lancton, MIC using an app or desktop here:
CLICK BELOW - FOR DAY 1 using APPLE PODCASTS:
and for Android users, please check the relevant app sites.
OUR CONVERSATION WITH FR. THAD, TO BE CONTINUED.
FOOTNOTES
World Meter dot com is one of many source references that one may cross-reference using a competent search method. For now, this image for educational use purposes presents a “ball-park overview” of the point being made — that indeed, we have a very wide scope of people we can pray for each day. We appreciated Fr. Thad’s insight, which has helped us realize that we cannot ever underestimate the vast number of Holy Souls in need of our Rosaries, offered Masses, our Chaplet prayers, and our daily support every day.
RHP PRAYER LOG
DAY 1 with Fr. Thad, AUGUST 4, we prayed the Chaplet + the 100 Requiem using Rosary Beads. It took a moment to figure out. See the recording here.
DAY 2 with Fr. Thad, AUGUST 5, St. Mary Major we refined the 100 Requiem with the Psalm 130, then added the Chaplet and Mass.
DAY 3 with Fr. Thad, AUGUST 6, Feast of the Transfiguration - Our podcast members refined the 100 Requiem (much easier tonight) and offered the Chaplet to the Divine Mercy already at the the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We started 9-day novena to Our Lady of the Assumption and are praying for all who tune-into this podcast. If you are reading this, please pray for 2 special intentions and for those who have no one to pray for them, say 3 Ave Marias. Message us with your intentions.
Souls with Splendour: Fr. Thad's 90-day novena for the sake of the Holy Souls starts today via his podcast programme on DivineMercyPlus.com!