Essential Prayers for the Dead E-Book

Sr. Mary Leonora Wilson FSP

• Herausgeber: anna ruggieri
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Jesus invites us to trust in his mercy and to hope in the Resurrection, especially in the face of death. We embrace this invitation every time we intercede for the Holy Souls who are joyfully awaiting heaven—both our own loved ones who have gone before us and the souls in purgatory whom we never had the chance to meet on this earth.

This collection of traditional and contemporary prayers draws from the Bible and the wisdom of the Church. May these essential prayers strengthen your relationship with those who have died and enliven your faith in the Resurrection and God’s loving mercy.

Intercede for the holy souls with this pocket-sized collection of prayers for the dead, featuring an explanation of Church teaching on purgatory; practical ways to help departed loved ones and to prepare for your own death; and traditional and contemporary prayers from Scripture, the saints, and the wisdom of the Church. Perfectly sized for prayer and travel, Essential Prayers for the Dead is an invaluable companion for Catholics committed to the spiritual work of mercy of praying for the deceased. 

Leseprobe

Essential Prayers for the Dead

Essential Prayers for the Dead

Written and compiled by

Mary Leonora Wilson, FSP

Nihil Obstat: Reverend Joseph Briody, S.S.L., S.T.D

Imprimatur: ✠ Seán P. Cardinal O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap.

Archbishop of Boston

December 20, 2023

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023951458

ISBN 10: 0-8198-8385-9

ISBN 13: 978-0-8198-8385-8

ISBN 13 ePUB: 978-0-8198-8386-5

The Scripture quotations contained herein, unless otherwise indicated, are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Kenneth Reaume

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

“P” and PAULINE are registered trademarks of the Daughters of St. Paul.

Copyright © 2024, Daughters of St. Paul

Published by Pauline Books & Media, 50 Saint Paul’s Avenue, Boston, MA 02130–3491

www.pauline.org

Pauline Books & Media is the publishing house of the Daughters of St. Paul, an international congregation of women religious serving the Church with the communications media.

“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.”

John 11:25

Contents

Introduction

I. Purgatory—En Route to Heaven

What Happens When We Die?

What Does the Bible Say About Purgatory?

Why Is It Important to Pray for the Dead?

II. Helping Those Who Have Died

Twelve Ways to Help Our Beloved Dead

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

The Rosary

Indulgences

Friendship with the Souls in Purgatory

Remember Us

Covenant Prayer

Prayer of Intercession

I Promise Never to Forget You

III. Praying with Scripture for the Departed

Psalms of Comfort (23, 27, 42, 63, 103)

Penitential Psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143)

Scripture Texts for Meditation

IV. Prayers for Our Own Beloved Dead

Prayer for a Deceased Loved One

Let Me Never Forget

Prayer for Deceased Parents

For a Deceased Spouse

Parent’s Prayer at the Loss of a Child

For a Departed Sibling

For a Deceased Friend

For a Deceased Priest

Prayer After an Unexpected Death

Prayer After a Violent Death

Prayer in Time of Suicide

For Those Who Gave Their Lives for Others

Forty Day Prayer

V. Traditional Prayers for the Souls in Purgatory

Eternal Rest Prayer

Prayer of Saint Gertrude

Heroic Act of Love

Morning Offering for the Souls in Purgatory

For the Faithful Departed

Second-Century Prayer for the Dead

The Seven Days Prayer for the Dead

Offering of Christ’s Passion

Offering of the Five Wounds of Jesus

Byzantine Prayer for the Deceased

Maronite Prayer for the Departed

A Syriac Prayer for the Dead

Litany for the Faithful Departed

Litany for the Souls in Purgatory

The Lord’s Prayer for the Departed

VI. Recommended Practices on Behalf of the Deceased

Prayer for the Dead Before Mass

Prayer for the Dead at the Offertory

Prayer for the Dead After Mass

Prayer at a Cemetery

On the Anniversary of Death

Stations of the Cross

Novena Prayer of Saint Alphonsus Liguori

Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Chaplet to Jesus for the Souls in Purgatory

Prayer of a Hundred Eternal Rests

All Souls’ Day Prayer

VII. Mary, Gate of Heaven

Rosary for the Faithful Departed

Prayers of the Rosary

The Joyful Mysteries

The Luminous Mysteries

The Sorrowful Mysteries

The Glorious Mysteries

The Memorare

Litany to Our Lady, Help of the Souls in Purgatory

Hail Mary for the Souls in Purgatory

To Our Lady of Intercession

To Our Lady of Sorrows

To Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Mary, Gate of Heaven

Novena to God Through Mary for the Souls in Purgatory

In Honor of Mary’s Seven Sorrows

In Honor of Mary’s Seven Joys

VIII. Preparing for Heaven

Means to Grow in Relationship with God and Shorten Purgatory

Invocations for a Holy Death

For Perseverance Until Death

To God Our Father

Suscipe

To Jesus for Protection

Prayer for Mercy

To Jesus Crucified

Anima Christi

Lead My Soul to Heaven

To Saint Joseph for a Happy Death

To My Guardian Angel

Acknowledgements

Notes

List of Contributors

Introduction

While I learned to pray for the dead early in life, it is only since the death of my father twenty-five years ago that I have experienced a real connection with those who have died. My father was a good man and I loved him dearly. He was generous in his practice of charity and good deeds (most of which we discovered after his death). Of course, he had his faults—his temper, his issues with society and with the Church—but he served his country, loved his family, and had a compassionate heart. His sudden passing was a great loss, taking all of us off guard.

My mother was probably the most affected. Our large family home, filled with furniture my dad had made and the memories they had shared, became too overwhelming. Mom felt the need to move to a smaller house, something that she could manage on her own, one that wouldn’t constantly remind her of her loss. She turned to me, her oldest child, to help.

Since I joined the convent at a rather young age, I had no experience in selling or buying houses. One of my younger brothers put us in contact with a real estate agent, which was very helpful but did not entirely relieve me of my feelings of inexperience and insecurity. I decided to entrust the whole thing to Dad, for whose soul I had been praying.

Our family home was put on the market, and open house was on a Sunday. The realtor arrived and Mom and I left for Mass. As we drove past the “For Sale” sign, I silently prayed the Eternal Rest prayer for Dad and added, “Please, sell this house quickly. It’s really hard on Mom.” I offered my Mass for Dad, thinking that he was probably in purgatory and wanting him to enjoy heaven as soon as possible. After Mass we went for breakfast and then headed back to the house. The first thing I noticed was that the “For Sale” sign was gone. Was it possible? We had been away for barely two hours! Sure enough, in the first hour (the hour of the Mass) we had three potential buyers. Mom chose to sell to a widow who was taking in her daughter and grandchild and needed a bigger house. Not only did the widow want to buy, but she also accepted our selling price. The whole experience was amazing and spoke to me on so many levels: God’s divine providence, the fact that my father was in a position to intercede for us, the communion between ourselves and our departed, and the power of trustful prayer.

Situations like this happened repeatedly in the days to come as well as in the years that followed: the presence of and connection with departed relatives and friends; the consolation of being able to assist them with prayer and good works; the experience of their intercession in my own needs, spiritual and temporal.

This book is a tribute to all who have gone before us, living this pilgrimage called life to the best of their ability, not perfectly but sincerely and full of hope in the promise of our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is a booklet for all who mourn a loss and want to continue to help their loved ones and experience their nearness. May these texts and prayers help you to draw closer to those who have died and increase your faith in the resurrection of the dead and in the loving mercy of God. God bless you.

Mary Leonora Wilson, FSP

I

Purgatory En Route to Heaven

Here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

—Hebrews 13:14

What Happens When We Die?

Is the present reality all there is to life? Are my deceased loved ones gone forever? Or is life changed, continuing in some other form? These are questions that have resurfaced in every age since the beginning of recorded history. Our Catholic faith assures us that the answer to these questions lies in the deeper reality that we are indeed created by God with an immortal soul destined to live forever. Sacred Scripture reminds us of this repeatedly. Jesus’ own resurrection from death is the ultimate proof of this truth. Didn’t he say, “I go to prepare a place for you . . . so that where I am, there you may be also” (Jn 14:2–3)? How consoling and encouraging these words are! To live with Jesus forever—this is heaven! And it means that we, too, will pass through death into life. Saint Paul expresses it eloquently and somewhat dramatically: “We will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. . . . For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (1 Cor 15:51–53). The change begins at death when soul and body are separated. Then, when time ends, both body and soul will be reunited at the final resurrection.

Scripture tells us that those who love God will inherit eternal life, but those who hate and reject God will go to eternal damnation. Yet for some there might arise a gnawing uncertainty: What if the person who dies is good but not good enough for heaven? Doesn’t Sacred Scripture say that nothing imperfect or unclean can enter heaven (see Rev 21:27)? Instinctively we know that what is sin-stained cannot remain in the all-holy presence of God. And even when we have been baptized into Christ’s death and saved through his redemption, repeatedly washed in the sacrament of Reconciliation, still there may be certain attachments to sinful habits that we have not given up. As this is true for us, so it could be true for our loved ones who have died. They may not have known Jesus Christ or practiced the Christian faith perfectly, but they did not reject God and they tried to live a good and upright life. The Church teaches that all who die in God’s friendship are saved through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (see CCC 1260). But to enter that holy state of heavenly joy, the deceased need to be purified of anything that mars the divine image in them (see CCC 1030). Our very reason points to the logic of this.