Friday, October 28, 2005

The Prayer of St. Gertrude

Thank you to A Catholic Life Blog for reminding me about the importance of praying for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, especially this time of year with All Souls' Day coming up on November 2.

There is a traditional Catholic prayer that I only learned a few years ago that has become a great comfort for me. It is called the Saint Gertrude's Prayer. Saint Gertrude was said to have been given this prayer by Christ in a vision along with the promise that saying it would free a thousand souls from Purgatory.

Eternal Father,I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, those in my own home and within my family.
Amen.


This prayer has become important to me not only as more of my family members pass away from this life, but also as I age and realize that sinners are everywhere--in my family, among my co-workers and in the Church.

This time of year, when the Church asks us to remember those who have died and think a bit on our own passing, the Prayer of St. Gertrude is a good prayer to remember to say.

4 comments:

Saint Peter's helpers said...

This is beautiful prayer. I love St. Gertrude the Great!

G. Thomas Fitzpatrick said...

You can't beat the terms. One thousand souls every time! And it is such a short prayer, easily memorized.

Matthew said...

Thanks for the link, my friend. I hope others will join in prayer and join the Mission to Empty Purgatory and pledge prayers. The thing is that if every Catholic would say this prayer once right now then purgatory would be empty. As St. Padre Pio said, "Let's emptry purgatory."

Peace

Staying in Balance said...

I love Padre Pio. He was so in touch with spiritual things.

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"Slavery ended in medieval Europe only because the church extended its sacraments to all slaves and then managed to impose a ban on the enslavement of Christians (and of Jews). Within the context of medieval Europe, that prohibition was effectively a rule of universal abolition. "— Rodney Stark

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