Fall-Winter 2013-2014

H elp make D ivine M ercy part of her future Provide a secure future for yourself and for the Church. To learn about receiving fixed payments for your lifetime through a charitable gift annuity, call 1-800-671-2020, or e-mail [email protected] . of the Sea, pray for us and for the souls who rest in the bosom of this ocean.” We’re pray- ing for everybody who was lost in the Atlantic Ocean, so that’s quite a few. It’s not just fisher- men or people from the Titanic, but all the planes and ships that went down during wars, and all sorts of other people who died an unexpected death at sea. This all ties in perfectly to my life now since one aspect of the charism of the Marians under Blessed Stanislaus is to pray for those who have died unprepared. We say a prayer for those souls each night. Any other practices you do while driving? I did have another idea, which saddens me greatly. We don’t always drive past the sea- shore or a cemetery, but frequently we drive past malls, schools, and movie theaters. And unfortunately, a lot of people have died sud- denly in these places over the past few years, victims of inhuman acts of violence. When we go by these places, we should think about what has happened in our world and ask God to have mercy on these Holy Souls. Tell us about this new Holy Souls Rosary. Susan Tassone, noted author on purga- tory, sent me a rosary for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. It is a rosary made up of five decades in which each decade has a different colored bead. The first decade is black, the second one is dark grey, the third is a medium grey, the fourth is a light grey, and the fifth is white. When one prays this particular Rosary, obviously, one begins by praying the first decade of the black beads, conscious of the fact that the soul is in purgatory, a place of darkness. As you pray the Rosary, you move into the dark grey, then to the medium grey, then to the light grey. Finally, you pray the fifth decade on the white beads, conscious of the fact that by our prayers, souls are being released from darkness and given the light of the Holy Spirit. The tradition behind this rosary is to pray it for a particular soul in purgatory. It might not be somebody you know by name. You could say it, for example, for somebody who w as outside of the faith when he died. The so uls you help reach heaven then pray for you . It’s all in the family — God’s family, that is. The Marian Fathers invite you to join them in their November remembrance (click here) and to become a member of the Holy Souls Sodality (click here). We are invited to remember the Holy Souls in special ways, such as praying with the Holy Souls Rosary, throughout November, mindful that they cannot help themselves. C hris S parks Back to index