I think it important to note that St. Therese's parents, Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin, had a great devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory as well, and fittingly instilled the devotion in the hearts of their daughters. I think it is a great testimony to the virtue of this devotion that three of the family are now canonized saints, and the other sisters lived very virtuous and holy lives as well. Perhaps one day the entire Martin family will be numbered among the Church's canonized saints.
Saint Augustine and Poor Holy Souls in Purgatory, orate pro nobis!
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Chapter I, Part 3- St. Teresa and Friendship
Little Teresa, it may be a consolation for some souls to know, was not "popular" at school. Nor did she find it possible even later to enter into long, familiar conversations with her teachers, as others of the older pupils did, or to win any special tokens of favor from them, though she led in her studies. That was God's particular blessing in her regard. It drew her nearer to Him. It made her realize, with her vast capacity and desire for love, that He alone was her true and lasting Friend. If at times it produced within her a natural depression of spirit, it nevertheless taught her in consequence to appreciate more highly the consoling Presence of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. His love alone could never fail her. Others might forget or overlook her; He would always have His Heart wide open for her. To us, too, let us remember, that love is extended, and to all who wish to come to Him.
Referring to a period in her life when twice a week she went to take lessons in a convent, just for the sake of being admitted into the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin, she writes:
"So I worked in silence till the end if the lesson, and then, as no one took any notice of me, I went to the tribune in the chapel till Papa came to fetch me home. Here, during this silent visit, I found my one consolation; for was not Jesus my only Friend? To Him alone could I open my heart."
What graces must have been granted to her by her Divine Spouse in these trysts of love! She applied to herself in their fullest sense those words of Our Lord: "If you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it you." Nor was she ever disappointed, for she sought always to bring her will into complete conformity with His. Truly, therefore, could she sing:
"All things my love can gain when, heart to heart, I pray,
Alone with Jesus Christ in speechless ecstasy.
Beside His altar blest with Him I gladly stay:
O, this is heaven for me!"
It was here that in later years she was to pray so earnestly for our Holy Mother the Church; for those entrusted to her care; for friends, relatives, and her own Sisters in Religion; for every soul, that God might enter in and establish there His reign of love, but especially for priests, that they might truly be "other Christs." Here, too, could she plead, like Moses on the mountain, that God might multiply vocations and send ever greater armies of workers into His vineyard and His harvest field.
But neither was the Church Suffering forgotten by her, the souls confined in Purgatory, for whom the Heart in the Tabernacle is moved with such tender affection. She herself tells us how her rose-leaves, made precious by the touch of the Divine Hand, were scattered by It upon those holy sufferers to extinguish their flames.
It is precisely in connection with the Holy Eucharist that so many indulgences can be gained by us for the Poor Souls. The one familiar prayer alone which is to be said after Communion before an image of the Crucified, enables us to gain a Plenary Indulgence each time we receive Our Divine Lord, provided some additional prayers-- e.g., five "Our Fathers," and five "Hail Marys" are recited for the intention of the Holy Father.
A loving zeal to aid these souls in God's prison house, is a devotion which the Heart of Jesus has intimately connected with the Sacred Presence, with Communion and the Holy Mass, as also of course with the Rosary and the Way of the Cross. Our Lord seems to say: "If you love Me in My Sacrament of Love, help the souls whom I love, that you may hasten the day when I can clasp them to My Heart of Love."
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