Newspaper Page Text
20
THE INDIAN ADVOCATE.
and poor clothing, and he has given you
decent and warm clothes; you had no
home, and he has opened the doors of
an asylum for you. Here your hands
are employed in useful manual labor,
whilst your intellect is cultivated by
instruction and mental exercises, and
mind and heart are trained in the path
of truth and virtue. Then turning to
ward you, the Heavenly Father directs
your attention to the kind Sister of
Charity: "Behold your mother," says
He "cccc Mater tual" And, indeed,
this Christian virgin lavishes ail the
tender cares of a true mother upon
you; her sweet look, her solacing and
encouraging smile, her modest appear
ance, her compassionate kindness have
touched and won your young heart. No
wonder, therefore, if, in a rapture of
love and gratitude, you are forced to
cry out: "My earthly parents have been
taken from me, but our dear Lord
has Himself taken me under His pro
tection!" Still the poor orphan is always to be
pitied; and he would be so by far more
if, through a wise and merciful Provi
dence, he should not find in the Priest
and Sister of Charity the parents lie
had the misfortune to lose.
And now, dear reader, who is moro
an orphan than the poor souls of Purgatory?-
They are separated from their
heavenly Father; and it is just this
separation in which consists their se-
verest punishment and pain. How
slowly must not pass the hours in this
state of separation! Far off from their
Father, whom the7 love so dearly, whom
they adore and worship, the separation
from wl ora is so painful to them, they
are weeping, sighing, moaning. Unable
to soar up to the sight of this Father,
they call Him by the sweetest names,
but their Father does not answer them!
They are separated from their Mother!
These poor orphans know well that in
heaven they have a Mother who is all
goodness,, love, and mercy; but the
justice of God has veiled her amiable
countenance from their sight. Listen
to. their cries in the bitterness of their
sorrow: "Oh Mary, queen and patroness
of Purgatory, give us a sign of thy
clemenc', do not disdain to plead our
cause. Oh good, Oh tender Mother,
open, Oh do open heaven to us!"
And Mary, who on earth never is
invoked in vain, for the first time does
not answer their supplications.
Dear reader, it is in your power to
give back to these poor desolate souls
the Father and Mother, whom they
have lost. Orphans of this world, re
member that your parents are perhaps
orphans in a higher degree, and more
to be pitied than you; pray, therefore,
with, us for them; let us pray together
for the Orphanhood of Purgatory.
TIIKIi: GRATITUDE.
The soul, or souls, delivered from
the torments of Purgatory through our
intercession, will never forget the ser
vices rendered to them, but will con
sider it a duty to watc'h over our wel
fare, both spiritual and temporal, will
not cease to plead our cause before the
throne of mercy. And should it happen
that these souls, delivered through our
mediation, are those of our father or
mother, 'ah, then they will doubtless
be another Guardian-Angel to us. They
will mingle their powerful prayers with
ours, and render them resistless in the
sight of God.
"An alms given with the intention of
relieving the souls in Purgatory, is more
precious than that given to raise the
dead to life j even should it have that
effect." St. Ciiuysostom.
"I have obtained more easily what I
have prayed for through the intercession
of the souls in Purgatory, than by the
intercession of the Saints in Heaven."
St. Catherine of Bologna.
