32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

To All the Families of the Suffering Souls in Purgatory of the Parish of the Epiphany of the Lord 

Mary the Mother of God: The Star of Sea Who Visits the Souls in Purgatory 
[The next night] I saw my Guardian Angel, who ordered me to follow him. In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid. The flames which were burning them did not touch me at all. My Guardian Angel did not leave me for an instant. I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God. I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in Purgatory. The souls call her the Star of the Sea. She brings them refreshment. I wanted to talk with them some more, but my Guardian Angel beckoned me to leave. We went out of that prison of suffering. [I heard an interior voice] which said, my mercy does not want this, but justice demands it. Since that time, I am in closer communion with the suffering souls. 
(Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul, Notebook-I, No. 20). 

Sister Faustina (1905-1938) was a young, uneducated nun in a convent of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Poland during the 1930s. She came from a poor family that struggled during the years of World War I. She had only three years of simple education, so her’s were the humblest tasks in the convent, usually in the kitchen or garden. However, she received extraordinary revelations — or messages — from our Lord Jesus. Jesus asked Sr. Faustina to record these experiences, which she compiled into Notebooks. These Notebooks are known today as the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, and the words contained within are God’s loving message of Divine Mercy. 

Though the Divine Mercy message is not new to the teachings of the Church, Sr. Faustina’s Diary sparked a great movement, and a strong and significant focus on the Mercy of Jesus Christ. Saint John Paul II canonized Sr. Faustina in 2000 making her the First Saint of the New Millennium. Speaking of Sr. Faustina and the importance of the message contained in her Diary, the Roman Pontiff Saint John Paul II called her the Great Apostle of Divine Mercy in Our Time. We celebrate the memory of St. Faustina Kowalska on the 05 November in each liturgical year. 

In other words, the above-mentioned quote recalls the story, which St. Faustina shares in her Diary, of the time when her guardian angel led her on a visit to Purgatory. St. Faustina testifies that Our Blessed Mother, the Star of the Sea, following God’s will, takes great care to bring comfort for all the suffering souls as they are being purified in Purgatory. 

In the above-cited text from her Notebook, St. Faustina describes seeing a sister who had died two months earlier in a terrible state, in flames and with a contorted face. She later saw the sister again, but this time she was no longer in flames and her face was bright and joyful. The sister told St. Faustina that she had love for her neighbor and that many souls had benefited from her prayers. St. Faustina also described seeing the Blessed Mother visiting all the suffering souls in Purgatory, comforting them as they are purified. 

St. Faustina in her Diary confirms that: we do not know the number of souls that is ours to save through our prayers and sacrifices; therefore, let us always pray for sinners. In her spiritual mysticism, she goes to the extent of composing a prayer to be said after Holy Communion, asking God to let all the souls who will die that day escape hell and obtain pardon and forgiveness from God. 

For us as members of the Family of the Epiphany of the Lord, our prayers for all the suffering souls of our Parish community and our offering of the Holy Masses for all the departed souls of our Epiphany Parish, serve as a kind of reminder to all of us that we are all called to evolve our lives that are more appropriate and worthy of God as Christians, that is, as those whom God has called to be one of His own people, to be His flock, followers and disciples. Hence, we are called to lead a true Christian liv-ing, immersed in the true Christian faith, in true Christian charity and to be truly committed in all things, in our every words, actions and deeds, and not only just in mere appearances only. We ought to become great apostles of divine mercy in praying for all the suffering souls in purgatory. 

Brothers and sisters of the Parish Community of the Epiphany of the Lord, let us all with one heart and mind, therefore, commit ourselves to righteous and virtuous Christian living from now on, and let us all be good examples of faith to each other, so that we are always reminded of our mortality and of our own eventual fate. If we seek to go to Heaven, then we should really do our very best to live our lives in accordance to what God has taught us to do through His Church and through His disciples. 

Dear brothers and sisters, let us all pray for all the predecessors of our Parish community, and for all the suffering souls of our Epiphany Parish in purgatory, that God may show mercy upon them and bring them into the glory of Heaven as He wills it. May God enable our Parish Community to become humble instruments of His Divine Mercy in our Parish neighborhoods. Let us unite ourselves spiritually with the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, the Star of the Sea to visit our cemeteries and offer Holy Masses for all the suffering souls of the Epiphany of the Lord Parish. May our dearly beloved patron Saints and Intercessors St. Stephen of Hungary and St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor accompany us in our spiritual communion of prayer for the Suffering Souls of our Parish in Purgatory. 

Fraternally, 
Fr. John Peter Lazaar SAC & Fr. Clement Sahaya Anand SAC