The holy souls are suffering the temporal
penalty due to sin. This Apostle had by his sin effaced the image of
God in his soul, but Jesus turned His Holy Face toward the unfaithful
disciple, and His divine look wounded the heart of Peter with repentant
sorrow and love; also St. James and St. John, who with him saw the
glory of the Face of Jesus on Mount Thabor, and its sorrow in
Gethsemane, when, 'neath the olive trees, it was covered with
confusion, and bathed in a bloody sweat for our sins. These great
saints, dear to the Heart of Jesus, will surely hear our prayers in
behalf of the holy souls. St. Mary Magdalen, who saw the Holy Face in
agony on the cross, when its incomparable beauty was obscured under the
fearful cloud of the sins of the world, and who assisted the Virgin
Mother to wash, anoint, and veil the bruised, pale, features of her
Divine Son; the saint, whose many sins were forgiven her because she
had loved much, will lend heed to our prayers for the holy souls. We
should also invoke, for the holy souls, the Virgin Martyrs, because of
their purity, love, and the sufferings they endured to see in Heaven
the Face of their King.
Yet nothing can help these souls so much as the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass.
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