HOLY COMMUNION OF GREAT BENEFIT TO THE DEPARTED
The holy Doctor and Cardinal, St. Bonaventure, of the Order of St. Francis, who wrote much concerning the holy souls, urges especially frequent communion in their behalf. "Let the love and compassion for your neighbor” so he writes, "lead you to the holy table; for nothing is so well calculated to obtain eternal rest for the holy souls." This is confirmed by the following example: ' Louis Blosius relates that a pious servant of God, in a vision, beheld a departed friend, wrapped in flames, and learned from him that he suffered terribly, because he had received our Lord in Holy Communion with but little preparation. "Therefore," added this
departed friend, “I beg of you, for the love we bore each other, to communicate for the benefit of my soul, but to do so with great preparation and fervor; I then hope certainly to be released from the terrible sufferings that I have indeed well deserved for my negligence towards the Blessed Sacrament." The friend at once complied with the request, and having received Holy Communion with due preparation, he saw the same soul enveloped in light, winging its happy flight to Heaven, to behold face to face the King of eternal glory.
Prayer: O Lord, Jesus Christ, Who in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar hast given us Thine own flesh and blood for the nourishment of our souls, and a pledge of our own future resurrection, grant us the grace always to receive worthily this Most Holy Mystery, that it may be to us and the souls in Purgatory a source of salvation. Who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.
Special Intercession: Pray for the souls who were negligent in their preparation for Holy Communion.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them; may they rest in peace. Amen.
(Three times)
Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!
