It has been said, and with reason, that "amongst all Catholic devotions, one of the most solid, most fruitful, and the most conformed to that spirit of charity which constitutes the soul and principle of Christian morality, is, without doubt, devotion to the souls in Purgatory."

And now, let us see what really is the end of this beautiful devotion. Is it not to deliver from expiatory flames souls which find in our suffrages a compensation for the slowness of their painful expiation? But the real and immediate object of devotion to the souls in Purgatory leads to various consequences which multiply its fruits. For to deliver a soul from Purgatory, is it not to procure the glory of God, since it allows that soul to praise Him in heaven for all eternity? And to deliver a soul from Purgatory, is it not to exercise one of the best works of charity a Christian could practise, since it procures for that soul the greatest of all benefits, heavenly bliss?

To deliver a soul from Purgatory is to create for ourselves in heaven a most powerful friend, whose gratitude will never fail us.

Finally, to work for the deliverance of the souls in Purgatory is to compel ourselves, so to say, to the frequent remembrance and serious consideration of our last end, and consequently to obtain a pledge and infallible means of salvation, according to the word of the Holy Ghost: "Remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin."--page 13 - 14.