Souls in Purgatory.

 Today is the anniversary of my sister-in-law's passing, at age 66, in 2021. Every morning I pray my Rosary right after I get up, 4:30, after I feed the cat, get my coffee and fill the wood stove. That first rosary of the day is for the souls in purgatory, especially 'those souls we knew on earth, those of our family and those closest to heaven.' After a bit I remembered the date, the 23, Laurel's passing. I think of all the people I can remember on any given morning, putting their face before me in my mind's eye, but today her passing just affected me a little bit harder. Praying for the souls in purgatory. Every morning I say it so casually, just another set of words that I say that goes along with my first rosary. Today, though, thinking of my sister-in-law and how her passing so affected my wife, even to this day, made my think harder about who might still be there and the torments that they must be going through. In the dark, as I prayed, I felt the darkness of my thoughts almost overwhelm me, and the tears began to flow. I will continue to pray for the souls in purgatory, trying to give each bead to someone in need. 

Today in the Mass for today, Jona sets out for the great city of Ninive, obeying God's command to announce the message that God gave him, and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, Forty days more and Ninive shall be destroyed, when the people of Ninive believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. We as Catholics can never stop announcing the Word of God, by our mouths and by our actions. We never know when even one person will be saved.