“As we enter heaven we will see them, so many of them coming towards us and thanking us. We will ask who they are, and they will say a poor soul you prayed for in purgatory.” -Venerable Fulton Sheen
How many of us had grandparents who had their stack of holy cards in their prayer book? These favorite saints were their friends, their prayer warriors! How many of our ancestors knew to pray for the holy souls in purgatory, especially the souls of family and friends? The holy souls would then, in deep gratitude, return many prayers for those who cared to pray for them. This is why our ancestors never faced evil alone or prayed for anything or anybody alone — they had their comrades in the heavenly realm, their Holy Alliance of saints and holy souls, with them at all times. The devil never stood a chance against this united force!
What’s stopping us from building upon the great example of our ancestors who called upon the saints to pray with them for the poor souls in purgatory? If they invoked (recruited) their handful of favorite saints, what’s stopping us from building an enormous personal Holy Alliance of saints (as we learn about each one) by recruiting a new saint each day to pray with us?
“Never Leave A Fallen Comrade.” After completing this indulgenced prayer, ask today’s grateful holy soul, today’s saint, and all those in your Holy Alliance to join you as you all pray together a Divine Mercy Chaplet for a living loved one you believe needs to receive God’s grace to grow in faith, hope, and love — who, in some ways, is caught in the clutches of worldliness, or a loved one you desire to receive more grace.
Here is how is works:
Requirements for obtaining a plenary indulgence:
- Do the work while in a state of grace
- Receive sacramental confession within 20 days of the work (several plenary indulgences may be earned per reception)
- Receive Eucharistic communion (one plenary indulgence may be earned per reception of Eucharist)
- Pray for the pope’s intentions (an Our Father and Hail Mary, or other appropriate prayer, is sufficient)
- Have no attachment to sin (even venial) — i.e., the Christian makes an act of the will to love God and despise sin.
Four ways (Big Four) to gain a plenary indulgence on any given day:
- Adoring the Blessed Sacrament for at least one half hour
- Devoutly reading Sacred Scripture for at least one half hour
- Devoutly performing the Stations of the Cross (only at approved Stations)
- Reciting the Rosary with members of the family, or in a church, oratory, religious community, or pious association
So, Here’s the Spiritual Warfare Prayer:
- Choose a deceased loved one for whom you wish to pray into heaven.
- Choose a saint to pray with you for your deceased loved one.
- Pray with your saint for your holy soul in purgatory by choosing one of the “Big Four” (Rosary, Stations, Scripture, or Adoration) that allow for a plenary indulgence.
- Ask today’s grateful holy soul, today’s saint, and all those in your Holy Alliance, to join you as you all pray together a Divine Mercy Chaplet for a living loved one you believe needs to receive God’s grace to grow in faith, hope, and love — who, in some ways, is caught in the clutches of worldliness, or a loved one you desire to receive more grace.
Secret Weapon Prayer
In her diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul, Saint Faustina Kowalska recorded that she received a private revelation regarding intercessory prayer from Jesus who told her to “Call upon My mercy on behalf of sinners; I desire their salvation. When you say this prayer, with a contrite heart and with faith on behalf of some sinner, I will give them the grace of conversion. This is the prayer (Pray it silently when you are with the loved one for whom you seek a conversion):
“O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You” (Diary, 186-187).
Source: https://www.romancatholicman.com/best-spiritual-warfare-prayer-conversions-loved-ones/
