purgatory

It’s not too late to take a tip on Christmas gift giving from two doctors of the Church: St. Alphonsus Liguori and St. Teresa of Ávila. You can help a soul in purgatory reach heaven on Dec. 25. And — marking the eight days of the Octave of…

by Fr. Hugh Vincent Dyer, OP Dear Father: I paid $20 for two Masses to be said for the repose of the souls of my husband and my daughter. Am I buying the Masses? Would it be just as efficacious if I offered the two Masses without paying for…

While Inferno remains the most famous part of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, the poems’ two subsequent parts, Purgatorio and Paradiso are necessary for understanding Inferno in its entirety. Much like understanding only one part of the…

There’s always a sense of shock when someone close to us dies. The deeper our love, the more overwhelming our sorrow. That’s especially so when that death was sudden and unexpected. Most of us experience that type of loss at some point in…

When I was 12, I came upon a funeral prayer card in a used book. For years —and occasionally still — I prayed for Rudy Larson’s soul. I never met him, but I felt called to pray for him. It was my mom who instilled in me the importance of…