Message from our National Spiritual Director

Message from our National Spiritual Director

“What about Amelia?” Lucia asked.
Our Lady replied, “she will be in purgatory till the end of the world.”

Dear WAF family,

Our First Saturday this month falls on All Souls’ Day, a day to pray for the Faithful departed and in particular we pray for those in Purgatory “so that they may be loosed of their sins.”

When during the 13 May 1917 apparition Lucia asked about Amelia, the deceased local girl who had been her friend, she received the above response. There are two points to consider regarding what Our Lady said:

Firstly, when she told Lucia that Amelia would be in Purgatory until the end of the world, perhaps that information was intended to encourage Lucia, and those whom she would tell about Our Lady's apparitions. to pray, fast, and offer suffrages on behalf of Amelia and all those who, like her, owe a great debt of temporal punishment due to sin.

After all, one of the key elements of the message of Fatima is the summons to make reparation for our sins and the sins of others, to become conduits of the mercy of God so that no soul will be lost. Our Lady showed the visionaries the fires of hell in order to spur them, and all true children of Mary, to pray and offer penance for the conversion of sinners.

Secondly, the response of Our Lady reminds us that Purgatory actually exists. Our Lady mentions the term specifically and that there is someone there. Not all of us will die and go straight to heaven.

The Catechism of the Church reminds us: “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.” (1030)

The wonderful thing about Purgatory is that it’s not Hell, and that there is a way out which leads to heaven. Those in heaven we refer to as Saints, those in Purgatory we refer to as the Holy Souls.

For us as WAF members, who month after month practice the First Saturday devotion with the requirement of monthly confession and living out the message revealed by Our Lady of penance, sacrifice and prayer, we are already in this world purging and purifying ourselves in readiness for life eternal. 

We also have the maternal grace approved and taught by the Church that by being enrolled and clothed in the Brown Scapular we have the opportunity of being taken by Our Lady from Purgatory on the First Saturday after our death (the Sabbatine privilege). What great comfort it is then to be a WAF member and to have all of these spiritual aids to assist us.

Throughout November there are numerous ways in which we can assist those in purgatory:

When writing a request for our parish’s November dead list, we can include the names of loved ones. Our family, friends, neighbours, and colleagues can all be recalled, and we can even include dear Amelia so that we can shorten her stay in Purgatory.

For the first 8 days of November we can obtain the Indulgence for the dead by visiting a cemetery, and saying the prescribed prayers - see below.

Also, maybe we can say the rosary in church before the Blessed Sacrament or in a group. In both of these instances we can obtain the Indulgence and apply it to the Holy Souls.

I look forward to seeing a number of you at our WAF AGM in the middle of the month.

May I also encourage you to join with Archbishop Mark and myself on the Jubilee Holy Year pilgrimage to Pontevedra and Fatima (via Santiago de Compostela) for the centennial celebration of the full and final revelation of the Five first Saturday devotion, which took place in December 1925.

With assurance of prayers for you, and for all deceased WAF members.

Canon Jason Jones
National Spiritual Director
WAF England and Wales