PRAYING IN THE PRESENCE OF OUR LORD FOR THE HOLY SOULS by Susan Tassone Our Sunday Visitor, 2001 176 pages, $7.95

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In this new springtime of Christianity, we have witnessed the creation of apostolates for the pre-born, the elderly and everyone in between. Now writer and speaker Susan Tassone brings us a slim volume of prayers that are actually an apostolate to the dead. This is Tassone's second work on the holy souls in purgatory, and the third in a series of books on eucharistic adoration edited by Capuchin Father Benedict Groeschel.

Father Groeschel introduces the book with a concise clarification of who the holy souls and purgatory are—and who they are not. “An examination of the prayers in this book will dispel the illusion, often held by the uninformed, that our prayers or good works accomplish something directly for the holy souls, that somehow we can ‘buy their way out’ of purgatory,” he writes. “Every prayer in this book explicitly … calls on God the Father in His mercy or on His Son, the Redeemer, to receive the holy souls and bring them into the kingdom.”

The book, a compilation of ancient and modern prayers, is divided into seven sections. The initial “Prayers for the Faithful Departed” are followed by the seven penitential psalms, whose sorrowful hope and thanksgiving have had a long-standing place of prominence in the tradition of the Church.

The “Supplications to Mary” are reminiscent of one brother pleading for another before a loving Mother. To our “Shining Star of the Third Millennium,”

Tassone prays: “May the Souls who come after pray for us who ushered in this new springtime.”

A morning offering, heroic act of charity to Our Lady, and other moments of prayer, recast specifically for the Holy Souls, are our means of helping the suffering members of our family who can no longer pray for themselves. “Holy Hour Prayers” will hold your rapt attention on this good and holy sacrifice of prayer and praise. Along with the Little Flower, St. Therese of Lisieux, we pray, “Eternal Father, since you have given me for my inheritance the adorable Face of your adorable Divine Son, I offer that Face to you. I beg you, in exchange for this coin of infinite value, to forget the ingratitude of souls dedicated to you and to pardon all poor sinners.”

“May the angels lead us into Paradise; may the martyrs come to welcome us and lead us into the holy city of Jerusalem,” reads an entry under “Invocations to the Saints.”

The book also includes “Prayers for Specific People.” Prayers are found for a mother, a husband, a child. The remembrance of a soul on the anniversary of their death will keep us connected to them, Tassone reminds us, as we were in their earthly life. We also are encouraged to ask Christ to have mercy on priests “who toiled so bravely and unsparingly here below. … O Jesus, have mercy on the priest who poured the saving waters of Baptism upon my head and made of me a child of God.”

We remember the war dead through the words of Pope Pius XII, and entrust the souls of non-Christians to God's goodness and mercy. Tassone covers all the bases with one final, powerful chapter—“Novenas for Every Day.” The faithful use of the prayers in this book will bring every reader into an apostolate that has, sadly, lapsed into near-extinction outside the Church. To pray these prayers is, therefore, to perform a rare and invaluable act of mercy.

Nor should the prayers be limited to eucharistic adoration. The book is small enough that it's easily carried to a cemetery or even the home of a grieving family. There is grace here— grace that can transform the Church Militant even as it brings the Church Suffering to glory.

Caroline Schermerhorn is on the editorial staff of Envoy magazine.