Some 150,000 people die each day and it is likely that most of them go to purgatory, where they are purified before entering heaven. They suffer greatly at the same time as they are very happy, since they are assured of heaven. We can help them by our prayers and good works. In this meditation we use texts from Scripture, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and St Thomas More to consider how:

• the soul must be completely purified before it can enter heaven
• the souls in purgatory suffer the pain of being deprived of the sight of God and of fire
• most of the souls in purgatory probably have no one to pray for them
• we can help them by offering our Masses, prayers, good works and indulgences for them
• if we have devotion to the holy souls, they will pray for us and perhaps we can avoid going to purgatory ourselves