St. Mechtilde’s ‘Our Father’ for the souls in Purgatory.

 

Whenever Saint Mechtilde (a mystic nun 1241 -1298) recited this prayer, she saw legions of souls from Purgatory ascend to Heaven.

 

OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN, I beseech You, O Heavenly Father, pardon the Souls in Purgatory, for they did not love You sufficiently, nor render to You all the honor which is Your due, due to You their Lord and Father, Who, by pure grace, have adopted them as Your children. By their sins, rather, have they driven You from their souls, where You none the less wished always to live. In reparation for these faults, I offer You the love and veneration which Your Incarnate Son showed You all during His earthly life, and I offer all the acts of penance and satisfaction which He performed and by which He effaced and atoned for the sins of men.

HALLOWED BE THY NAME, I beg You, O Father Most Good, pardon the Souls in Purgatory, for they did not honor, always and fittingly, Your Holy Name, but often they took It in vain and proved unworthy of the name "Christian", by their lives of sin. In reparation for their faults, I offer to You all the honor which Your Well-Beloved Son rendered to Your Name by His words and deeds.

THY KINGDOM COME; I pray You, Father Most Good, pardon the Souls in Purgatory, for they did not always seek or adore Your Kingdom with enough fervor and diligence; this Kingdom, the only place where true rest and peace reign. In reparation for their omissions, through indifference to do what is good, I offer You the Most Holy Desire of Your Son, by which He wished that they also might become heirs of His Kingdom.

THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN; I pray You, Father Most Good, pardon the Souls in Purgatory, for they did not always submit their will to Your Will. In reparation for their disobedience, I offer You the perfect conformity of the Heart, full of love, of Your Divine Son with Your Holy Will and the most profound submission which He showed in obeying You unto death on the Cross.

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD; I pray You, Father Most Good, pardon the Souls in Purgatory, for they did not always receive the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist with enough desire, but often without contemplation, or love, or even unworthily, or they neglected to receive It. In reparation for these faults, I offer You the outstanding Holiness and the great contemplation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Divine Son, addressed to You in favor of His enemies when He was on the Cross. 

 

FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US; I pray You, Father Most Good, pardon the Souls in Purgatory, all the faults of which they have been guilty through succumbing to the Seven deadly Sins and also in not having wished either to love or pardon their enemies. In reparation for these faults, I offer You the out-standing Holiness and the great contemplation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Divine Son, addressed to You in favor of His enemies when he was on the Cross.

AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION; I pray You, Father Most Good, pardon the Souls in Purgatory, because too often they did not resist the pitfalls of the devil and the flesh, but they followed the Enemy of all goodness. In reparation for all these sins, in thought, word, and deed, I offer You the glorious victory which Our Lord won against the world, as well as His Most Holy Life, His Work and Sorrows, His Suffering and His Most Cruel Death.

BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL; and from all punishments through the Infinite Merits of Your Well-Beloved Son and lead us, as well as the Souls in Purgatory, into Your Kingdom of eternal glory. Amen.

The source for her commentary on the Lord’s Prayer: https://www.salvatormundi.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Prayer-for-Souls-in-Purgatory.pdf

A short biography of St. Mechtilde courtesy of this site: https://angelusnews.com/faith/saint-of-the-day/mechtilde-2/

St. Mechtilde was born Matilda von Hackenberg-Wippra around the year 1240. She came from a noble family in Saxony, and when she was seven years old, she was so inspired by the lives of the nuns that she went to live at the convent of Helfta. She learned a great deal there, and was known for her humility and her fervent love for God. 

 

Mechtilde was close with the child who would become St. Gertrude the Great, who was given to the nuns at Helfta when she was five. Mechtilde was 15 years older, and took Gertrude under her wing. They shared a strong spirituality and devotion to Christ’s humanity and the Eucharist. 

 

Both nuns were known to be mystics. Mechtilde had her first mystical vision when she received Holy Communion. Jesus appeared to her and held her hands. She said he left an imprint on her heart “like a seal in wax,” and gave her his own heart in the form of a cup, saying, “By my heart you will praise me always; go, offer to all the saints the drink of life from my heart that they may be happily inebriated with it.” 

 

In another vision, Mechtilde wrote that she had seen that “the smallest details of creation are reflected in the Holy Trinity by means of the humanity of Christ, because it is from the same earth that produced them that Christ drew his humanity.” 

 

Because of her visions, Mechtilde was highly revered by her community, and considered a prophet and counsellor. St. Gertrude recorded her teachings and visions in the “Book of Special Grace.” 

 

St. Mechtilde died on Nov. 19, 1298. 

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