Chapter 15: Of the oblation of the Host— And of prayers for the souls of

deceased parents.

ON the Sunday on which the community prayed for the souls of deceased parents, as St. Gertrude offered the Host

*In all conventual houses, the parents of each religious are considered the special charge of all. Mass, Communion, and the Office of the Dead are regularly offered for all deceased parents at stated periods throughout the year. Alas ! what do not those after she bad received Holy Communion for the repose of their souls, she beheld an immense number coming forth from a place of darkness like sparks of fire ; some in the form of stars, and others in other shapes. Then she in quired if this great multitude could be all composed of the souls of the deceased parents ; and our Lord replied : " I am your nearest Relation, your Father, your Brother, and your Spouse ; therefore, My special friends are also yours, and I could not exclude them from the commemoration of your parents ; therefore, you behold them all united toge ther." From henceforward the Saint prayed constantly for those who were specially beloved by our Lord. On the following day at Mass, after the Elevation, she heard our Lord saying : " We have eaten with those who came and were ready ; we must now send to those who could not come to the feast." Another year, when the bell tolled for the Office of the Dead, she beheld a snow-white lamb, such as the paschal lamb is usually painted ; and, from a wound in its heart, a stream of blood flowed into a chalice, while it said : " I will now be a propitiation for those souls for whom a feast is prepared here to-day."

unhappy persons lose, both in time and in eternity, who hinder the consecration of their children to God ! and what gain is theirs who, by placing them in a holy and devoted community, secure the prayers of the most saintly souls for their own welfare both in this world and the next ! Perhaps only those who are inmates of the cloister know with what tender and fervent affection the relations of each member are prnyed for by all.

" Ego propiuquissimus vester sum."

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