Prayer of St. Gertrude

This prayer is one of the most popular prayers for the Holy Souls in Purgatory and is traditionally attributed to St. Gertrude the Great. She was known to have prayed this prayer frequently during the day and was shown by God a vast number of souls leaving Purgatory and going to Heaven as a result of this prayer.

It is through the Blood of Jesus that we receive our salvation. It’s appropriate that we would join our prayers together with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in order to offer the Father in Heaven the Blood of His Son in atonement for the sins of those in Purgatory.

The same blood that atones for our sins also sanctifies us, washing us clean of every stain and effect of sin. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1324) tells us, the Eucharist, is the source and summit of our faith because Jesus is really present in the Eucharist, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. Through Jesus, all graces flow. No grace comes except through Jesus. So, when we offer the Precious Blood to the Father in union with the Masses and throughout the world today for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, we offer a very powerful prayer!

So, when we pray an offering of the Precious Body and Blood, we are merely doing the same thing we do within Mass: uniting our prayers and petitions, our sacrifices and love, with the Eucharistic offering.

There is sufficient grace in a single consecrated Host to redeem the entire world, for Jesus is fully present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Most Blessed Sacrament. So, too, is there sufficient grace in any consecrated Host to let all souls out of purgatory. God’s grace is only constrained by our own free will, our openness to Him in our level of sanctity and trust.

As Jesus told St. Faustina, “The graces of My mercy are drawn by the means of one vessel only, and that is trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive.”  (Diary of St. Faustina 1578)

 

Eternal Father,

I offer You the Most Precious Blood of Your Divine Son, Jesus,

in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory,

for sinners everywhere,

for sinners in the Universal Church,

those in my own home, and within my family.

Amen

The Sign of the Cross
Prayers for the Souls in Purgatory