# St. Joseph Cafasso's prayer to avoid purgatory
*2016-06-16*

> On the feast day of St. Joseph Cafasso, Bill Young shares a powerful prayer written by the 18th-century Italian saint focused on the desire for immediate union with God after death.

## Introducing St. Joseph Cafasso

Good evening, this is Bill Young and welcome to the Prayer N Lunch podcast. Today is the feast day of St. Joseph Cafasso, who lived in the 18th century in Italy. In our previous podcast, we spoke a little bit about him, but in doing further research on this great saint, I noticed that he had a specific prayer to avoid purgatory. Since I think we would all like to avoid purgatory, I thought it would be appropriate to say this prayer on his feast day.

## A Plea for Divine Mercy

The prayer begins with a humble request to Jesus: "O my sweet Jesus, in addition to the many graces which Thou hast conferred on me in the course of my life, I ask Thee for this further one: when my soul shall have departed from this world, not only that it not be condemned to Hell, but that it shall not be compelled to remain away from Thee for even a moment in purgatory."

St. Joseph Cafasso acknowledges his own failings, stating, "It is true that I am a debtor to divine justice, but I hope to pay all my debts from the infinite merits of Thy passion and death."

## Longing for the Heavenly Homeland

The prayer expresses a deep, spiritual longing for our true home: "O heavenly, holy city of my God, my dear native land, O how I sigh for thee! O happy day when I shall reach thee, O heaven, my dearest heaven! Come quickly and satisfy the desires of the wretched heart that sighs for thee."

In a spirit of total surrender, the prayer continues, "My God, I accept whatever kind of death it may please Thee to send me, with all the terrors and all the pains and all the suffering that shall justly accompany it. Finally, I pray to Thee to accept the destruction of my body as the last act of homage that I can offer to Thy supreme divine majesty, in satisfaction for the offenses committed in the course of my life."

## Intercession of the Blessed Mother

Finally, the prayer turns to the Virgin Mary for her maternal intercession: "O Mary, I ask thee for one more grace to obtain from the divine Son: that I may die with thee and that I may fly to heaven along with thee. O merciful mother, grant that once my soul is liberated from this wretched body, I may go immediately to find thee in heaven, where there commences that life which will be my occupation for all eternity. Amen."

*Through the intercession of St. Joseph Cafasso and the Blessed Mother, we can pray for the grace of immediate entry into heaven.*