from HOW TO AVOID PURGATORY
By Fr. Paul O'Sullivan https://www.ewtn.com/library/SPIRIT/AVOIDPRG.TXT
One section:
TO AVOID PURGATORY, DO AS FOLLOWS
1. In every prayer you say, every Mass you hear, every Communion you
receive, every good work you perform, have the express intention of
imploring God to grant you a holy and happy death and no Purgatory. Surely
God will hear a prayer said with such confidence and perseverance.
2. Always wish to do God's will. It is in every sense the best for you.
When you do or seek anything that is not God's will, you are sure to
suffer. Say fervently, therefore, each time you recite the Our Father: "Thy
will be done"
3. Accept all the sufferings, sorrows, pains and disappointments of life,
be they great or small: ill health, loss of goods, the death of your dear
ones, heat or cold, rain or sunshine, as coming from God. Bear them calmly
and patiently for love of Him and in penance for your sins. Of course one
may use all his efforts to ward off trouble and pain, but when one cannot
avoid them let him bear them manfully.
Impatience and revolt make sufferings vastly greater and more difficult to
bear.
4. Christ's life and actions are so many lessons for us to imitate.
The greatest act in His life was His Passion. As He had a Passion, so each
one of us has a passion. Our passion consists in the sufferings and labours
of every day. The penance God imposed on man for sin was to gain his bread
in the sweat of his brow. Therefore, let us do our work, accept its
disappointments and hardships, and bear our pains in union with the Passion
of Christ. We gain more merit by a little pain than by years of pleasure.
5. Forgive all injuries and offences, for in proportion as we forgive
others, God forgives
us.
6. Avoid mortal sins and deliberate venial sins and break off all bad
habits. Then it will be relatively easy to satisfy God's justice for sins
of frailty. Above all, avoid sins against charity and against chastity,
whether in thought, word or deed, for these sins [and the expiation for
them] are the reason why many souls are detained in Purgatory for long
years.
7. If afraid of doing much, do many little things, acts of kindness and
charity, give the alms you can, cultivate regularity of life, method in
work, and punctuality in the performance of duty; don't grumble or complain
when things are not as you please; don't censure and complain of others;
never refuse to do a favour to others when it is possible.
These and suchlike little acts are a splendid penance.
8. Do all in your power for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Pray for them
constantly, get others to do so, join the Association of the Holy Souls and
ask all those you know to do likewise. The Holy Souls will repay you most
generously.
9. There is no way more powerful of obtaining from God a most holy and
happy death than by weekly Confession, daily Mass and daily Communion.
10. A daily visit to the Blessed Sacrament--it need only be three or four
minutes--is an easy way of obtaining the same grace. Kneeling in the
presence of Jesus with eyes fixed on the Tabernacle, sure that He is
looking at us, let us for a few minutes repeat some little prayer like
these: "My Jesus, mercy." "My Jesus, have pity on me, a sinner" "My Jesus,
I love You" "My Jesus, give me a happy death"
