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Our duty towards the souls who precede us into eternity
St. Monica, being on her deathbed, said to St. Augustine, “My son, soon you will have no mother; when I am no more, pray for my soul, do not forget her who loved you so much; above all, think of me when you go up to the altar to offer the Sacrifice of the new covenant.” St. Augustine did not forget his mother’s words; he wept bitterly over her death. “God of mercy, he cried in his grief, forgive my mother the faults she has committed; do not enter into judgment with her; turn Your eyes away from her infidelities. Remember that when she was near her end, she did not think of her body or of the last duties that should be rendered to her; all she asked was that she be mentioned at Your altars to erase the remains of the sins she could not expiate during her life.”
