I first heard of the Prayer Warriors of the Holy Souls when Chita Monfort, the executive director, invited me to attend the PWHS National Congress last July 1999. All the talk that day confirmed what all these years I have known in my heart, that we have a connectedness with the souls of all the departed. At mass I thanked God for leading me to this wonderful group of people and this devotion of praying for the holy souls.

I was born a Catholic and grew up steeped in Catholic beliefs and dogma (thanks to my parents and others God chose to send my way!). Praying for the holy souls was one of them. That the souls are as real as my computer was borne by a sharing to me by the late Fr. Oscar Lingad, SJ, in the early 70’s that he never found the need for an alarm clock. Whenever he needed to be up really early, like to officiate at dawn masses in December, he would ask the holy souls to wake him up at the desired hour. He would be awake at that time. I have been doing the same since and it always works! Alarm clocks startle you into wakefulness, a kind of rude awakening. When a soul rouses you, it is like a gentle nudge, a sweet whisper that draws you into a beautiful awareness of everything around you and with a fresh anticipation of the day ahead. There is none of the desire to linger in bed.

I am ever grateful to Fr. Jojo Zerrudo, the spiritual adviser of the PWHS, whose talks on the sanctifying grace of praying for the holy souls, especially during the Jubilee Year, gave me the chance to take advantage of the merits made available to us by God in the great jubilee, especially the merit of helping release into heaven one soul a day through our masses, offerings, and sacrifices. Sinamantala ko talaga! Together with a friend, Tess Paz, also a member of the PWHS, waking up at 4:00 AM everyday to go for one hour of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament then holy mass at 5:30 AM became a daily devotion. Sometimes Tess and I would go to another designated pilgrim church during the day, just in case… Baka hindi masyadong taimtim and dasal namin. Baka hindi kami in a state of grace at the earlier mass. Baka hindi designated jubilee door iyong pinasukan namin. Naniguro pa rin! We heard masses in most of the designated pilgrim churches within Metro Manila during the year. It was really a release-a-soul-a-day campaign for both of us.

Now, praying for the holy souls is very much into my moment-to-moment consciousness and decidedly lifetime devotion. Who knows if that holy rosary that I recited in their behalf this morning helped release that soul who was just one small prayer away from the door of the kingdom of God? What if my prayers at mass today helped nudge a forgotten soul, who has been suffering in the deep recesses of purgatory for centuries, into a higher level? A devote praying of the prayer of St. Gertrude is believed to release 1,000 souls into heaven. If I can help just one soul a day, through my prayers, then I thank God for the gift and the opportunity.

Both my parents are now gone. But their memories and love fill me with such warmth and peace everytime I pray for them, even when I am simply remembering them. When in a song, there is a line that says: "I will love you till the end of time," believe it! The heart may grow weary, the mind forgetful, but the soul continues to love, here and in the hereafter.

Pray for the holy souls. They pray for us unceasingly. Just think. If our foible attempts at prayer, mortals that we are with all our distractions, can release a soul into heaven, how much help can the prayer of a holy soul, who fervently prays gazing at God, do for us? Many of our members are witnesses to the miracles that happened in their own lives, whether through physical healing, being saved from mortal danger, spiritual healing, etc. after they started on their devotion of praying for the holy souls.

I believe that the holy souls also have a save-a-soul-a-day campaign in heaven, that they are praying for our souls so we can, when our time comes, be with them in the kingdom of God. I also believe that everytime a prayer is lifted up to Heaven, it always touches the heart of God, and He always responds!