Prayer on the Sycamore for the souls suffering in purgatory

The prayer for the souls suffering in purgatory is one of the intentions taken up within the Prayer on the Sycamore. It is a shared prayer for those who, after death, can no longer do anything for themselves.

It is a prayer for those who, after death, can no longer do anything for themselves, and who depend entirely on the love of the Church still on pilgrimage on earth – and in union with that Church we entrust them to God’s mercy.

We live in times in which it is ever harder to accept the truth about purgatory, about purification and about prayer for the dead. Among younger generations especially there is a conviction that a relationship ends with death and that prayer „makes no sense”.

And yet from the very beginning the Church has taught that love knows no boundary of time.

„It is a holy and pious thought to pray for the dead,
that they may be freed from their sins.”

(2 Macc 12:45)

The souls in purgatory are our neighbours.
And Jesus spoke the second commandment without exceptions:

„You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

(Mk 12:31)

Prayer for the souls in purgatory is therefore a simple act of love – the kind that does not ask what it will gain, but responds to another’s need.

The mission of Dzika Figa

We do not stand on the sycamore as people who have everything in order.
We stand there as wild figs – weak, weary, often lost.

We pray for the souls in purgatory and at the same time we ask them to pray for the intentions we carry every day:

• for marriages in crisis and relationships on the edge of breaking down

• for children and young people addicted to screens, to substances and to pornography

• for those who do not believe, who are indifferent, or who have been wounded by their experience of the Church

• for people struggling with depression, anxiety and the loss of meaning

We believe in the communion of saints – in a real bond between those who are on the road and those who are being purified. It is an act of courage in the face of God’s mercy, and of generosity in giving.

The testimony of the saints

Saint Faustina wrote in her Diary that the angels envy human beings two things: the possibility of receiving Holy Communion, and suffering that can be offered out of love.

The souls in purgatory can no longer receive Holy Communion, nor offer up their suffering. That is why they so greatly need our prayer, the Holy Mass, indulgences, fasting and the daily mortifications offered for their intention.

The saints also remind us that souls to whom mercy has been shown do not remain indifferent. They know the value of prayer and are able to intercede for those who remembered them on earth.

The road of the Prayer on the Sycamore

The Prayer on the Sycamore for the souls suffering in purgatory is a way of holding fast to Jesus – quiet, faithful and simple. It is the prayer of imperfect people who want to go on loving further, more widely and more deeply, even when they themselves are in need of support.

As wild figs we pray for the souls in purgatory and ask them to pray for our intentions: for marriages, for families, for children, for those who are lost and those who are wounded.

Courageously.
Joyfully.
With faith that love is the goal of the whole Church – the Church on earth and the Church in Heaven.

One fig is not enough, but a cry raised together from the Sycamore – from both sides of life – truly has enormous power.