How many of us had grandparents who had their stack of holy cards in their prayer book? These favorite saints were their friends, their prayer warriors! How many of our ancestors knew to pray for the holy souls in purgatory, especially the souls of family and friends? The holy souls would then, in deep gratitude, return many prayers for those who cared to pray for them. This is why our ancestors never faced evil alone or prayed for anything or anybody alone — they had their comrades in the heavenly realm, their Holy Alliance of saints and holy souls, with them at all times. The devil never stood a chance against this united force!
What’s stopping us from building upon the great example of our ancestors who called upon the saints to pray with them for the poor souls in purgatory? If they invoked (recruited) their handful of favorite saints and holy souls, what’s stopping us from building an enormous personal Holy Alliance.
On day one of building your Holy Alliance, you begin this practice of praying with a saint for a holy soul in purgatory, you grow from a force of one (just you) to a force of three (you, the saint you chose and the holy soul in purgatory you prayed for). On day two, you will add another saint and holy soul to your personal Holy Alliance, and grow to a force of five. And so on. These holy souls in purgatory and saints in heaven become a part of your personal Holy Alliance because you have lovingly “engaged and ignited the relationship.” We can’t just assume the saints and holy souls are aligned with us. God has revealed a way for us to reach out in love and, therefore, the “love relationship of mutual care begins.”