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Question

Dear father,

I am a 20 years old student and since I was little I have been mulling over a thought that every now and then comes back  to haunt me.

My mother had gone through two ectopic pregnancies before I was born and the idea that I might have two little brothers in Heaven just drives crazy. However, what does the Church teach about this matter? Let me explain: is it necessary to pray for their souls and offer Masses for them? I feel compelled to ask these questions even though they might sound trivial or bizarre.

Thank you very much for you great support and please keep me in your prayers

Gabriel

 Asnwer of the priest

Dear Gabriel,

only today I have managed to read I reached your email from last September (2019) and I apologize for it.

1.    You tell me the thought of having two little brothers in heaven drives you crazy.

Why?

They are two angels who pray for you and your family.

2.    They do not need suffrages because they did not commit any sins and we can well assume that through roads that we do not know the Lord has clothed them with the grace to be able to be with Him and with all the Saints.

It is true that they did not receive Baptism but it is also true that God wants all men to be saved so that they may come to the knowledge of the tTruth that is of Him.

3.    If this is Hhis saving Wwill,  which is  full of love and care, we shouldn’t doubt that Hhe has offered your two little brothers the possibility of being able to know, desire and  love Him and so to be dressed in the wedding garment in order to take part to the nuptial banquet  in His Kingdom 

4.    For this reason the Church has good reason to believe that they are in Heaven and not only in the (so called) Limbo, as it used  to hypothesize  in the past with reference to the Limbo-otherwise known as Abraham’s bosom (Lk 16,22) or Heaven (Lk 22,43)- which is described as a place of natural happiness where the Patriarchs of the Old Testament and the righteous ones would have remained waiting for Christ to reopen the gates of Heaven with His Resurrection._

The true Heaven  is not only Abraham’s bosom, but the bosom of the Father (Jn 1:18) where one enjoys a perfect communion with God and with all the Saints.

5.   If so we have very good reasons to hope and to pray to your little brothers to intercede for you in accordance with all your needs. 

Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus in a moment of grave need, not knowing where to turn, thought of her four little brothers born before her who had flown to hHeaven after Baptism. She said to them more or less the following words: if you had stayed here you would have pampered me as brothers usually do with the youngest ones among their siblings . I have no reasons to think that now that you are in Heaven you don’t want to cuddle your last born little sister.

She asked for a sign that Heaven (his little brothers) was still capable of loving.

And the sign immediately arrived.

6.    When I read the life of Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus and I got to the point where the Saint talks about the relationship she had with her  brothers in Heaven, I too began to pray to them, trusting in their help.

Well, you ask me to pray for you. I will gladly do so by starting to pray to your two little brothers for us both.

I will turn to them soon, in a few minutes when I begin to celebrate Holy Mass and to be united through the sacrifice of Jesus with all of Heaven, with the Most Holy and Adorable Trinity, with Our Lady, with the Angels and all the Saints, including them f , members of your earthly family.

I wish you well and bless you.

Father Angelo

translated by Emanuele Menchiari