There is a story that's told of an old priest in a
little country parish. He was a rather gentle fellow, he loved
his parishioners and they loved him. He was pretty easygoing and even-tempered
and didn't do too much to surprise people. However, every year, right
around this time, he would give a fire and brimstone sermon on the four
last things, which are death, judgment, heaven, and hell. This
homily was passionate and appropriately fiery. As he went through his
homily, he got more and more worked up and he finally exclaimed: "one
day, every single member of this parish will die." The congregation
was stunned, sitting straight up in their seats. But then they heard
someone laughing, almost to the point of losing control. Slowly the heads
turned and all eyes focused on this stranger who could hardly catch his
breath between fits of laughter. Greatly annoyed, the pastor said,
"and what do you think is so funny about the fact that one day all of
the people in this parish will experience death?" The man looked at
him and simply said, "I am not a member of this parish."
I doubt that any one of us would think that this
fellow was very logical in thinking that he was somehow cheating death.
But there is something inside each of us that dreads the thought of our
own death. We often avoid thinking about our inevitable end here
on earth. This is a basic human tendency; it is quite natural to dread
the though of death and all it brings. Far too often we choose to
distract ourselves with less important activities. We tend to immerse ourselves
in the things of this world; we spend all our time and energy looking
after the demands of our earthly life and spend little to no time
preparing for the all-important moment when when we will come face-to-face
with God himself. And for this reason, Holy Mother Church gives us the
feast day of All Souls. On this day, we are mindful of our own mortality
and we are reminded and encouraged to pray for those who have died and
gone before us, marked with the sign of faith.
This feast of All Souls Day is a perfect opportunity for us to ponder
the reality of our own mortality. It is one of the few days that the
priest is permitted to wear a black vestment. The music and readings
focus on the mercy of God and the comfort that he brings. There is a
traditional hymn which calls upon the angels to guide the departed soul to
its eternal resting place in heaven. The Church focuses on all of this, not because she is morbid or obsessed with death,
but because she wants us to be prepared for that important moment when
each of us will be required to stand before God and give an account
of how we lived our life. There is a tendency in our world to see death as
the end. But we, as followers of Christ, know that death is actually the beginning of a new and
everlasting life. The Church teaches that three options await us
after we die, depending on how we lived our life. The first option is heaven. Those who
die in the state of grace and have a perfect love of God and a complete
detachment from sin will gain entrance to heaven. The second option is hell. Hell is
reserved for those who die in the state of mortal sin and by their
actions have chosen live apart from God for all eternity.
The third possibility is purgatory, something we don’t hear much
about these days. Purgatory is still something we Catholics believe in. It
is a state of purification that involves suffering; where souls who died
in the state of grace but still had attachments to sin and evil go to be
cleansed. This makes sense to us if we think about it. No one who is
impure, unloving or sinful in any way can be in the presence of God.
Realistically, few of us ever achieve such purity and perfection here on
earth. Therefore, God, in his great mercy and love offers this opportunity
for souls to be cleansed and restored so they might return to him. This
belief in purgatory should give us hope because it assures us that even if
we are not completely spiritually clean at the moment of our death, we can
be made clean in purgatory and be admitted to heaven. Purgatory is
a temporary state. Therefore, everyone who is in purgatory will one
day be in heaven.
This belief in purgatory reinforces the Christian
practice of praying for the dead. Praying for the dead was not some sort of
medieval invention; rather, it was a common practice among the early Christians
in Rome. Inscriptions of such prayers have been found in the catacombs, and
some of the church Fathers commended this ancient practice. In the Old
Testament book of Maccabees, the practice of praying for those who have died is
praised. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t until the protestant revolt, with
Martin Luther in the 16th century, that people even considered withholding their prayers for the dead.
Common sense, history, and the Bible all agree:
purgatory is real and many if not most of us will need to be purified from the
vestiges of sin and selfishness after we die, so that we can fully experience
the joys of heaven. This is not a complicated doctrine. The Church has made no
definitive statements about what exactly happens, or where, or exactly how long
it takes. We just know three things for certain: that a purification after
death exists, that it involves some kind of pain, and that it can be assisted
by the prayers and offerings the living make to God.
Knowing this motivates us to do two things. First, we can accept the sufferings of
life here on earth with faith, uniting them to Christ's sufferings on the
cross. Thus we can grow closer to Christ in this life, getting our purification
done faster and less painfully now instead of later. Second, we can alleviate the suffering of our brothers and sisters
who have died and are now in purgatory by praying for them, offering Masses for
them, obtaining indulgences for them... God has generously connected our lives
to theirs.
As we celebrate this feast of all souls, do not be
afraid to consider death and to ask yourself if your soul is preparing to meet
God. Nothing could be more important
than this moment; it has eternal consequences. And then, let us also pray
for those who have died, especially our friends and family, that if they
are in purgatory, they might soon be united with God in heaven. Certainly,
there is no greater kindness we can do here on earth than to pray for
the dead and help them obtain eternal happiness in heaven. We can
be assured that they will assist us during our time here on earth and
pray for us when the moment of our death arrives. Eternal rest grant to them O Lord and let perpetual light shine
upon them. May the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen.
