This day is a special day to remember those who have died and are awaiting to enter joyfully into the vision of the saints.

Feast of All Souls

Yesterday, we celebrate the great solemnity of All Saints. All Saints, is the day that we celebrate with great joy those souls who have made it to heaven and so now enjoy the full and unveiled vision of the Holy Mass and the Holy Eucharist; they are the Church Triumph. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Souls. This day is a special day to remember those who have died and are awaiting to enter joyfully into the vision of the saints. They are undergoing a final “purge” if you will, of the self-love and the error that they did not fully rid themselves here on earth; they are the Church suffering. While we could spend much time this morning trying to prove the existence of purgatory, those of us who are faithful Catholics know with certainty from the teachings of the Church and the testimony of all the Saints that Purgatory is real. The rest, those who don’t believe it, will know about it when they get there; that is if they make it and don’t end up somewhere much hotter and permanent.
A few months ago I inserted an article in the bulletin about the modern failure of many Catholics to pray for the death (one of the precepts of the Church). The author pointed out that if you read the obituaries of many Catholics, you will no longer see an appeal from their families to have Masses offered for the repose of their soul. Many families believe that their loved ones are in heaven and declare it to be so; even though, only the Church has been given the grace of the Holy Spirit to canonize saints, being able to declare with certainty which souls are in heaven. Instead of offering Masses, which is the most loving thing that we can do for our departed loved ones, the author stated that many obituaries ask for money instead to be given to the favorite organization of the departed in order to keep their memory alive on earth. At the root of this, the author proposes is, if not an outright denial, at least a practical denial of the afterlife. In other words, their family is not concerned in the least bit about where the departed is in the afterlife, all there is this life, so they have to keep them living in this life by having works done in their memory. As one obituary for one catholic read, “In lue of Masses please give donations instead to the local Human Society in order to keep our loved one’s work and love continuing for his beloved animals.”
The fact is, is that there is an afterlife. There is death, and then judgment by God and after judgment heaven or hell. While many die in friendship with God, that is in the state of grace, many of have not yet reach that perfection of love that Jesus demanded while on earth, “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” How many of us can say we have reached that perfection of love and virtue. Many of the greatest saints have stated that the number of those who pass right from this life to heaven is very small. The mystic St. John of the Cross says, “Only a small number of souls achieve perfect love.” (And as we have said, perfect love is necessary to go straight to heaven). St. Teresa of Avila also had the experience that only a few will be able to avoid Purgatory. St. John Vianney said, “It is definite that only a few chosen ones do not go to Purgatory; and the suffering there that one must endure, exceeds our imagination.”
And so what a great responsibility we all have to pray for our associates, friends, and loved ones who have died. How much of a lack of love it is to assume that they are in heaven when they may very well be in purgatory in great need of our prayers for them. In our parish family, what a great responsibility of love we have to pray for the members of our parish family who have died. We may be the only ones who pray for them (This is why I have started a Holy Name Society as well to work on the cemetery in order to show our love for our departed family members). We must remember that souls in purgatory cannot pray for themselves or help themselves; they depend totally on us. It has been revealed to some saints that the souls in purgatory who suffer the most are the ones who have been forgotten, because they themselves neglected to pray for the Holy Souls in purgatory.
We should never doubt that our prayers help the souls in purgatory and our loved ones in purgatory. Our prayers for them truly show our love for them and truly help them. In fact, praying for our loved ones, offering Masses for them is the very best way to continue to show our love for them on earth now that they have gone. Where I grew up there is a Dominican convent nearby. I remember hearing a true story of a very holy nun there that had a great devotion to the Holy Souls. She spent her whole life praying, doing penance and offering suffering for them. At one point she began to doubt whether or not all her prayers and suffrage had done anything to help them. One day, after she had almost given up, she returned to her cell that evening and there appearing before her on the wall of her cell were thousands of faces. She heard Our Blessed Lord say to her, “These are the souls that you have released from purgatory so far. Please continue!” Needless to say she did! How we need to pray and to offer Masses for our loved ones in purgatory; that is if we truly love them and we do. It does nothing to degrade their memory to realize they may be there. If they happen to be in heaven then our prayers are not wasted because, as I have said, we still show them our love for them and they can actually use our prayers for helping us and others from their place in heaven.
One of the other aspects of our loved ones and of all the holy souls in purgatory is that while they cannot pray for themselves they can, if we ask them, pray for us. This is really, I believe, at the heart of why the devil doesn’t want people on earth to believe in purgatory and to pray for the souls there. He can’t do anything to them, they are saved. But, satan knows that if we believe in purgatory we can ask the souls that are there to pray for us and their prayers are powerful because they are truly Holy Souls; they are friends of God. And even more, when they enter into heaven and see the Holy Eucharist unveiled, in gratitude for our help, they will beseech the throne of God on our behalf. And so obviously the devil doesn’t want this to happen because even though he can’t touch them, he wants the ruin of our soul.
Today let us pray for our loved ones; all our loved ones who have gone before us. Let us have the hope that they are in heaven, but let us not play the church and canonize them. Let us instead pray for them and offer Masses for them whenever we can to show and continue our love for them here on earth. Let us visit the cemetery where they are buried and visit our cemetery here at St Peter’s to pray for them all. I ask all the men here to consider joining the Holy Name Society and help me take care of the cemetery and so respect the memory of the members of our parish family buried there; praying for them as we keep the cemetery well maintained and beautiful. By the way there is a plenary indulgence for those that would pray for the souls in purgatory today as they visit a cemetery.
And at this Holy Mass let us pray for them because here at the Mass they are present. We are again, never closer to those whom we love and have died than we are at the Holy Mass, for the Holy mass is truly heaven on earth. All the Angel and saints are here, but so too are the Holy Souls in purgatory, although they don’t get to see the Eucharist yet. Let’s ask them to pray for us as well so that we may increase our love by our cooperation to God’s grace given to us in the Holy Eucharist, becoming perfected in love so that we ourselves won’t have to pass through purgatory. We have to remember as St. Therese the little flower taught, “God our Father loves us and surely doesn’t want us, after we leave this world, to have to pass through purgatory, He wants us in heaven with Him. This should give us great confidence and trust in His Mercy and in His love. God really doesn’t want purgatory. We should never say, I hope I make it to purgatory! What cowardous, what mediocrity and lack of love; we should say instead, When I die, I want to go straight to heaven to be with my Father who loves me and with all the saints in heaven. And so, I will, with the help of His grace, strive to live the life of love and of holiness to which He has called me. Let us trust in the Father’s love for us and never take it for granted by sinning and living a life of mediocrity and indifference.
Let us pray; Our Lady visit the souls of our loved one and of our parish family that are in purgatory, bring them refreshment and peace; and if it be God’s will, carry them into the joys of heaven which you and all of the saints enjoy forever. Mother of Jesus who is Life Itself, pray for us sinners who have recourse to thee. Amen.