All Souls Day

Bill Cork blogs about hearing a homily at his parish concerning Purgatory - the first homily he's ever heard on the subject in 11 years. I'd have to say that I have also never heard a homily preached about the beautiful and interesting subject of Purgatory. In explaining the concept to his son, Bill quotes Cardinal Ratzinger's book Eschatology which I also find to be a very good explanation:

Purgatory is not, as Tertullian thought, some kind of supra-worldly concentration camp where one is forced to undergo punishments in a more or less arbitrary fashion. Rather it is the inwardly necessary process of transformation in which a person becomes capable of Christ, capable of God, and thus capable of unity with the whole communion of saints. Simply to look at people with any degree of realism at all is to grasp the necessity of such a process. It does not replace grace by works, but allows the former to achieve its full victory precisely as grace. What actually saves is the full assent of faith. But in most of us, that basic option is buried under a great deal of wood, hay and straw. Only with difficulty can it peer out from behind the latticework of an egoism we are powerless to pull down with our own hands. Man is the recipient of the divine mercy, yet this does not exonerate him from the need to be transformed. Encounter with the Lord is this transformation. It is the fire that burns away our dross and re-forms us to be vessels of eternal joy.

Why is the topic approached with trepidation? What is there to be afraid of or embarrassed about?

Purgatory has often received a very negative rap. While I was a student at UC Santa Barbara, I was a member (and later convener for two years) of the UCSB Interfaith Council. It was a most awesome group, and we put together some very good discussions concerning topics of faith. One such topic concerned Heaven, Hell, and the Afterlife, as explored from Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, and Islam. I was pegged along with a friend to present the Catholic understanding of the subject, which in my mind, necessitates a discussion on Purgatory.

A few days prior to the event, I was approached by the assistant pastor of my university parish, who was actually the convener at that time, who asked me not to mention Purgatory at all, or at the very least, not give it much importance. I immediately responded that excluding a discussion of Purgatory would be a major disservice to those who came to hear the Catholic understanding of Heaven, Hell, and the Afterlife, because Purgatory has everything to do with our understanding of salvation, answering the call to holiness, and the goodness of God's grace. I explained that before I was a Catholic, I had many questions about Purgatory and, when I finally grasped it intellectually and spiritually, I found it to be something very beautiful, something that made sense. How could I deemphasize something so intrinsically Catholic? He reluctantly agreed. Afterward, I was approached by a Jewish friend of mine who thanked me for articulating something that she had never understood. She said she was glad she came.

Purgatory, of course, is a theological articulation applied to the workings of God's grace after death - something that is quite mysterious. But by bringing an emphasis to it, we remind ourselves not only of the goodness of God's grace for us in life as well as death, but also just how connected we are to all who have died in Christ. It is therefore always a very pious and holy thought to pray for the dead. Over the last six years that I have been Catholic, I have become very conscious of the dead. I remember them daily and offer prayer for them frequently. Today, I remembered expecially my grandfather who died in 1998, and my grandmother who died last May. I also remembered several dear friends of mine who have died. Lastly, I remembered a young woman, who died in 2001 shortly after the birth of her stillborn daughter, whom I never knew in life but over the passed year have felt inspired to offer prayer for. I'll speak more about that another time.

Eternal Father, I offer You the Most Precious Blood of Your Divine Son Jesus, in union with all the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Amen.