IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

Today’s feast celebrates Mary as one who, from the moment of her conception, let all God’s glory through. A teacher in a primary school once asked the children, ‘What is a saint?’ One of the children, thinking of the stained glass windows in her church, said, ‘A saint is someone who lets the light through’. If saints are people who shine the light of God’s glorious presence, this is especially true of Mary. There was no sin in her to block the light of God’s glorious, loving presence. She was the greatest of all the saints, always totally open to God’s love.

In today’s first reading, God asks Adam a question, ‘Where are you?’ God is seeking Adam who is hiding from Him. There is a sense in which the story of Adam and Eve, is the story of every human being. The author was portraying humankind in its relationship with God. We may, at heart, be people who seek God continually. Yet there are times when we hide from God and God becomes the seeker, crying out to us, ‘Where are you?’ In the case of Adam, it was shame and guilt that caused him to hide from God. God had given Adam and Eve all the beauty and goodness of the Garden of Eden. There was only one tree in the garden that God had placed out of bounds, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yet, the couple could not resist the temptation to eat of this tree, sensing that by eating of its fruit they would become like God. In the immediate aftermath of this act, they hid from God, who had given so generously to them. The sense that all is not well in our relationship with God can cause us to hide from God, too. We are reluctant to face God. Yet, the first reading suggests that whenever we hide from God out of shame or guilt, God continues to seek us out. God continues to pursue us in his love. God’s question, ‘Where are you?’ springs from a heart of love. Jesus, Mary’s Son, revealed this seeking heart of God to the full. He said of himself that he came to seek out and to save the lost. He wanted to find those who were hiding from God out of fear of God’s displeasure. He wanted to reveal to them God’s faithful and enduring love, and to call them back into a loving relationship with God. There are times in our lives when we simply need to allow ourselves to be found by God. God is always calling on us to step out into the light of God’s love and to open our hearts to God’s light, which continues to shine upon us through Jesus, his Son, a light no darkness in our lives can overcome.

Today’s feast celebrates the good news that Mary was always open to the light of God’s love, from the first moment of her conception in the womb of her mother. At no point did Mary ever hide from God, because she had no reason to do so. God never had to address the question to her, ‘Where are you?’ In today’s gospel reading, God seeks out Mary through his messenger, the angel Gabriel. Mary does not hide from God’s messenger. Yes, we are told that she was ‘deeply disturbed’ by Gabriel’s greeting. Yes, her response to Gabriel’s subsequent message was initially a questioning one, ‘How can this come about?’ God’s presence will always be, to some extent, a disturbing experience; it will always leave us with questions. Yet, despite these uncomfortable feelings, Mary stood her ground. She remained open to God’s presence. She surrendered to God’s desire for her life, ‘let what you have said be done to me’, thereby allowing God’s desire for all humanity to come to pass. On this feast of the Immaculate Conception, we ask Mary to pray for us sinners now, so that we may be as open and responsive to God’s presence to us and to God’s desire for our lives as she was.

 

 

 

 

 FUNERAL HOMILY

BOB HAUBNER (Rom 6:3-9; Mk 15:33-39)

There is a story about an elderly gentleman in his 80s who arrived at the hospital to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. The nurse took his vital signs and had him take a seat. While the nurse was taking care of his wound, he was looking at his watch, so she asked him if he had another doctor’s appointment that morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman said no, but he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. She inquired about her health. He told her that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer’s Disease. As they talked, the nurse asked if she would be upset if he were a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now. Surprised, she asked him, ‘And you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?’ He smiled as he patted her hand and said, ‘She doesn’t know me, but I still know who she is.’

This story helps us understand how God recognizes us. Even though sometimes we do not recognize God, He recognizes us. The Old Testament people had dementia problem. So, God used to remind them that He was the same God, the God who liberated them from Egypt. He was the same God, of their fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God wanted them to remember him and his benefits.

When we cannot remember God or lose our memory due to dementia or Alzheimer’s, I think God talks to us directly to our hearts. I remember a couple from my former parish. Both were up in their age. The man was a daily mass attendee, but his wife had advanced Alzheimer’s. He had to literally lift her up and place her in the wheelchair and roll her down to the church and do the same after the Mass, and he kept doing it every day for all the seven years I was there, I noticed it. I had to tickle her between the jaws to get her to open her mouth so that I could give her Holy communion. She never spoke anything that I heard, except once, during the Mass while at the consecration when the words were pronounced, this is my body which will be given up for you. At that silent moment she said loudly, “For me”? Everyone in the church was so surprised to hear her say that. His name was Jerry and whenever he saw me, he used to ask me, ‘Do you remember what she said at that Mass?’ He couldn’t get over that. Many people wonder about such people’s spiritual condition. Does it make any difference to them if they did not receive the Sacraments? I think they are like babies. Even if a baby does not speak back to its mom, the mother talks to the baby. A baby may only stare at the mother, that’s all. Unlike others who need to consciously respond and receive the sacraments, those with these kinds of sicknesses do not need to accept them as consciously as others do.

One time, somebody asked me whether the people who die of dementia will recognize their family members when they get to heaven. Will they recover their memory? St. Thomas Aquinas, the greatest Middle Ages theologian, gave the right answer. Quoting Augustine, Aquinas said that Jesus rose again of youthful age, which begins about the age of thirty years (Augustine DE Civ. Dei XXII). Therefore, others will also rise again of a youthful age (Q 81). Therefore, have no concern that Bob will recognize all of us.

Rob and Shannon, your thoughtfulness in having the priest come over and give the last sacrament and apostolic pardon manifests your faith and concern for your dad. You shared with me that you did not want Bob to miss out on the important sacrament.

God the Trinity remains hidden in the life of Christians. And Jesus remained hidden in Bob's life for the past few years. There may not have been any visible significant spiritual movement in Bob’s life because of dementia. But Jesus was in him. After rising from the dead, Jesus appeared to his disciples about 16 times in 40 days. And of those, 4 were on the Easter Sunday itself. Then, he appeared in 5 weeks only 7 or 8 times. Why didn’t he appear more often before he went up to heaven? He could have strengthened their faith with more of his visits. He could have appeared at least once a day. But he did not. He wanted his disciples to know that his hidden presence was to be trusted as his visible presence. Jesus remains hidden in the lives of believers and he walks along side of them as he did with the disciples going to Emmaus but we do not recognize him. This gospel account shows how Jesus’ divinity remained hidden from the people, especially on his journey to Calvary. But at his crucifixion, the very Centurian who headed the crucifixion exclaimed: Truly, this man was the Son of God. He could see the hidden truth only when he died. God is powerful, but he also suffers with every suffering person. When we question where is God in this struggle he would be right there suffering with person. We should have the eyes of that centurion to find God in the suffering person.

The second reading clearly tells us the need to suffer if we want to enjoy heaven with Christ. “We know that our old self was crucified with him so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin. For a dead person has been absolved from sin. If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.

We are in debt to God for all our sins. But Jesus took that upon himself, our identity, by his incarnation and his baptism in Jordan, where he lined up along with the sinners for baptism. And when he died, he died taking all our debt with him. No one is going to be charged for the debt they owed, after their death. No court in the world is going to file a case against any dead person. So, when Jesus died all our sins that he took with him were also gone. We are free from sins, and when he rose, he shared that eternal life with us. The veil of the heavenly sanctuary is torn in two at Christ’s death so we can go through that open door into the Father’s presence. Our earthly life is united to eternal life, and the link to that is Jesus Christ. just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.

There is a saying, Death leaves a heartache no one can heal; love leaves a memory no one can steal. But that is not true in the case of a Christian. We have the most reassuring words from Jesus saying, whoever believes in him will not die forever. Bob’s final pilgrimage has come to an end. We know that this life is not the final story. The dessert part of the meal is waiting for us, and Bob is going ahead of us. Let’s assure him the remembrance of him in our daily masses.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

 ALL SOULS DAY

Today, we remember all our ‘faithful departed’. Most of us will be remembering people we have known and loved, such as family members and good friends. Indeed, the whole month of November is a time when we remember our dead in a special way. As Christians, our remembering of those who have died is always prayerful remembering. We remember them before the Lord. Remembering our departed loved ones before the Lord and praying for them is one of the ways that we give expression to our continuing communion with them in the Lord. Today is the day when we give expression to what we refer to in the creed as ‘the communion of saints’. We believe that there is a deep, spiritual communion between those of us who are still on our pilgrim way and those who have come to the end of their pilgrim journey.

 We believe that our loved ones who have died are with the Lord, who is with us in this life until the end of time. As one of the saints expressed it, our loved ones who have died have gone no further than the Lord, and the Lord is always near to us. It is that shared relationship with the Lord which keeps us in communion with our loved ones who have died. In praying for our loved ones today, we are asking the Lord to bring them to the fullness of his risen life.

As the funeral liturgy of the church states, ‘all the ties of love and affection that knit us together in this life do not unravel with death’. Saint Paul puts it more simply in his first letter to the Corinthians, ‘love never ends’. One of the ways we expressed our communion with our loved ones before they died was by praying for them. If we are people of faith, we will always pray for those who are significant to us; we might light a candle for them. Just as our love for our loved ones does not cease when they die, neither does our praying for them cease because it is one expression of our enduring love for them.

A traditional prayer we often pray for those who have died is ‘eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them’. We can often think of rest as something passive, the absence of activity. In the Scriptures, ‘rest’ has a much more vibrant meaning, as is suggested by that lovely psalm that is often prayed at a funeral, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’. Towards the end of that psalm, we read, ‘Near restful waters he leads me to revive my drooping spirits’. Restful waters or rest is associated with a revival of our spirits. Eternal rest is an eternal revival of our deepest spirit, our deepest self. One of the early saints of the church, Saint Ephrem, wrote, ‘in the kingdom, our departed ones achieve their full stature’. When we pray that God would give our departed loved ones eternal rest, we are praying that their best self would be fully revived that they would attain their full stature as people made in God’s image. The invitation of Jesus, ‘Come to me’, and his promise, ‘I will give you rest’, suggests that already in this earthly life we can begin to enter into this rest, this revival of our drooping spirit. We are in need of the Lord’s gift of rest in these days when our spirits can easily droop. We have the Lord’s assurance there in the gospel reading that if we come to him, if we turn to him, we will indeed experience a foretaste of that eternal rest or revival that awaits us beyond death. Today, as we entrust our loved ones who passed away from us to our loving God, let us ask that they may soon see the full glory of God and, once they are in God’s presence, remember us and intercede for us. 

 FUNERAL HOMILY FOR Bill Dorsel

A friend once came to Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of the book, ‘When Bad Things Happen to Good People’, and said to him: "Two weeks ago, for the first time in my life, I went to the funeral of a man my own age. I didn't know him well, but we worked together, talked to each other from time to time, and had kids about the same age. He died suddenly over the weekend. A bunch of us went to the funeral, each of us thinking, "It could just as easily have been me."

That was two weeks ago. They have already replaced him at the office. I hear his wife is moving out of state to live with her parents. Two weeks ago, he was working fifty feet away from me, and now it's as if he never existed.

It's like a rock falling into a pool of water. For a few seconds, it makes ripples in the water, and then the water is the same as it was before, but the rock isn't there anymore.

Rabbi, I've hardly slept at all since then. I can't stop thinking that it could happen to me, that one day it will happen to me, and a few days later, I will be forgotten as if I had never lived. Shouldn't a man's life be more than that?"

This man had just experienced a wake-up call! For all of us, there are times like that when we are brought up short, and we are left thinking disturbing questions like, "Shouldn't a man's life be more than that?" Yes, if our life is going to end here, it should be a disturbing question. But we Christians have an assuring word from Jesus, who came back from death and told us to prepare to go where he is, where he is going. Jesus said:

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me. So, we are going to a better place to see the glory, divine glory. This glory is the reward that he promises for our faithful life in union with him here on earth. Some people doubt the rationality behind life after this life/death. It is said that there are three stages to our human life. The first stage is the inactive stage, when our organs are developed for the second stage, the active stage of life. And then the second stage prepares for the third stage when one receives the rewards for the virtues or sins of one’s life.

Our first stage is our nine-month life in the womb of our mother. A baby’s life in the womb says it is not meant to live there forever. A baby in the uterus has eyes. But it does not need the eyes; it cannot see. It has feet, but it does not need to walk there. It has hands but does not need to grab anything. It has lungs but does not need to breathe through the nose. All the organs of a baby in the uterus except its umbilical cord are not helpful for the baby in the womb. They are meant for their life after that stage. But the unborn baby does not understand it.  

The second stage in our active life.  Two kinds of actions and their results are accrued from there, good deeds and some bad. Our moral sense tells us that a good person should get a good reward, a person who does bad deeds should get punishment, and an innocent person needs to be given justice.

We do not see that fully happening here in this life. Let’s imagine two scenarios here in this context.

A person sees a house on fire, and he jumps to save the dying person inside the house. In the process, he gets killed along with the man in the burning house. His death is not a reward for his trying to save that man. He should get a reward. Where is he going to get it?

Let’s imagine another situation where a man goes stealing, and in the process of running to save from being caught, he falls in a well and dies.

The thief died, but that is not his reward or punishment. Because everyone dies. He needs to get punished. So, there is a reward awaiting for both these people.

It tells us that we have a stage coming as a stage of enjoying the fruits of one’s actions done in this world. Without that stage of existence, our moral sense gets wounded, feel grieved by this existence. In such a situation, we can lament with the book of Sirach that vanity of vanities, everything is vanity. Those who have faith know that their master promises reward for the good living here. That reward is glory with the Father.

Bill lived in this world believing in the promise of our Saviour. Paul said in the first reading today that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us with you in his presence. Being with Jesus is our reward. Once, he said to those who believed in him that he was coming back and would take them to himself.

Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the Life; whoever believes in me will rise to eternal life.

Christians celebrate the funeral rites to offer worship, praise, and thanksgiving to God for the gift of a life which has now been returned to God, the author of life and the hope of the just. The Mass, the memorial of Christ's death and resurrection, is the principal celebration of the Christian funeral. Therefore, we do that for Bill today.

The Christians, particularly the Catholics, pray for the dead, believing that the dead will go through a stage called purgatory, where even the smallest vestiges of sins are to be cleansed before entering the presence of God. Because nothing unholy can enter presence of God. When St.Bernadette of Lourdes was dying, she was afraid that people would think she was holy. She asked the sisters around her, ‘Pray for me when I am dead. People will say, “That little saint doesn’t need prayers, and I will be left in purgatory.” If a living saint felt that way, how much more do we really know from the core of our hearts that we need real cleansing? Of course, no one in purgatory is forgotten or abandoned. The souls in purgatory are remembered and prayed for at every Mass every day. “Remember our brothers and sisters who have gone to their rest in the hope of rising again. Bring them into the light of your presence.”

We need to grow in love. Purgatory is where we go through the final purification that frees us to love and makes us ready to experience the joy of God’s presence in heaven. The English Dominican Fr. Bede Jarrett describes it this way: We must not think that our dead are in anguish. No doubt they are restless and eager for their release, but only as a lover might be restless who did not find himself fit to meet his beloved. So, let this celebration of the life of Bill Dorsel today help him hasten his way to the complete vision of God for which he was created and called to eternal rest.

 

  

Thursday, Luke 5:1-11: Miraculous Catch of Fish by Peter.

After he had finished speaking, Jesus said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”

“Put out into deep water…”  There is great meaning to this little line.

First of all, it’s important to note that the Apostles had fished all night long with no success.  They had tried throughout the night to bring in a haul without success. They probably went to all the good spots they knew, casting and retrieving their nets countless times. No matter how much they tried, the result was the same: they caught nothing. By the time Jesus came by the lake the following day, these fishermen must have been exhausted from the night’s work and were not at all ready to fish some more.

The first thing that came to Simon’s mind when Jesus told him to lower the net was how they had unsuccessfully toiled all night. Now, every fisherman of the time knew the best time to fish was at night, it was so much harder during full day light. Peter starts out with a protest against Jesus’ idea, saying Master, we toiled all night, the best time for fishing, and caught nothing.

This is what we often do. We look back on our fruitless ventures and then begin to doubt if God can really cause us to succeed. We must ask ourselves a question: Did we seek God’s approval before we started the venture that failed? If the answer is no, then we cannot charge God for failing to finish what He did not begin. The wiser thing to do is seek His counsel.

Peter then has second thoughts and replies to Jesus, “But if you say so, I will….  I will lower the nets.” The result is that they caught more fish than they thought they could handle.

if we follow God’s instruction, we will be successful in whatever we do. It may not always be instantaneous, but we will certainly succeed. God’s instruction will usually be something we may not want to hear. God’s direction almost always requires us to use our faith and almost always doesn’t make logical sense. Just like Simon, we have to forget about what makes sense to us and trust.

Just think about what would have happened if Simon had laughed and told Jesus, “Sorry, Lord, I’m done fishing for the day.  Maybe tomorrow.”  If Simon had acted this way, he would never have been blessed with this abundant catch.  The same is true with us.  If we fail to listen to the voice of God in our lives and fail to heed His radical commands, we will not be used in the way He desires to use us. Doing the Father’s Will in our lives is the most important thing we can possibly do.  We will be successful according to God’s definition.

What did Jesus tell Simon to do?, To put out into the “deep” water.  What does that mean?

This passage is not only about the physical miracle of catching fish; rather, it’s much more about the mission of evangelizing souls and accomplishing the mission of God.  The symbolism of putting out into the deep water tells us that we must be all in and fully committed if we are to evangelize and spread the Word of God as we are called to do.

Jesus told Peter that life is found in deep water, not shallow water. Often, we do not want to put out into deep water. When we are young, we do not like to lower the net of faith into deep waters. We like to fish from shallow waters. No time for total commitment to God. So much to do, school work and sports. Lord, I do not have time to lower my net deeper. Today I can do a little bit in shallow water. And as a result, we will not find the glory of God in our lives. We will easily be led away from our faith if we are not willing to put out into deep waters. We will end up losing our faith in living God and be carried away by the secular ideas that tell us that we are fine and do not need God. Try to find some time every day to put out into deep waters. Not just perfunctory prayers, but we need deeper reflection on our faith, tune in our wavelength to the Lord’s channel, and listen to him.  

 

At the miraculous catch, Simon proclaims that he is not worthy to be in Jesus’ presence because he is a sinner.  Have we ever had time to find out whether there is any sin in us that makes us unsuccessful, sad and disappointed? Jesus invites Simon and his fishing buddies to join him and cast the nets of salvation over people and pull them into the Reign of Heaven.  The text ends with Peter and his companions’ response:  ‘They left everything and followed him.’ Are we willing to follow him today?

 Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; 1 Cor 15:20-27; Lk 1:39-56

Today, we celebrate one of the great solemnities in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Assumption. This special day commemorates the fact that after Mary’s earthly life, she was taken body and soul into heaven to be with her resurrected Son and adore the Most Holy Trinity forever. It is a remarkable truth that she now enjoys her body and soul united in heaven, anticipating the day when all the faithful will rise and dwell with God in a new bodily form.

In today’s gospel reading, we hear the story of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. Luke describes a visit that left both the visitor and the one visited greatly blessed. Elizabeth addresses Mary as ‘the mother of my Lord’. She recognized that in welcoming Mary she was welcoming the Lord whom Mary was carrying. Elizabeth was aware that the Lord was visiting her through Mary, and so she declared Mary blessed. That is why we, too, honour Mary. We recognize that it was through her that the Lord visited us. Later on, in Luke’s gospel, the crowds come to say of the adult Jesus, ‘God has visited his people’. The really significant visitation is God’s visiting us in the person of Jesus, and it was through Mary that this visitation came about. We honour Mary because she was the gate through whom the Lord came to us. That is why, as she sings in her Magnificat, all generations have called her blessed.

Because she is the gate through whom the Lord first came to us, Mary has a unique relationship with the Lord. It is because of that special relationship with the Lord that she shares uniquely in his risen and glorious life before everybody else. That is what we celebrate today on this feast of the Assumption.

This feast is not only about Mary. It is also about ourselves. What Mary has become, we hope to be. The great things that God has done for Mary are a pointer to the great things that God wants to do for all of us. The doctrine of Mary’s bodily assumption into heaven brings home to us that our bodies are destined to be gloriously changed after death. How this will happen is utterly mysterious.

Recognizing that the Lord comes among us in embodied ways inspires us to be concerned about the welfare of people’s bodies. When in today’s gospel reading Mary sings of God as one who exalts the lowly and fills the hungry with good things, she acknowledges God as one who is deeply concerned about people’s bodies, about their physical well-being. Today’s feast calls on us to make that concern of God our own, and to give expression to God’s concern in the way we relate to others, especially to those who are broken in body or spirit.

We celebrate today by singing with Mary her great hymn of praise, the “Magnificat” (Lk 1:39-56). Apart from God’s favour Mary was but a lowly servant living in a “nowhere” town in the hill country of Galilee.  She was at the bottom of the social ladder.  Yet when God touched her womb she became a queen, the mother of the King of kings.  To this day she is honored millions of times a day as her “Hail Mary” is recited by humble Catholics throughout the world.  If you check it out, you will be amazed at the number of singing artists, both religious and secular, who have recorded her “Ave Maria.”  Truly all generations have and will always call her blessed.

And she is not the only one called blessed.  Each of us, being her sons and daughters, is also called blessed because we are special children of the Queen of heaven and earth.  Any low self-esteem problems we might have will evaporate if we drink in this truth about ourselves.

“The Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.  He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation.”

 

May the assumed Mary intercede for us with her Son Jesus to do the works she did so that finally, we shall, assisted by Mary, one day reach Jesus, and enjoy the joys of heaven.

 

ALL SOULS DAY

Today, All Souls' Day, the Church offers prayers to honor and to intercede for those who have predeceased us.
This commemoration also brings to mind our own mortality. It can be a day of mixed emotions, for, while we are saddened to recall the deaths of our loved ones,  we are also reminded of our resurrection. Because of our Baptism and the price Jesus paid for our sins, we too can share in the Resurrection.

A too common error among many believing Catholics is their attitude toward death and what happens immediately after death. All too many are convinced that their loved ones, immediately after passing from this life to the next, are already in heaven, even though such loved ones did not live an exemplary and holy life. Remember what the last Book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, teaches us: “Nothing impure can enter the Kingdom of God.”  Jesus also states: “Blessed are the pure of heart for they will see God.”(Mt. 5:8)

How often do we hear at funerals, referring to the deceased, these words: “Well, he is in a better place now!” or “Now he is no longer suffering.” Obviously, those who utter these statements toward the deceased have no bad will in the least. Nonetheless, these statements can cause great damage and the reason is crystal clear! If this person who has passed into eternity is in a better place, which of course refers to heaven, and if he is no longer suffering because he enjoys the perpetual bliss of heaven, then it is not necessary to offer any prayers or sacrifices for the purification of his soul. In other words, why waste prayers and sacrifices in praying for a soul who is already in heaven? They can pray and intercede for us.

However, we must arrive at the bare truth. Only those who are absolutely pure, without any stain of sin, without any attachments to sin and this world, and who have been totally purified of their past sins can have access to the Kingdom of heaven. Most of us would have to admit, with honesty and truth, that we probably have not arrived at that state, yet. In other words, only those who have perfected themselves in charity—supernatural love for God and neighbor—are ready to enter into the utter holiness and essence of the eternal Home of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Mary, the angels and saints!

Therefore, no matter who the person is and was, after he has passed from this life to the next, it is a salutary practice and most pleasing to God to pray, offer sacrifices, offer Masses and offer alms for the deceased. We should not canonize them before their time. Only the Holy Father, the Pope, has the right to declare officially that such a person is a saint in heaven.

Therefore, if such a person has died in the state of grace, but has not yet arrived at heaven, then his destiny is that of PURGATORY. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines Purgatory as such:

“All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.” (CCC # 1030)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church also quotes Pope Saint Gregory the Great, who is the origin and initiator of the “Gregorian Masses”—meaning 30 consecutive Masses for the deceased, on the topic of Purgatory with these motivating words:

“As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.” (CCC #1031)

Then the Catechism of the Catholic Church offers us a clear Biblical passage from the Old Testament, the Book of Maccabees (2 Mac. 12:46) that gives support and proof for the reality of Purgatory, as well as what practices we should undertake so as to help these poor souls in their suffering to arrive safely home in heaven. In a word, the souls in Purgatory are saved because they died in the state of sanctifying grace, but they are totally dependent upon the infinite mercy of Almighty God for final purification. However, the mercy of Almighty God is partially mediated through what we do for them while we are on earth. God wants us to do all we can to help these souls attain their eternal reward. Therefore, let us read and reflect seriously in an attitude of prayer the words once again of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

“This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: Therefore (Judas Maccabeus) made atonement for the dead that they might be delivered from their sin (2.Mac.12:45). From the beginning, the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead: “Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice (Job.1:5), why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.” (CCC # 1032)

 We can only be truly consoled by trusting in the Lord’s words: I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even if they die, will live [Jn. 11: 25]. It is in this faith and trust in God’s goodness that we pray for the deceased. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied, says Paul in 1 cor.15:19.

We are reminded today, on All Souls Day, not only to pray for those who have died, but also to reflect on how well we might be meeting our own obligations with those entrusted by Christ to our loving care.