remember those who have died
Saturday, Nov. 2, is the Feast of All Souls. It is not a Holy Day of Obligation, but we are encouraged to go to Mass or to spend time in some other form of prayer.
All Souls Day reminds us that, for most of us, there will be a necessary time of final purification after we die. For those who have repented of their sins and sought forgiveness, they are in fact forgiven. But often there remains the “stain of sin.” For instance, if I have a serious problem with anger and have acted out cruelly toward others, I repent of my sins of anger and go to confession seeking reconciliation with God. My sins are forgiven. But the stain of sin, the tendency to anger, still lives within me. God wants to not only forgive our sins of anger, but free us from the anger that lives within. If when I die, I have not been successful, with God’s grace, to be set free from the tendency to anger, then I must be purified of that before I can know the perfect peace and joy of heaven. We cannot take that tendency to sin into heaven. This is true of my other sins as well.
This period of final purification is what we call purgatory. The catechism tells us that the sufferings of purgatory are entirely different than the sufferings of hell. The sufferings of hell are eternal separation from God and being consumed by the ugliness of our own sin, which we do not repent of and cannot let go of. We might compare the sufferings of purgatory with major surgery that will restore us to complete health, to being abused and assaulted, with no help in sight. The sufferings of purgatory are our own regrets and sorrows for the sins we have committed and knowing that we are at the edge of heaven, and the only thing that is blocking us is our own tendency to sin, that we have not yet let go of.
All Souls Day is a day of prayer for those whom the Church has called the “Poor Souls,” as we believe that our prayers can assist them in their final purification. We also use that day to remember all of those who have died, especially over the past year.
All Souls Day reminds us that, for most of us, there will be a necessary time of final purification after we die. For those who have repented of their sins and sought forgiveness, they are in fact forgiven. But often there remains the “stain of sin.” For instance, if I have a serious problem with anger and have acted out cruelly toward others, I repent of my sins of anger and go to confession seeking reconciliation with God. My sins are forgiven. But the stain of sin, the tendency to anger, still lives within me. God wants to not only forgive our sins of anger, but free us from the anger that lives within. If when I die, I have not been successful, with God’s grace, to be set free from the tendency to anger, then I must be purified of that before I can know the perfect peace and joy of heaven. We cannot take that tendency to sin into heaven. This is true of my other sins as well.
This period of final purification is what we call purgatory. The catechism tells us that the sufferings of purgatory are entirely different than the sufferings of hell. The sufferings of hell are eternal separation from God and being consumed by the ugliness of our own sin, which we do not repent of and cannot let go of. We might compare the sufferings of purgatory with major surgery that will restore us to complete health, to being abused and assaulted, with no help in sight. The sufferings of purgatory are our own regrets and sorrows for the sins we have committed and knowing that we are at the edge of heaven, and the only thing that is blocking us is our own tendency to sin, that we have not yet let go of.
All Souls Day is a day of prayer for those whom the Church has called the “Poor Souls,” as we believe that our prayers can assist them in their final purification. We also use that day to remember all of those who have died, especially over the past year.