Today we celebrate the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. This reminds us of the necessity to pray for the souls of the faithful departed. We play a great disservice to the deceased when we fail to pray for them and to offer our sacrifice on their behalf.
The Book of Revelation is very clear that nothing which is unclean will enter Heaven. If scripture is true here all of us would be in great trouble, because nobody here is without sin. Thankfully, Purgatory takes those in their impurity and purifies them in order that they may be made clean. As scripture attests to this notion in the Book of 1 Peter: “As gold which is tested in fire.” When impurity is found within gold the only way to get that impurity out is to let it pass through fire. I must stress that Purgatory is not a second chance because these souls in question have already been judged as worthy of Heaven by God and must now undergo purification.
Some claim that our prayers and sacrifices do no good for the deceased, but from the second Book of Maccabees we heard concerning the importance of making “atonement for the dead that they might be freed from (their) sin.”
In our modern age funerals so often fail to lead us towards praying for the dead and considering our own mortality. The funeral is not a celebration of life, but rather it is to enter into the Sacred Mysteries of our Lord’s passion in order that the soul of the faithful departed may be cleansed. It is to say that we are not God and we cannot judge the salvation of another, but with the confidence of faith that we can trust in the reality of everlasting life. If we trust in this reality then we too will strive to be found worthy of the Kingdom of God by how we order our life on this earth.
Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest In Peace. Amen.
