{"id":602,"date":"2011-11-02T17:52:47","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T21:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=602"},"modified":"2011-11-02T17:52:47","modified_gmt":"2011-11-02T21:52:47","slug":"the-commemoration-of-all-the-faithful-departed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/the-commemoration-of-all-the-faithful-departed\/","title":{"rendered":"The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today (November 2nd) is the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed<\/em>.\u00a0 That’s its official title.\u00a0\u00a0 It is more commonly called All Souls’ Day<\/em>.\u00a0 Yesterday we celebrated the Solemnity of All Saints honoring all those who are now saints dwelling in the heavenly kingdom with God.\u00a0 In my blog article yesterday<\/a>,\u00a0I spoke about the Communion of Saints in three parts, the saints in Heaven, those in purgatory, and those of us who continue to dwell in this life on Earth.<\/p>\n

Some people think that Purgatory has gone by the wayside and that we no longer believe in Purgatory.\u00a0 We do not talk about Purgatory much.\u00a0 Some take that to mean we have given up our belief in Purgatory.\u00a0 We haven’t.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why don’t we talk about Purgatory?\u00a0 In society at large there seems be a theology that just assumes that since God is a merciful and loving God so everyone will get into Heaven.\u00a0 One might then think if it is easy to get into Heaven, then we really don’ t need Purgatory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Others might not like to talk about Purgatory because they see it as punishment.\u00a0 One of the images of Purgatory is that of a cleansing fire.\u00a0 When we think of fire, we tend to think of Hell and the punishing fires that burn there.\u00a0 Purgatory is not punishment.\u00a0 Purgatory exists to make us worthy to enter into the Heavenly kingdom.\u00a0 In Purgatory we are not separated from God as those in Hell.\u00a0<\/p>\n

God wants us all to be in Heaven but we must accept the gift God offers.\u00a0 To accept the gift offered, we must live according to the teachings of Jesus.\u00a0 Yet, the fact remains that we are not perfect.\u00a0 We make mistakes and we sin.\u00a0 Of course, God is eager to forgive us and the price for our sins was paid by Jesus as he hung upon the Cross for us.\u00a0 If we genuinely seek the Lord’s forgiveness through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, God forgives us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, when we die, our sins have already been forgiven.\u00a0 But while our sins have already been given forgiven, they are part of our past and thus part of who we are.\u00a0 To be able to enter into Heaven, we need to be “cleansed” of the effect our sins have had on us.\u00a0 Purgatory does that for us.<\/p>\n

So, Purgatory is a good thing.\u00a0 If you make it to Purgatory, then you will make it to Heaven.<\/em>\u00a0 So, we pray for those in Purgatory.\u00a0 This is the reason that we have Masses said for the dead.\u00a0 Protestant theology says that there is no benefit in praying for the dead.\u00a0 They will be judged by who they are at the time of their death.\u00a0 Catholic theology would agree that our prayers do not get people out of Hell.\u00a0 We pray for the dead in the hope that they will be welcomed to the\u00a0heavenly kingdom but first\u00a0that they may be quickly ‘complete their time’ in Purgatory and enter the Heavenly Kingdom (Praying for the dead is actually found in the Bible in 2 Maccabees 12:\u00a038-46<\/a>).<\/p>\n

And so on this All Souls’ Day and always we pray for the dead that have gone before us.<\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

Fr. Jeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today (November 2nd) is the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed.\u00a0 That’s its official title.\u00a0\u00a0 It is more commonly called All Souls’ Day.\u00a0 Yesterday we celebrated the Solemnity of All Saints honoring all those who are now saints dwelling in the heavenly kingdom with God.\u00a0 In my blog article yesterday,\u00a0I spoke about the Communion of …<\/p>\n

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