{"id":868,"date":"2012-11-06T08:13:36","date_gmt":"2012-11-06T13:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=868"},"modified":"2012-11-06T08:13:36","modified_gmt":"2012-11-06T13:13:36","slug":"saints-purgatory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/saints-purgatory\/","title":{"rendered":"Saints & Purgatory"},"content":{"rendered":"

While we can always be mindful of those who have gone before us, November is considered a special time to pray for the dead. \u00a0We begin the month on November 1st first with the celebration of All Saints’ Day. \u00a0Anytime I speak of the saints I always like to begin with clearing up a misconception that some people have. \u00a0Catholics do\u00a0not\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>worship the saints. \u00a0We worship God and God alone. \u00a0We venerate<\/em> the saints. \u00a0To venerate is to give honor and respect. \u00a0We ask for the intercession of the saints as the ones who are in Heaven but we ask for their prayers knowing that it is God who performs the miracles.<\/p>\n

There are many saints known by name such as St. Francis of Assisi, St. Dominic, and St. Peter. \u00a0These are the people officially canonized by the Church but all who have entered into the eternal kingdom of Heaven are saints, whether they are known by name or not. \u00a0On All Saints’ Day we give honor for the good lives they lived and ask that they be praying for us before God.<\/p>\n

On November 2nd, we celebrate\u00a0The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed,<\/em>\u00a0more commonly known as All Souls’ Day. \u00a0On this day, we especially pray for the souls in Purgatory. \u00a0Some Catholics think the Catholic Church no longer believes in Purgatory. \u00a0Protestants might say it isn’t in the Bible. \u00a0The Bible does mention praying for the dead. \u00a0It is found in 2 Maccabees 12:38-46<\/a>\u00a0which is found in the Old Testament (found in the Protestant Apocrypha).<\/p>\n

Purgatory is not a bad thing. \u00a0It is a gift. \u00a0Our sins are forgiven in this life when we ask for forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. \u00a0But that sin has an effect on us and is part of who we are. \u00a0In Purgatory, we are cleansed of any effect of sin and transformed to be with God in his glory. \u00a0Purgatory is God’s way of making this happen (Philippians 3:21<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The Catholic Church also speaks of the Communion of Saints. \u00a0When we say “The Saints” we are referring to those in Heaven. \u00a0The ‘Communion of Saints’ involves three groups, those in Heaven (The Saints), those in Purgatory, and those of us alive on Earth. \u00a0We are united by our common baptism. \u00a0The Saints in Heaven pray for us, we pray for those in Purgatory, and God provides for all.<\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

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

While we can always be mindful of those who have gone before us, November is considered a special time to pray for the dead. \u00a0We begin the month on November 1st first with the celebration of All Saints’ Day. \u00a0Anytime I speak of the saints I always like to begin with clearing up a misconception …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Saints & Purgatory’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-e0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":869,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868\/revisions\/869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}