Reflection for 11/2/17 (The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed)

Oftentimes, in today’s world of what I would call the “everybody gets a trophy” mentality, we fall prey to the idea that when we die, we go to heaven.  I can’t tell you the number of funerals that I have been to where the deceased is elevated to the level of sainthood immediately upon death.  Now, don’t get me wrong, we hope that this is the case—that’s called Christian hope.  And certainly, there is something to be said for comforting the family members with this thought; however, we also have to be reminded that as Catholic Christians, we believe in Purgatory as a reality after death.  And as a principle, the souls in purgatory are not able to merit grace of their own accord, but rather, they rely on the prayers and the supplications of us here on earth to help them in their purification for heaven.  Our praying for the deceased is a true act of charity, it is a way for us to love others even after we can no longer help them in this physical world.

 

In the funeral liturgy, there was a beautiful poem which we used to pray called the Dies Irae, which truly drove home this reminder for the need to pray for the deceased.  It goes on to describe in such beauty, “When the Judge his seat attaineth, And each hidden deed arraigneth, Nothing unavenged remaineth. // What shall I, frail man, be pleading? Who for me be interceding, When the just are mercy needing?”  Indeed, who will be interceding for us after we are deceased and have gone before the judgement seat of God?

 

Let us never cease to pray for one another after death lest there be no one to pray for us when we are called home to the Lord.  I can only speak for myself, but I would like all the prayers I can get in this life and in the next.