Remembering All Souls
By Br. Jerome Masters, O.P.
“O God, glory of the faithful and life of the just, by the Death and Resurrection of whose Son we have been redeemed, look mercifully on your departed servants, that, just as they professed the mystery of our resurrection, so they may merit to receive the joys of eternal happiness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.”
(Collect from All Souls Day)
The Church celebrates with great joy the Solemnity of All Saints, but one day later, there’s a drastic change. Instead of white vestments, black or purple vestments are worn. Instead of the joy that we are reminded of from the lives of the saints, we are reminded of those we have lost. Instead of seeing the joy that comes from heaven, we are reminded of the pain that comes from the fall of Adam.
Why is there a drastic change in a matter of 24 hours?
To remind ourselves that we too will meet our creator at some point when our own earthly journey concludes. It also reminds us to, as Pope Benedict XVI once said, “pray for the loved ones who have left us.” Death seems to be a subject that our modern society seems to ignore, because of the many emotions it can bring up. Some might still feel the immense pain of the loss of a loved one from many years ago. But we as Catholics have an opportunity to process this loss through prayer. There is something beautiful about praying for the souls of the faithful departed, because it keeps us connected as one Church. The Church Militant (the Church on earth), the Church Triumphant (the Church in heaven), and the Church Suffering (the Church in purgatory) all come together to form the one Church. The faithful departed are gone to us in one sense, but in another, they are still united to us.
In his homily for his father’s funeral, Justice Antonin Scalia, Fr. Paul Scalia said, “we are gathered here because of one man. A man known personally to many of us, known only by reputation to even more. A man loved by many, scorned by others, a man known for great controversy, and for great compassion. That man, of course, is Jesus of Nazareth.” When we gather together for funerals and especially today, where we remember all the faithful departed, we are there for Jesus Christ. To remind ourselves that Jesus Christ redeemed us by dying for us. Today we are reminded that this is not the final destination on our journey. We are reminded that souls of the faithful departed need our prayers.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven—through a purification or immediately, or immediate and everlasting damnation.” This purification refers to purgatory, where we are cleansed for the final time of any attachment to sin our souls may have. We cannot get ourselves out of purgatory. The Church on earth prays for the Church in purgatory so that all those souls may come into the joy of heaven.
