“The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them… Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love.” “The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.”
For any of us who have attended funerals, I suspect these are familiar words. Today, we celebrate a funeral mass. We have no Gloria. We are in purple vestments – the color of sorrow and mourning; repentance and penance. Our readings and prayers all reflect a funeral mass. But why? This is one of the rare occasions when the liturgy of the day – All Soul’s Day or the Commemoration of the Faithfully Departed – trumps the Sunday liturgy. That happens very rarely. It says something about the importance of this day in the life of the church. It says something about the importance of prayer – and in particular prayers for the dead. It says something about the importance of the funeral liturgy. This whole month of November is dedicated to praying for the dead. So, why do we pray for our deceased loved ones? Why do we have funeral masses?
We do these things because we believe both in the power of prayer, and the new life of eternal salvation that awaits us after death. Each of us faces judgment when we die – judgment for what we have done and how we have lived here on earth. For a select group – those who are saintly and have lived pure lives, they will go directly to heaven. For those who have sinned greatly and turned their backs to God, hell and eternal suffering awaits them. For many though, who are essentially faithful, but still have sins which, while they have been forgiven still affect them and require purging before they are ready to be in the presence of God. These souls go to Purgatory. They have the surety of going to heaven eventually, but they must first be purified and purged of all their sins. We know from the visionaries of Medjugorje and others that these souls need our prayers. As one visionary put it, “The Blessed Mother has asked us to pray for the souls in Purgatory. They are helpless to pray for themselves. Through prayer, we on earth can do much to help them.” Did you hear that – they are no longer able to help themselves. They are dependent on our prayers to release them from Purgatory.
And so we pray. We pray today for our deceased parents, spouses, children, relatives, and friends. We know that they were good people. But we also know that they were people with sin. We want them to be capable of receiving the full blast of God’s love; so we pray for them. The power of prayer is far greater, infinitely greater than we could ever imagine. Often when we pray we call on the strength of the Almighty One to perform an action beyond our capabilities, but not beyond His. Today we pray that the Lord heals the wounds of all who are not yet ready to enter into the fullness of His presence. May they be healed. May any part of their lives that have been closed to Love be completely open to the Presence of God.
“I will reject no one who comes to me,” the Lord said in our gospel today. We trust in the God who loves us to care for us and our loved ones in life and in death. And so we pray the greatest prayer that we have – the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. When we celebrate this liturgy, we connect our prayer to the very core of our faith – the Eucharist – our Lord Jesus Christ himself. There are two purposes of the funeral mass: to commend the dead to God’s merciful love, and to plead for the forgiveness of their sins. The Church has set aside this day, November 2nd, and this month as a time for us to have a particular focus praying for and remembering those who have died.
As Vincentians, this day reminds us of one of our most important ministries – the final care for those who have passed before us – both our Vincentian brothers and sisters and our neighbors in need. We pray
especially for those who have no one else to pray for them. How do I become more aware during this month of my role in helping others into heaven?
“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their soul and the souls of all the faithfully departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.” Amen
Deacon Mike