At the beginning of November, our parish priests traditionally remind us that it is a time to pray for the faithful who have died.
Most will also encourage us to visit the gravesites of our dearly departed, say a prayer, perhaps even do some tidying up, a bit of weeding and plant some flowers. And if we see a grave nearby that looks unattended, we might also say a prayer at that one too.
Catholics have a penchant for cemeteries. We find them peaceful places where we can spend time in quiet contemplation, and often partake in a little gardening.
More importantly, they are places where Church militant (we on earth), kneel and pray for those in Church suffering (purgatory), to help them home to Church Triumphant (heaven).
Of course, it’s not necessary to be in a cemetery to pray for the dead; we can pray anywhere. It’s simply that the cemetery helps us focus our thoughts on the deceased.
Prayers for the dead have always been a major element of the Sacrifice of the Mass.
From the beginning the church has honoured the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. (CCC no. 1032).
“We are reminded as Catholics of the importance of interceding for each other, including for those who have gone before us, marked with the sign of faith. Our prayers and sufferings offered for the holy souls, quicken the process of them being readied for heaven,” said Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP on All Souls Day 2020.
These souls who are being readied for heaven are in purgatory.
However, as our columnist Philippa Martyr pointed out recently, the idea of purgatory has become anathema to many Catholics.
Philippa quoted a 2022 survey of 2,300 Australian Catholics showing just 63 per cent of them believed in purgatory. Similar results were found amongst UK Catholics.
And so, funerals have become canonisations, where the deceased—always a “saint”—is already sitting at the right hand of God in heaven.
A straw poll of my own church revealed that people have a problem with imagining the dead being purified by fire, waiting for us to pray for their freedom. They couldn’t imagine where such a place would even exist in space and time.
However, as St Pope John Paul II pointed out to his Wednesday audience on 4 August 1999; “Every trace of attachment to evil must be eliminated, every imperfection of the soul corrected. Purification must be complete, and indeed this is precisely what is meant by the church’s teaching on purgatory. The term does not indicate a place, but a condition of existence.” (par: 5, my italics).
This triptych of the Holy Souls in Purgatory being purified by the fires of divine charity, which comes from Christ Crucified, and comforted by the angels and our prayers, is in the Dominican church of St Catherine of Siena, New York City. Photo: flickr.com.
The Holy Father explains the scriptural basis for purgatory from Old Testament religious law, decreeing that what is destined for God must be perfect, at a sacrificial level, or institutional level.
He goes on to say; “The need for integrity obviously becomes necessary after death, for entering into perfect and complete communion with God. Those who do not possess this integrity must undergo purification. This is suggested by a text of St Paul. The Apostle speaks of the value of each person’s work which will be revealed on the day of judgement and says: ‘If the work which any man has built on the foundation [which is Christ] survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire’ (1 Cor 3:14-15).” (Par: 2)
St Augustine has also spoken on the importance of remembering the dead in your prayers; “The universal church observes this law, handed down from the Fathers, that prayers should be offered for those who have died in the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, when they are commemorated in their proper place at the Sacrifice.” (Serm. clxxii, 2, P.L., XXXVIII, 936).
What this all means is that those souls who exist in a state of being we Catholics call purgatory, can be helped by our prayers, works and sufferings on any day or month of the year. Not just in November.
So this month, let people know you are Catholic by the way you hang out in the cemetery and tend to the garden of souls.