Corpus Christi Blog

All Souls Day - Gift of Purgatory

11-02-2014HomiliesFr. Chad King

My brothers and sisters in Christ, yesterday the Church celebrated All Saints Day, in which we celebrated all the souls who are in perfect union with God in Heaven.  Try and imagine what being in perfect union with God might look like.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus prays that we might be one as the Father and He is one.  To be one with and in God, means to share completely in His divine nature.  We were made by God to live forever in union with God.  But through sin, death entered the world, and because of sin we are not capable of living in perfect union with God.  And that is why in God’s love Jesus was sent and became human.  Jesus, who never lost the divine nature, took on our human nature, even to the point of suffering and dying for our sins. 

Today we are celebrating All Souls Day, where we pray for all people who have gone before us, especially those who are in Purgatory.  As our 2nd reading concludes, “We know that Christ raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him”.  Through Jesus resurrection from the dead and ascending into Heaven, every person is able to live with Him in Heaven once again.  Notice I said we are able…Just because Heaven is now a possibility, it does not mean it will happen for all of us.  The truth is, after death entrance through the pearly gates is not automatically given to those who have some degree of faith in God or to those who have been a pretty good person.  Many people believe that after death, one goes to Heaven or Hell, and ultimately that is true, but the Church has always taught there is a state of purification for the believers who are not yet ready to enter Heaven.  This purification that souls undergo is what the Church calls Purgatory.  Today in a special way, but indeed at every Mass, we pray for all the souls who are in purgatory, that are being purified in order to receive the gift of Heaven. 

Every soul must choose Heaven, we must actively accept to be in perfect union with God in Heaven.  At the moment of death, every soul has one last chance to repent of their sins and choose to live with God forever, or not.  If a soul does repent, maybe even for the 1st time in his/her life, then that soul receives the certitude of God’s love and mercy, and that they know they will one day experience the fullness of life and love in Heaven.  But, an unclean soul cannot enter into eternal paradise and experience complete unity with God.   The consequences of an individual’s sin remains after death even though God has forgiven their sins.  And because the soul has thus received a glimpse of the immense glory of Heaven, and the light of God has revealed the darkness in the soul due to sin; the soul sends itself to Purgatory to be purified so as to be made ready to receive the great gift of Heaven. 

So let me be clear with this important truth no one coasts their way into Heaven, nor is it automatically given to everyone who has died. Absolutely no one can receive the life of Heaven without choosing first to die to self while on earth.  Every soul who enters Heaven will have no attachment to sin and will be in perfect union with God.  Let that sink in for a moment, everyone in Heaven will have no attachment to sin.  Are you ready for Heaven?  Are you at least becoming detached from sin and growing closer to Heaven?

It is the Sacrament of Baptism which opens the possibility of new life in us.  Listen again to the first verse of our 2nd reading, “Brothers and sisters, are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life”.  But again, just because we were baptized, most likely as an infant, it does not  mean that we are automatically ready for Heaven.  We must, as our 2nd reading continues, be able to say, “We know that our old self was crucified with him, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin”.  There must be an active and continual death of self, a death to any attraction of sin for us to receive the newness of life in Heaven.  However, the active death of self, is not done on our own, it is a dying to self in Jesus Christ.  Yes, we can and must do our part to avoid sin in our lives, but we cannot detach ourselves from the attraction to sin.  Only Christ can set us free from slavery to sin.  Detachment from sin is not what we do in ourselves, we must choose and ask for it, but it is what God does in us.  As our Gospel says, Heaven is not given to the wise and the learned but to the little ones who have humbled themselves.  Only the humble are able to enter Heaven.  Those who know that they can do nothing without God.  The more we surrender ourselves in prayer, the more we die to our earthly desires and attach ourselves to Christ; then the more we are attracted only to what is of Him, and we become detached from that which is not of Him.  We must lose ourselves completely in order to gain the fullness of Christ.  So are you, am I, losing ourselves in Christ? 

The great thing about this life on earth is that we constantly have the choice to humble ourselves and grow in giving ourselves over to Christ.  However, those who have died, don’t, they have already made their decision.  A holy woman from Austria, named Maria Simma, up until her death in 2004, reportedly had received visits from the poor souls in purgatory.  In an interview, Maria responded to the question why the souls in purgatory cannot gain any more merits but those on earth can. (The complete interview will can be found here: http://www.michaeljournal.org/simma.htm).  Maria replied, “Because at the moment of death, the time to earn merits is over. For as long as we are living on earth, we can repair the evil we have done. The souls in Purgatory envy us of this opportunity. Even the angels are jealous of us, for we have the possibility of growing for as long as we are on earth.  On earth, when we suffer, we can grow in love, we can gain merits, which is not the case with the sufferings in Purgatory. In Purgatory, the sufferings serve only to purify us from sin. On earth, we have all the graces. We have the freedom to choose.  The souls in Purgatory can no longer do anything for themselves; they are totally helpless. If the living do not pray for them; they are totally abandoned. Therefore, it is very important to realize the immense power, the incredible power that each one of us has in our hands to relieve these souls who suffer”.

Knowing how necessary it is for us to pray for those in Purgatory.  Maria was asked what are the most effective means to help deliver the souls in Purgatory. She answered, “The most efficient means is the Mass.  Because it is Christ who offers Himself out of love for us. It is the offering of Christ Himself to God, the most beautiful offering. The priest is God's representative, but it is God Himself who offers Himself and sacrifices Himself for us. The efficacy of the Mass for the deceased is even greater for those who attached great value to the Mass during their lives. If they attended Mass and prayed with all their hearts, if they went to Mass on weekdays — according to their time available — they drew great profit from Masses celebrated for them. Here, too, one harvests what one has sown.  Let me repeat that point, the efficacy of the Mass for the deceased is even greater for those who attached great value to the Mass during their lives.  So when you die, how effective will the Masses be that are offered for you?

Remember that at every Mass we pray, “Pray brethren, that my sacrifice and yours, might be acceptable to God the Almighty Father”.  You and I are called to share in Christ’s sacrifice, and so I encourage you to offer in prayer at that time of the offering at this Mass, all your loved ones who have died.  The souls in Purgatory need our Masses offered for them.

There is another means, very powerful, to help the poor souls: the offering of our sufferings, our penances, such as fasting, renunciations, etc., — and of course, involuntary suffering, like illness or mourning.  All of this is so encouraging because it gives an extraordinary meaning to our sufferings. The suffering which is offered, voluntary or involuntary, even the smallest sacrifices we can make, suffering or sickness, mourning, disappointments... if we live them with patience, if we welcome them in humility, these sufferings can have an unheard-of power to help souls.

The best thing to do, Maria tells us, is to unite our sufferings to those of Jesus, by placing them in the hands of Mary. She is the one who knows best how to use them, since often we ourselves do not know the most urgent needs around us. All this, of course, Mary will give back to us at the hour of our death. You see, these sufferings offered will be our most precious treasures in the other world.  Let us do all we can, to turn away from sin, humbly surrender our attachments to sin, and yearn for heaven.  Let us also be vigilant in praying for the poor souls in purgatory for they depend on us. 

BACK TO LIST