Meditation Twenty-Six, First Week of September 2003

The Church Being Purified

Readings: 2 Maccabees 12:45; 1 Cor. 3:10-15.

Since very early times Christians have prayed for the dead and have considered those souls passing through a purification on their journey to God's eternal kingdom as part of the great communion of saints. We have prayed for them and asked them to pray for us. All the ancient churches, like the Armenian and Coptic Churches and St. Thomas Church of India, pray for the dead, as do the Orthodox Churches, which became separated much later. This means that the vast majority of Christians pray for the dead, as do most of the other major world religions. Originally the Protestant reformers opposed prayers for the dead because, like Luther, they believed that salvation was decided before you were born and had no relation to your deeds. In St. Matthew's Gospel (12:31-32) Our Lord indicates that there are sins forgiven in this world and sins "forgiven in the world to come." Perhaps if the Protestant reformers had known of the very early gravestones that showed prayers to the saints and if they had been aware of the ancient custom of prayers for the dead, they might have changed their minds. They did know, however, that St. Augustine, one of their favorite theologians, spoke eloquently about prayers for the holy souls and about the value of Mass offered for them. Our own foundress, St. Catherine of Genoa, wrote the most beautiful and inspiring work on Purgatory, which paradoxically was very popular with Protestant holiness writers of the nineteenth century (cf. Catherine of Genoa, Paulist Press).

Quotation for Meditation

Sections 1030-1032 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church should be read.

The following selection from the ninth book of the Confessions of St. Augustine makes clear that he not only prayed for his mother and father but also asked others to pray for them so that after death they might be released from their sins.

[M]y brother said something to the effect that he would be happier if she were to die in her own land and not in a strange country. But as she heard this she looked at him anxiously, restraining him with her eye because he savored of earthly things, and then she looked at me and said: "See the way he talks." And then she said to us both: "Lay this body wherever it may be. Let no care of it disturb you: this only I ask of you that you should remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be." . . .

Thus, my Glory and my Life, God of my heart, leaving aside for this time her good deeds, for which I give thanks to Thee in joy, I now pray to Thee for my mother's sins. Grant my prayer through the true Medicine of our wounds, who hung upon the cross and who now sitting at Thy right hand makes intercession for us. I know that she dealt mercifully, and from her heart forgave those who trespassed her; do Thou also forgive such trespasses as she may have been guilty of in all the years since her baptism; forgive them, Lord, forgive them, I beseech Thee: enter not into judgment with her. Let Thy mercy be exalted above Thy justice for Thy words are true and Thou hast promised that the merciful shall obtain mercy. . . .

So let her rest in peace, together with her husband, for she had no other before nor after him, but served him, in patience bringing forth fruit for Thee, and winning him likewise for Thee. And inspire, O my Lord my God, inspire Thy servants my brethren. Thy sons my masters, whom I serve with heart and voice and pen, that as many of them as read this may remember at Thy altar Thy servant Monica, with Patricius, her husband, by whose bodies Thou didst bring me into this life, though how I know not. May they with loving mind remember these who were my parents in this transitory light, my brethren who serve Thee as our Father in our Catholic mother, and those who are to be fellow-citizens with me in the eternal Jerusalem, which Thy people sigh for in their pilgrimage from birth until they come there; so that what my mother at her end asked of me may be fulfilled more richly in the prayers of so many gained for her by my Confessions than by my prayers alone.

Quiet Time and Then Discussion

Questions for Meditation

1. Do I remember to pray for the dead?

2. Do I ask them to pray for me and the world we live in?

3. Do I invite others to remember and pray for those who have gone before us, whether they are already saints in heaven or holy souls on their way?

Prayer

O Lord Jesus Christ, You have redeemed all who are saved by Your holy death and Precious Blood. Help us to be purified of every stain and imperfection of will so that we may accept the fullness of Your redemption and fulfill in ourselves the just penance for our sins. Amen.