Commemoration of All the Souls Departed
*Theme: Death will come for you one day*
(Wis 3:1-9, Ps 23, Rom 5:5-11, Jn 6:37-40)
Each year, mother church offers us the opportunity to commemorate and pray for all those who have fallen asleep in the hope of the Resurrection. All Souls Day is a solemn celebration in the Church commemorating all of those who have died and are now in Purgatory, being cleansed of their venial sins and the temporal punishments for the mortal sins that they had confessed, and being made pure before entering into the presence of God in Heaven.Thus, having honoured the Church Triumphant in heaven on 1stNovember, the very next day the Church militant on earth with due concern turns her gaze onto the members of the church suffering in purgatory, a demonstration in unmistakable terms of the supernatural bond of the communion of saints. In short, the church in heaven and the church on earth (church militant or pilgrim church) on this day pray for the church suffering (souls in purgatory), so that their cleansing can speed up. The prayers we offer for them speed up this process.
Please permit me to throw more light on this celebration because of the misconceptions surrounding it. The Catholic Church believe in the existence of three places in relation to life after death. Heaven, purgatory and hell. Those in heaven are the people we refer to as saints. Of course, it is the dwelling place of God and his angels. People who die in the state of grace find peace and everlasting joy with God in this place. The state of grace here means that the person didn’t die with any form of sins. He died in a moment when he had repented from all his sins and had been forgiven by God. That’s why a criminal can go to heaven but a bishop can go to hell. Because if the criminal repents from his sins before he dies, his soul would be saved. But if the bishop doesn’t repent from his sins before his death, he can go to hell. Hell on the other hand is a place of punishment for people who fail to repent from their mortal sins before their death. They become totally separated from God.
On this day, the people we pray for are those in purgatory. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal life; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven”. They are purged from their stains of venial sins which didn’t permit them to go to heaven direct, hence the term purgatory. These people didn’t die in mortal sins or grave sins, because if they died in mortal sins then our prayers can do nothing for them. It means that they also died in the state of grace just like those in heaven, but their process of cleansing was not complete before their departure from this earth. We all know that sin stains our soul, therefore when one repents from his sins this stains are cleanse from our souls. Hence, there is hope for those in purgatory but there is no hope for those in hell. Because those in hell have already been condemned, therefore nothing can be done to salvage their situation. Catholics on this day do not pray for those who have died in mortal sins and have already been condemned to hell, but rather those in purgatory who need our prayers to speed up this process. Since you and I do not know who is in heaven, purgatory or hell, we normally pray for all the dead. But actually our intention is for those of them in purgatory. Therefore, Catholics are not saying that those who die in their mortal sins have hope to be forgiven after their death. It also means that our way of life on this earth will determine where we would find ourselves.
This is a matter of faith and for that matter a mystery that you and I can’t explain fully. Scriptural evidence indicates in 2Macc. 12:39-46 that, Judas the military commander discovered that those of his men who had died in a particular battle had been wearing forbidden pagan amulets. His men at once “begged that the sin committed might be fully blotted out”. Judas then took up a collection from all his men and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for atonement for the dead that they might be absolved from their sins. But tradition in connection with experience in the church has proven the existence of purgatory. Certain Catholic Mystics have had several encounters of souls in purgatory, who have pleaded with them to encourage the living to continue to pray for them to speed up their process. Some of them were known people by these Mystics who called on them to either tell some particular churches or families to intensify their prayers for them. These Mystics are holy men and women of God, who are much in tuned with the Holy Spirit. The church never doubts these people because their spiritual experiences have proven to be authentic. Beloved, in matters of God, you and I can’t know everything.
The celebration of this day also presents to us the reality of death. Death is inevitable and we shall all die one day. Whether you like it or not one day you will die. Nobody will remain a stone on this earth. Those people we are praying for in our churches and the cemeteries were once like us the living. They were also once present to pray for the dead. But today we are praying for them. One day we will also be buried in the cemetery, and others will be praying for us. As I always say, as we always go for people’s funerals, we should also remember that one day others will come for ours. The point is, have you prepared a place for your soul? Please take some minutes and ask yourself, if I die right now, where will my soul be? The kind of life you are living will decide for you and not your loud mouth. Repent before it is too late for you.
Beloved, the arguments about the existence of purgatory is not the most important thing in life. The important thing is to live a good life so that you can be with God when you die. This should be our preoccupation every day and not unnecessary arguments which cannot gain us salvation. May the Holy Spirit give us the strength to live lives as people who are going to be judged when our lives expire on this earth. AMEN.
you will die one day, remember!!
HAVE A BLESSED SUNDAY AND A HAPPY WEEK AHEAD
REV. FR. AKAKPO MATTHEW
