The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)
Yesterday, we celebrated with the Church Triumphant, all the saints who have entered the glory of heaven. Today, we, the Church Militant, have the privilege, honor, and opportunity to pray for the souls who experience the purifying suffering of Purgatory, awaiting the day when they will be joined with the company of saints in the unending heavenly celebration. Today is a beautiful reminder that the Body of Christ manifests herself as Church Triumphant, Militant, and Suffering. Today let us in full hope and confidence in God’s love and mercy, pray fervently for all the souls in Purgatory.
As a convert to Catholicism, the doctrine of Purgatory was one of the most difficult for me to understand and accept. One day, it became crystal clear to me that if I die with any stain of sin on my soul, there’s no way for me to enter God’s holy presence. Sin cannot come near to God, sin cannot look upon God, sin cannot stand in God’s presence; sin and the perfect holiness of the Divine are mutually exclusive. Purgatory, then, must be God’s unconditionally loving answer to my sin problem when I die (if I die without being in a state of perfect grace). Scripture speaks of God as a Refiner (Malachi, Ch. 3). The fiery, passionate love of the Holy Trinity purifies us and removes the tarnish, the dross of sin. As I came to better understand Purgatory, I said to my husband, “why do Catholics refer to the poor souls in Purgatory?” I have to assume that they’re right where God wants them to be, under the purifying gaze of his loving eye, held in the palm of his cleansing hand. There’s nothing “poor” about a soul held tightly within the will of God! I heard someone recently refer to the “holy souls in Purgatory.” I like that! I understand the suffering of a waiting soul that longs to be set free to be in God’s presence forever, and I don’t mean to diminish the reality of their suffering. I simply celebrate a holy soul that is being purified and prepared to enter glory. I see Purgatory as a place where the work of discipleship is completed, as a soul finishes the work of leaving the old self behind, dying to self, and taking on the new self. I simply find great hope in God’s refining work and trust in God’s perfect plan for purifying and perfecting God’s future saints.
Our readings invite us to pray in hope today for all the souls in Purgatory. I’ll simply highlight some of the verses.
From Wisdom: “the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them . . . they are in peace . . . their hope is full of immortality; chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace, he proved them . . .”
From Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want . . . Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.”
From Romans: “For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection . . . If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.”
From the Gospel according to John: “Jesus said . . . Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me . . . And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”
As we pray today for our loved ones and all the faithful departed, let us do so in the strong hope and fervent trust that God’s Word and our faith assure us. The Church Suffering is in the hands of our loving, merciful God who desires to cleanse and purify them so that they may enter his glory. Let us also take hope for ourselves today that whatever suffering we are enduring, whatever trials we face, that these words from scripture are true for us, too. Our life is in Christ, and God will never leave us nor forsake us; God will not abandon us. God will not take his presence from us, and God does not abandon us in our sin. That’s true whether we are part of the Church Militant or the Church Suffering. When we suffer, let us ask God that it might become redemptive. May it be redemptive for us, and for the souls in Purgatory as we offer up our suffering for them.
Let us join our voices with our Blessed Mother today, and ask God that by her powerful intercession, all the holy souls in Purgatory will quickly join the company of saints in heaven. And let us embody and exhibit deep and sincere hope in suffering, whether our own or in our groanings with the Church Suffering. God is with us all! Amen, alleluia!
Elizabeth Wells