What is the significance of All Souls Day?

As mentioned in the previous post after Halloween comes All Saints Day. This year we will celebrate All Saints on Sunday, but on Monday our school community will celebrate All Souls Day. Not being a holy day of obligation I thought this would be a witness for the students to come together to pray for the souls of the dear ones who are in purgatory.

This morning while reading a blog I was reminded that it being the Year for Priests it would be appropriate to pray in a special way for the souls of the departed priests. In that the priests are marked by signs of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, they are still human and not always in a state of grace. We forget the man behind the clerics as a human being is tempted in all things and must reconcile his sinfulness to God as we all do.

There are special indulgences for All Souls Day as well as Plenary Indulgences granted to all the faithful who are truly repentant, attend the Divine Sacrifice of the Mass and offer prayers to Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest for the first Thursday of the Month during the Year for Priests. This would be an incredible week to offer for the souls of the departed priests. To receive a Plenary Indulgence, a person must be in a state of grace by receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, prayed in accordance with the Pope's monthly intentions, an Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory Be, and celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

An indulgence is the remission before God of the temporal punishment due sins already forgiven as far as their guilt is concerned which the follower of Christ obtains through the intervention of the Church. Christ died for our sinfulness, but the sin is still ours alone and we make reparation through the Sacrament and with our penance. The Church as minister of the redemption authoritatively dispenses and applies the treasury of the satisfaction won by Christ and the saints to the faithful follower of Christ. In a nutshell, indulgences shorten your time in purgatory. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains purgatory as a process, not a place. It will be suffering, but a suffering that cleanses the soul, a "purging" of temporal punishment due to sin. This is the suffering we will enjoin to Christ. There will be rewards in heaven after our own suffering on our own "cross". It makes sense, why would we be granted easy access to heaven when God's own Son suffered so? The reality is who will be in a perfect state of holiness at the time of their death, what are the chances? With the indulgences we are granted we pray for ourselves and others to have a shortened time in purgatory. If you pray for someone who has already made it to the Beatific Vision, those prayers will be offered for someone else.

This is how God's mercy is led to forgiveness and it becomes possible for the sinner who has repented sincerely, to share, as soon as they are capable of it, in the full enjoyment of the benefits of God's family. There is a connection made through prayer between those in heaven, in purgatory, and those still on earth. This is what points to that communion of saints. We are all in that number.

Are we prepared for our own life after death?

Yesterday when I heard about Ms. Fawcett's and Mr. Jackson's deaths I thought of a delightful and quite imaginative book written by Dr. Peter Kreeft called Between Heaven and Hell. It is written in dialogue prose and focuses on a conversation taking place between President John F. Kennedy, C.S. Lewis, and Aldous Huxley, who die within hours of each other in November of 1963. I wondered if Ms. Fawcett and Mr. Jackson were engaging in a similar conversation. The dialogue is philosophical in nature regarding the truth of heaven, hell and purgatory. It is quite thought provoking to say the least.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that "Death is the end of man's earthly pilgrimage, of the time of grace and mercy which God offers him so as to work out his earthly life in keeping with the divine plan and to decide his ultimate destiny" (CCC 1013). The Church encourages us to live our life in Christ and to prepare for our death to this earthly life and to live in the fullness of life with Christ in heaven. The question then becomes how do we prepare and are we prepared to let go of this earthly life and live in Heaven? Christ came to show us how to prepare. He was the perfect man exemplar for us. The teachings of the Church remind us of our obligation and responsibilty to live our baptismal call. It is through Baptism that sacramentally we have already "died with Christ" in order to live a new life, (CCC 1010).

There are people who believe that Faith alone will get them to heaven. Jesus taught us the corporal works of mercy and gave us the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes give us attitudes to adopt in living our vocation characteristic of the Christian life with the promise of sharing in the Kingdom of God, our just reward. This is about action, the workings of Christ, not just faith alone. Christ was all about faith and actions.

The Church teaches that heaven is the state of supreme and definitive happiness, the goal of the deepest longings of humanity (CCC 1023). Human beings are all about happiness and the perfect happiness can be found resting in the presence of the Face of God, the Beatific Vision. Whereas hell is a state of self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed. This self-exclusion is a free choice to refuse to believe and be converted from sin (CCC1033). It comes down to our choice and the choices we make in living our life here on earth. It begins here and now. Purgatory, the Church teaches, is a final purification after death for those in friendship with God, a final cleansing of human imperfection before being able to enter the perfection of heaven, (CCC 1031). I have been taught that one must walk through fire so to speak for this cleansing to take place, sounds painful to say the least.

So, what's it going to be, heaven, hell, or purgatory? God is our Judge, but the choice is up to us?