In Commemoratione Omnium Fidelium Defunctorum

The Church Suffering, those who’s lives on earth have ended, and unable to gain any more merit for themselves, must undergo the sufferings of Purgatory until their sins are expiated. But we might give another name today to those in Purgatory, the “Church Forgotten”.

Sadly, in recent years, the Holy Souls in Purgatory seem further and further away from the consciousness of many Catholics.

Fewer and fewer Catholics have Masses offered for the souls of the departed,

fewer and fewer Catholics pray for the souls of the departed,

fewer and fewer Catholics even give any importance to this day, and I might add, fewer and fewer priests do either, it seems.

In years past, I can recall church’s scheduling special evening Mass today, so that the faithful could attend, and they would attend in large numbers.

Today, it seems hardly anyone pays attention to this day, few parishes go out of their way to add extra liturgies, and on one of the two days a year when priests are encouraged to offer not just one but three Masses for the benefit of the Holy Souls, almost none do.

We could engage in a lengthy discourse on why things are the way they are, but I think it would be far more profitable for us to simply remember, that if so few others are praying for the Holy Souls, then we need to put all the more effort into praying and sacrificing for them.

Of course, we could ask why it is so important to pray for the souls in Purgatory, and there are two very good motives which I will focus on tonight.

Illustration (Part I): The Souls Need our Prayers

First, and perhaps most importantly, the Holy Souls need our prayers.

The Church teaches that at the moment of death, the ability to gain merit for ourselves comes to an end.

In other words, we can no longer undertake good works,

we cannot even offer prayers for ourselves.

There is absolutely nothing that a soul in Purgatory can do, to help itself to get to heaven any faster.

But again we might ask why the souls are in such urgent need of prayer, after all, their salvation is assured, they just have to wait until they are properly prepared.

But again we might ask why the souls are in such urgent need of prayer,

after all, their salvation is assured, they just have to wait until they are properly prepared.

They are in such urgent need of prayer, because after Hell itself, Purgatory is the most frightful and painful state in all of existence.

Many of the Saints have been given visions of Purgatory so that they could relate their experiences to us. St. Catherine of Genoa, said of her vision of Purgatory, “No tongue can tell nor explain, no mind understand, the grievousness of purgatory… I see that there is in purgatory as much pain as in hell”

St. Lidwina of Schiedam was given a vision of Purgatory after asking her Guardian Angel about the state of a sinner whom she had converted before his death. This is her account:

“Instantly her angel conducted her into a place of frightful torture. ‘Is this, then, hell, my brother?’ asked the holy maiden, seized with horror. ‘No, sister,’ answered the angel, ‘but this part of purgatory is bordering upon hell.’

“Looking around on all sides, she saw what resembled an immense prison surrounded with walls of a prodigious height, the blackness of which, together with the monstrous stones, inspired her with horror. Approaching this dismal enclosure, she heard a confused noise of lamenting voices, cries of fury, chains, instruments of torture, violent blows which the executioners discharged upon their victims. This noise was such that all the tumult of the world, in tempest or battle, could bear no comparison to it.”

St. John Vianney perhaps conveyed the urgency best in his sermon on Purgatory when he said, “I seem to hear them crying from the depths of those fires which devour them: 'Tell our loved ones, tell our children, tell all our relatives how great the evils are which they are making us suffer. We throw ourselves at their feet to implore the help of their prayers. Ah! Tell them that since we have been separated from them, we have been here burning in the flames!”

The Holy Souls need our prayers, and they need them urgently, why would we leave anyone languishing is such a state, when there is so much we can do for them.

Illustration (Part II): The Souls can assist us in return

The second reason we should desire to pray for the souls in Purgatory is simple, the souls can help us in return.

As we mentioned earlier, the souls in Purgatory cannot pray for themselves, but that does not mean that they cannot pray for us.

The souls in Purgatory are called the Church Suffering, which means that they are still members of the Church, and members of the Body of Christ, therefore they can still intercede for others.

It is not a meritorious act for them, of course, just as it’s not a meritorious act for the saints in heaven to pray for us. It is simply an act of charity, and those souls are closer to God than we are, because even though they are suffering the torments of Purgatory, their salvation is assured.

Of course, if our prayers and good works succeed in freeing souls from Purgatory, we then have heavenly intercessors who would be glad to return the favour, interceding for us in this life, and in the next, if we should happen to find ourselves where they used to be.

Application: Praying for the Holy Souls

Now, knowing the importance of praying for the Holy Souls, there are many ways we can go about this wonderful devotion.

Certainly one of the most important and most powerful is to have Masses offered, for our deceased relatives and friends of course, but also for the forgotten souls, those who have no one praying for them.

Gaining indulgences for the souls is also a powerful tool that the Church gives to us, especially this week. Each day this week, until November 8th, a plenary indulgence can be gained for the Holy Souls (under the usual conditions) by visiting a cemetery and praying for the Faithful Departed.

For those who are properly disposed, you can gain a plenary indulgence for the souls today only before you leave tonight by praying an Our Father and a Creed for the souls before leaving the church building.

There are of course many other possibilities, offering a rosary, or the Divine Mercy Chaplet, praying the Stations of the Cross, offering our own participation in Mass, the grace of our Holy Communions, offering acts of mortification for the souls, and the list goes on.

However we choose to go about praying for the Holy Souls, the most important thing is that we remember them, the members of the Church so often forgotten.

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