The Church, after rejoicing the Feast of All Saints, with those of her children who have entered the glory of heaven, today prays for all those who are in the process of purification in purgatory awaiting the day when they will be joined to the company of saints. At no place in the liturgy is stated in more striking fashion the mysterious union between the Church triumphant, the Church militant and the Church in purification.
At no time is there accomplished in clearer fashion the two-fold duty of charity and justice deriving for every Christian from the fact of his incorporation in the mystical Body of Christ.
By virtue of this consoling doctrine of the communion of saints the merits and prayers of each one are able to help all; and the Church is able to join her prayer with that of the saints of her children.
The celebration of Mass, the sacrifice of Calvary continued on our altars, has ever been for the Church the principal means of fulfilling the great commandment of charity.
Masses for the dead are found in the fifth century. But it was St. Odilo, fourth abbot of Cluny, who was responsible for the institution of the general commemoration of all the faithful departed; he instituted it and fixed its celebration on November 2, the day after All Saints Day.
The practice spread to the rest of Christendom. Daily in a special Memento in the Canon of the Mass, at which the priest remembers all those who have fallen asleep in the Lord, the priest implores God to grant them a place of happiness, light and peace.
Thus there is no Mass in which the Church does not pray for the faithful departed; but today her thoughts are directed towards them in a particular way, with the maternal preoccupation of leaving no soul in purgatory without spiritual help and of grouping them all together in her intercession.
Here are some practices the faithful can do:
1. Offer special intentions for dear departed members of our family in our daily Masses for the whole month of November. You can enroll their names for the November Mass intentions at the Parish Office.
2. Some people place the names of the departed members of their family on the tablets at the Ancestral Shrine in our Parish Prayer Garden. They drop by to light an incense stick and say a prayer on their way to work every day.
3. During the whole month of November, do some pious practices to help the Poor Souls, like attend three Masses for the Poor Souls today, November 2.
4. Remember your family and friends who are already deceased and make an extra sacrifice for them.
5. Pray the rosary for the most forgotten souls in purgatory.
6. Make a nice poster listing all the family and friends departed. Put this on display where the members of the family can be reminded to pray and offer sacrifices for them.
7. Remind family members to make it a practice to offer extra prayers and sacrifices for the poor souls in purgatory.
The Christian, who is conscious of and familiar with the idea of death, cannot interiorly accept the phenomenon of the “intolerance of the dead,” which deprives the dead of all acceptance in the city of the living.
Neither can he refuse to acknowledge the signs of death, especially when intolerance and rejection encourage a flight from reality, or a pagan understanding of death, without any hope, and without any belief in the death and resurrection of Christ.
The Halloween culture promotes the horror and fear of the departed. The beautiful Oriental culture is that we usually acknowledge the presence of the departed ancestor as still part of the family. We acknowledge their presence in family banquets and celebrations.
8. Have family discussions about death, preparing for death, funerals, and the Sacrament of the Sick.
9. Visit the cemetery with children. Visits to the cemetery should be uplifting, calm and peaceful, not a scary event. On All Souls Day we remember and pray for all the faithful departed, especially our family, friends, and relatives and those most neglected.
One grade school boy explains the souls in purgatory in a simple way. He says: “Most of us are not so very good that when we die, God will tell us, ‘You go down there with Satan and the devil.’ And most of us are not so very bad, that when we die, God will say: ‘Come in to my house.’ To most of us who are not very bad, and not very good either, God says: ‘See you later.’”