My dear friends in Christ,
Today we celebrate the great feast of All Souls. It is fitting that we do so here at the National Shrine of the Poor Souls. Yesterday we remembered all the saints in heaven, the Church Triumphant. Today we focus our attention on those Poor Souls in Purgatory who are undergoing purification before then can enter eternal paradise in Heaven and of our course our family members, loved ones, and benefactors who have gone before us.
Sadly today we live in a society that doesn’t believe in eternal life, let alone the need for purification after death. For them life is only here on earth and you might as well enjoy it and indulge in every vice while you can. Sadly even in the Church, many simply ignore purgatory. When I was a kid I can remember complaining to my parents about some injustice I was facing such as having to mow the lawn before going to play with my friends or having to take the garbage out to the alley on Sunday nights. They told me “offer it up for the poor souls in purgatory.” I looked at them and told them I had no clue what they were talking about. They were shocked, most especially because they paid so much in tuition to send me to Catholic school, that I had no clue what Purgatory was. But sadly this has been the case for generations now. We have failed as a Church to pass on the Truth in regards to the 4 last things, judgement, heaven, hell, and purgatory. As I have heard in many eulogies, and sadly many homilies, people just assume everyone goes straight to heaven when they die. My friends, for most of this is not the case. We will need to undergo the purifying fires of Purgatory, and thanks be to God for that.
I think part of the reason that Purgatory has been ignored by so many is that it has been misunderstood. Many people think of Purgatory as a mini-hell. A place where you go out of punishment. St Catherine of Genoa said “there is in purgatory as much pain as in hell” And this is indeed true, in Purgatory we are cleansed of any venial sins on our souls as well as the temporal effects from mortal sin. However St Catherine went on to say “Souls in purgatory unite great joy with great suffering … No peace is comparable to that of the souls in purgatory, except that of the saints in heaven.” Those in Purgatory are at peace because their salvation is secured. This is what is often forgotten when we think of Purgatory, those souls there are not damned but rather they are guaranteed a spot in heaven. They are called the poor souls because they are unable to help themselves. We in the Church Militant here on earth can help them through prayer, fasting, good works, and having Masses offered for them. I think it is helpful if we think of heaven as the great wedding feast. When you are invited to a wedding, you do not go in street clothes or directly from work. You take a shower, do your hair, put on makeup, and dress in nice clothes. You take the time to prepare yourself before you go. Well this is what Purgatory does to our souls. It cleans us and prepares to enter the heavenly banquet.
So what does all of this teaching and the reality of Purgatory mean for us in our daily lives? I think our Gospel this evening can help shed some light on this. We hear from Saint John that Christ said to those gathered around him: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you. He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has life everlasting and I will raise him up on the last day.” We have the opportunity throughout our lives to prepare ourselves for our Judgement. While of course we are sinners, we can take advantage of the infinite mercy of Christ. We need to go to confession, receive our Lord in the Eucharist, pray daily, fast, and do works of mercy. All of this will take a lifetime. However if we work at these things, we can be confident we will receive that invitation to the wedding feast of the lamb.
Hound of the Lord 