Today, we celebrate All Souls Day. Many Protestant brethren believe that after death, there is no way to alter the fate of those who died. They believe that at the point of death, one’s eternal destiny is confirmed. Either he is saved through faith in Christ and is in heaven where he is experiencing rest and joy in God’s presence, or he is in torment in hell. No amount of prayer would deliver them from damnation. Whatever the state of one’s soul, that’s it. They say, “once the person is gone, they’re gone.” Hence, no more prayers would aid the soul for salvation. Death is final, and after that, no amount of praying will avail a person of the salvation he has rejected in life. I believe this is a very sad perspective, thinking that our prayers would be completely futile. That is the reason why they don’t pray for the dead; they believe that their prayer service is to help the grieving family. Their dead are completely on their own, no more hope or more love. Let them find their way, others would say.
Catholic faith is totally different. There is always room for our deceased brethren to be saved by God’s mercy. We remember them every November 2nd, offering prayers for their salvation every All-Souls’ Day. We offer novenas on their death anniversary in order to gain eternal repose, and the highest form of prayer is to offer mass for our departed brothers and sisters. To justify this religious practice is connected with keeping the chief commandment of God, “Love God above all and love your neighbor as yourself.” Love is not only shared with those who are living. Our love for our neighbors is beyond death and an integral part to practice charity towards our neighbors. Jesus did not say love only those who are alive. Therefore, our love is forever, as long as we live. There is no stopping the manifesting of love for each other.
We cannot make any judgment of any person who has died, even knowing how much they had done bad things. We must remember that every person does something good in life. If we now think that our prayer won’t help because you have known someone to be an evil person, just believe that God’s mercy is immense.
It is a holy and pious thought to pray for the dead (2 Mc 12:44-45). Those in heaven or in hell don’t benefit from our prayers, because the souls that are already in heaven are enjoying the eternal bliss of God, and those in hell are already condemned. However, we need to understand that not everyone immediately goes to heaven or hell after they die. Therefore, when we pray for the dead, we must be praying for people in some other place usually called “purgatory,” which other religions cannot accept this teaching. As Catholics, we accept that there is a state of purging and purification. If the souls we are praying for are destined to hell, we believe our prayers won’t be wasted because of the idea that there is the “treasury of prayers” which would be applied to those poor souls who have no one to pray for them.
As early as first century Christians, in catacombs and other graves, they put an inscription, “ PAX TIBI, SPIRITUI TUO, IN AETERNUM, TIBI CUM ANGELIS, CUM SANCTIS.” All these words were written and uttered to signify prayers for the dead.
Today’s Scriptural readings give us great comfort for accepting our own mortality. The Book of Wisdom expresses consolation into our hearts, “The souls of the just are in the hand of God.” In today’s gospel, Jesus says, “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.” We are supported by God’s words and encouraged in hope. We do not fully comprehend this reality, but we know that it is something greater and more powerful than anything else we have known, the great love and mercy of God. For Him, no one is lost.
Then, St. Paul prayed for the Dead, 2 Timothy 1:16-18 “May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me; he was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me eagerly and found me, may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day – and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.”
Today, let us spend time praying for all our departed Brothers and Sisters who have died so that their souls will be in the hands of God. Being with God, no torment can touch them. There is no more suffering, pain or worries because we believe that God takes good care of them and comforts them as well. They are at peace.
“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through Your mercy, rest in peace. Amen.”
May they rest in peace. God bless you.
Fr. Arlon, osa