SCRIPTURE READINGS TODAY, SATURDAY, ALL SOULS DAY, NOVEMBER 2, ARE FROM: Wisdom 3:1-9; Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4; Romans 6:3-9; John 6:37-40 Jesus said to the crowds: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. 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. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.” (John 6:37-40) REFLECTION ON PURGATORY There are many things that are extraordinarily distinctive about the God of the Judaeo‑Christian revelation, when compared with the character of the higher powers of the other religions of man. One obvious difference is this, that whatever be the quality that is to be attributed to the true God, the God of Revelation, that quality is God. It is therefore infinite. For instance, God is powerful. His power is inseparable from, and is to be identified with, God himself. It is, then, infinite. So, too, God is revealed as good. God is simply, absolutely and infinitely good – for this divine goodness is God himself. The God of revelation reveals himself to be all‑holy and unaccepting of sin. “Be holy, for I am holy” he says. This revelation of the utter holiness of the God of Abraham and the prophets is confirmed and fulfilled in the revelation of Jesus Christ. Christ suffered and died for our sins because of the holiness of God who so loved the world and who so hated sin that he did not hesitate to give up his own divine Son in order that the sin of the world might be expiated. Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. If man but places his faith in Christ as the Saviour and repents of his sins, he will be saved. With these introductory thoughts on God’s holiness and sin, let us review some of the fundamental facts about life and death as they have been revealed to us by God. The first great fact, of course, is that following his death, each person will be judged by the infinite and all‑holy God. No one will escape this judgment. Anyone with a sensitive conscience must be profoundly concerned at such a prospect, naturally speaking. If one has a relative or friend who has died, one ought think of the judgment that that relative or friend must undergo, a judgment that will be searching beyond compare. What an experience that the soul of the departed one enters into! In that personal judgment on his life and deeds, the departed stands alone. The book is opened in which all is recorded. No one can shield him from his responsibility for the thoughts, the words and the actions of his life. They pass in review, and God, the all‑holy One, gives his sentence. Were it not for the fact that God has revealed himself to be not only just but also compassionate and merciful and that his Son has died for us, the thought of the divine judgment would be terrifying indeed. Now, it is obvious that the generality of men and women pass from this life very far from being totally purified from their sins. It is impossible that the God of infinite holiness admit into his eternal presence, face to face, one who is still besmirched with the odour and the disfigurement of sin. Christ has died for the sinner, and the benefit of divine grace has come to him in faith and baptism (and in hidden ways to the good and conscientious person who is not baptized). But for many the full holiness required for heaven has not yet been attained by the time death arrives. So it is that God in his mercy effects a purification after death of the soul that has been saved. Following the divine judgment there is either salvation or damnation — this has been revealed. We only have to read Matthew 25 to be aware of this, apart from the formal teaching of the Church on the point. But for those who are saved, there is the further purification from all trace and remnants of sin after death and prior to an eternity in heaven. The Church has called this stage of purification Purgatory. It is a divine mercy. Dante describes it famously in his Il Purgatorio, the second part of his great trilogy La Divina Commedia which presents in epic form Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. The Purgatorio is a picturesque canticle of the redeemed soul’s purification following death as it struggles up the terraces of Mount Purgatory on its arduous approach to God and Heaven. Cardinal Newman in the nineteenth century wrote a more accessible account of Purgatory in his dramatic poem, The Dream of Gerontius. In it he brought out perhaps more successfully than Dante the profound love with which God purifies the soul that has been saved. I invite you to read the Gerontius. The purification of Purgatory is deeply painful. Through the mercy of God, all the roots and remnants of sin are wrung from the most remote crevices of the soul, as might all soiled moisture be wrung and wrung from a cloth till it is utterly free of it. Purgatory is indeed a divine mercy, but the departed soul is unable now to merit any further, for the chance to do this in life is now over. The soul in Purgatory has the joy of knowing it is saved, but it must endure the suffering of being utterly purified by God of the remnants of sin. The good news is that we who are still on our way are able, by the grace of God, to assist those in Purgatory by our prayers and sacrifices offered in union with Christ. This is the reason why the Church prays for the faithful departed. We can help those who have died by our prayers, and there must be so many who need our help. Think of all those who are completely forgotten or who have no one who actually believes in the fact of Purgatory to pray for them. Today we think of all the souls who are being purified in Purgatory. Let us foster the habit of praying for them. (E.J.Tyler)
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 15:56:49 +0000
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