Commemoration of All Souls 2014:
All Souls day is one of the great
days of the year. It is one of the
reasons why I am so glad to be a Catholic.
It’s a day where we remember all those people who have died. All the Souls who have gone before us. You might be wondering why I think it is such
a great day. It can be a day of grief
and morning. This can be a day that is
sad. But, I think it is a great day,
because, as St. Paul says, we do not grieve like those who have no hope. We do have grief, and pain, and sadness, but
we do not grieve like those with no hope.
We know that sadness is turned to joy.
We know that while we suffer here and now, while we experience the pain
and anguish that death might bring, this is not the end. Not even close to the end. Christ came to set us free. All Souls is one of the great days of the
year because it helps us to remember the very heart of the gospel: Jesus Christ
died so that all of us might live.
It has been a longstanding
tradition in my household to “offer it up.”
My mom always encouraged us to “offer it up.” Mom I hurt my arm: offer it up. Mom we’re out of milk: offer it up. Mom, I broke my leg and it is only hanging on
by a thread: offer it up. As a kid, I
guess I never really knew what I was offering it up for. This longstanding tradition comes from
offering pains and sufferings for the poor souls in purgatory. There are many prayers and customs in the
life of the church aimed at praying for the poor souls in purgatory.
Nowadays it is not too popular to
talk about purgatory. Why would God make
us suffer after we die? But, that is the
wrong question. God is not the one who
needs purgatory. Purgatory is not a
place where God inflicts his wrath upon sinners, don’t have that idea. Rather, purgatory is the place where sinners
can go to receive the purification they need to be in the presence of God. Say for instance I stole 100 bucks from someone. I went out and spent it on something foolish
like golf balls or something… But, then
I started to feel bad about stealing the money.
So I go and I ask for forgiveness.
Now the person instantly forgives me.
But, no matter how much the person forgives me, I will always know that
I had stolen from him. I won’t feel
right in his presence. I would want to
make it right by trying to pay back the 100.
I think purgatory is like that.
God forgives our sins. But
purgatory is the chance for us to be purified so that we can stand being in the
presence of God. One of my professors in
seminary explained purgatory this way.
When you die, God welcomes you into this large spacious room. He is seated on a nice couch and has a big
bucket of popcorn. He invites you to sit
down and join him. There is a big screen
TV on the wall: what are we going to watch?” we ask. God says: oh, this is the story of your
life. We are going to see how your sins
impacted others around you, then we are going to see all the good you didn’t
do. All of us would have a long video to
watch. God doesn’t show this video to
embarrass us or to shame us. But, this
video helps us come to grips with the forgiveness we have received, helps us
come to grips with our imperfections and our weaknesses. After we watch a video like that all of us
are like the good thief in the story today: Lord we deserve this condemnation,
but please remember us. Then Jesus says:
Today you will be with me in paradise.
This is why we pray for those who
have died. We pray that God would
forgive their sins. We pray that they
become the kind of people who are able to say with all their heart: remember me
Lord when you come into my kingdom. We
pray for those who have died because it is a way to remember that they were not
perfect people, but that God is full of mercy.
For some reason people are hesitant
to pray for the dead. I notice this very
often in my pastoral ministry. I’ll say:
let’s pray that God will welcome them into heaven. Very often the response I get is: “Oh Father,
my mom is already there.” Well I
certainly hope so. But, we need to
pray. Very often these days people have
“celebrations of life,” instead of funerals.
I think this is because it is difficult to come to grips with the loss
of those that we love. If we focus on
the great things of their life, it makes it easier to deal with the sadness of
their loss. So, in one sense, I get
it. But, when I die I don’t want people
to celebrate my life, I want them to pray for me. I want them to beg almighty
God that I might be made worthy to share the lot of the saints. I want them to beg God to be merciful on me,
because I know I’m a sinner. Don’t
celebrate my life on earth, pray for my life in heaven.
The beautiful thing about praying
for those who have died is that they will, in turn, pray for you. If our prayers and sacrifices help a brother
or sister enter into the heavenly banquet they will certainly pray for
you. Fr. Bob said to me the other day:
as a priest we send many people to heaven, I hope they are praying for us
there. How true!
So, today, on this commemoration of
All Souls, pray for those who have gone before us. Really, we should pray for them all the
time. Tomorrow marks the 8th
anniversary of the death of my uncle Louis Tippmann. He died at the age of 34 from skin
cancer. It was a tough loss for all in
my family. It was one of the first times
that someone so close to my own age died like this. I think about him often. Every time I do, I pray that God would
welcome him into his kingdom. Over the
years I have added other names. As a
priest I very often celebrate funerals in difficult situations, I carry those
names with me too: Jimmy Langin, Joe Becker, Ray Sanfrey, I pray for these
people all the time.
Today is one of the great days in
the life of the Church because it is ok to pray for those who have died, it is
ok to be sad, to mourn their loss. But,
we do not grieve like those who have no hope.
Even our prayer of grief today is lined with hope. We know that the God to whom we pray is full
of love and mercy. Eternal rest grant to
them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
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