Editorial
Praying for the dead
People don’t like to think about death, either their own or that of a close relative or friend. But the Catholic Church encourages us to do so, especially during the month of November.
We prayed on Nov. 2 for the those in purgatory, traditionally known as the “poor souls,” but that’s not the only time this month that we’re encouraged to pray for them. Some parishes keep stacks of envelopes containing the names of parishioners’ loved ones on their altars during Mass this month, so they are all remembered and prayed for.
The Scripture readings this month urge us to be prepared both for the end of the world and our own death. The second reading for the 33th Sunday in Ordinary Time (the weekend of Nov. 14-15), for example, from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, says, “You know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. When people are saying, ‘Peace and security,’ then sudden disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape” (1 Thes 5:2-3).
The Catholic Church consistently urges us to pray for the dead. Yet praying for the dead wouldn’t make any sense if there is no purgatory. One of the most common criticisms that Protestants have about the Catholic faith is our belief in purgatory. Where is purgatory mentioned in the Bible, they ask.
The word “purgatory” isn’t in the Bible, but praying for the dead goes back at least as far as the second century B.C. The Second Book of Maccabees (2 Mc 12:39-46) tells how Judas Maccabeus and his men took up a collection that they sent to Jerusalem as an expiatory sacrifice for men who had been killed in battle. “Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin” (2 Mc 12:46), the chapter concludes.
Purgatory is part of Catholic teachings about heaven. When Pope Benedict XII formally defined our teachings about heaven on Jan. 29, 1336, he said that the faithful go to heaven after death “provided they were not in need of purification when they died … or, if they then did need or will need some purification, when they have been purified after death.”
What we call purgatory is that process of purification. Catholics often think of it as a place between heaven and hell, but it really is not a place. It’s a process. It’s necessary because Scripture says that nothing impure will enter the kingdom of heaven. But we know that not everyone who dies is worthy to enter into perfect and complete union with God. Nor has he or she rejected God’s mercy enough to sentence himself or herself to hell. In the process of purification that we call purgatory, every trace of sin is eliminated, and every imperfection is corrected.
We have no idea when that happens. Are people undergoing that process for many years? Or does it occur immediately after death or even in the process of dying? Unfortunately, some pious folklore has made us think that purgatory is a mini-hell where people spend years and years of torture and pain before finally being allowed into heaven.
But that is not Catholic teaching. Perhaps St. Pope John Paul II expressed it best when he taught about purgatory on Aug. 4, 1999: “Those who live in this state of purification after death are not separated from God but are immersed in the love of Christ.”
But what about praying for the dead? That is part of our belief in the communion of saints that we say we believe in when we recite the Apostles’ Creed. Again, here is what St. Pope John Paul II said about this practice, in the same address: “We all remain united in the Mystical Body of Christ and we can therefore offer up prayers and good works on behalf of our brothers and sisters in purgatory.”
The Mystical Body of Christ is the doctrine described by St. Paul in his letters to the Corinthians and Ephesians that the Church forms a single body, united with Christ as its head, composed of the living, those in the state of purgatory and the saints in heaven.
Let us continue to pray for the dead and remain prepared for our own death.
—John F. Fink