Feast of All Souls
Bishop of Lake Charles
Homily for All Souls Day
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
"Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed because God tried them and found them worthy of himself." Wisdom 3:5
Once at a dinner, I was seated next to a lady from New Orleans who halfway into the meal, quite unexpectedly, turned to me and said, "You know, Father, I am so consoled to be a Catholic." She continued, "Do you know why?" I asked her to explain. She gleefully said, "Because of tradition. It's like this. Every year I go to the cemetery and lay flowers on the graves of my ancestors, and I know that when I am gone my children will do the same for me. That is tradition."
Tradition is important to us as Catholics, and the lady's comments brought the point home. There is more to Catholics, of course, and to tradition than caring for cemeteries at All Saints and All Souls. If we haven't already done so, then we will soon go to visit our cemeteries. We may have Masses said for our parents or family and attend a blessing of a cemetery somewhere in the area. It is part of tradition, but every tradition finds its basis in some belief. All of these observances are part of our belief in the Communion of Saints and the doctrine of Purgatory.
Let us consider the Communion of Saints first. We believe that the Church is the Body of Christ and that when we die our union with Christ does not change. As St. Paul writes, "You are Christ's body, and individually parts of it" (I Corinthians 12:27). In the afterlife, unless we have permanently separated ourselves from God's love, we are still part of the Church here on earth in pilgrimage and the Church in the glory of heaven, as well as the Church awaiting final purification in Purgatory.
We are all part of a family of faith. As members of a body, to continue St. Paul's analogy, we cannot arbitrarily cut ourselves off. In the words of St. Paul, "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I do not need you'" (I Corinthians 12:21). Now, when in a family someone needs help, we assist the one in need. We know that we can turn to our brother and sister, our mother and father, and get immediate attention. There is a blood tie, but in Christianity there exists a spiritual tie that is even more binding. Our faith consoles us with the assurance that death is a temporary separation. Nothing really separates us from the love of Christ and the love of those in our family that reflected the love of Christ to us. Again St. Paul speaks to us saying, "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life ... nor height, nor depth, not any other creature will be able to separate us from the love God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39). We pray to the saints not because we want to circumvent Christ. We pray to the saints because they are one with Christ. They are our family, our body, in Christ.
Also, we believe in the doctrine of Purgatory. Unless we have separated ourselves entirely from God's love through serious sin, we can be purified in order to better enjoy the vision of God. In short, this doctrine teaches us that forgiveness is possible even beyond the grave, and I find that a very consoling thought. Actually we find St. Paul speaking of it too. He writes in First Corinthians that we must all build on the foundation of Christ. We may choose to build "with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw" (I Corinthians 3:12). The day will come, however, when all this work will be tested. St. Paul continues, "It will be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each one's work. If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage. But if someone's work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire" (I Corinthians 3:13-15). In other words, there is hope. As long as one has built on Christ, the buildings may vary in quality, but the work of fire will purify them.
I know that when I breathe my last that there will be some aspects of my will that will need purification. I cannot imagine going before God, even if I have built my house on the foundation of Christ, with any selfishness. Nothing can cloud my vision of God. I want to enjoy it all, and the Scriptures and our Sacred Tradition assure me that this is possible. "The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them," reads the Book of Wisdom. "They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead... but they are in peace. For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed because God tried them and found them worthy of himself" (Wisdom 3:1-5).
Purgatory has never been for me a doctrine of fear but a doctrine of hope. There even suffering has meaning because it has an end that is nothing less than union with God and His love. To believe in Purgatory is an affirmation of the Resurrection.
One of my favorite Scripture passages on this point is found in Second Maccabees. The general Judas Maccabee had led his army into battle against the enemies of God. When he took count of the soldiers who had died for a righteous cause, he realized that some may have died in sin. So, he sent an offering "to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice." He did a noble deed, the Scriptures tell us. "For if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death" (II Maccabees 12:43, 44). To offer prayers for the dead is a profession of faith in the resurrection. It is for this resurrection that Jesus died. And it is our belief in Purgatory that reflects our confidence in that resurrection.