The Faithful Departed and Purification

          As a postulant in 1964 I recall making multiple visits to chapel to pray for the dead. In order to have each one “count” as a separate visit one had to leave the chapel and come back in. It was probably November 2, and I do not know if it was a monastery custom or a church practice. Certainly there was a “more is better” point of view behind the practice. I could not find its source.

          The Commemoration of the Faithful Departed was instituted by Odilo, Abbot of Cluny in France, in 998. It was accepted in Rome as part of the liturgical year in the 14^th century after the monks spread the custom of this remembrance. The departed who were not quite ready for heaven spent time in purgatory, less an actual place than an opportunity to be purified. Western theology in the Middle Ages focused on the penal and expiatory character of purgatory. Eastern theology explored its mystical nature, as a process of maturation and spiritual growth.

 

          The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but who are still imperfectly purified…undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.” How often do we hear ourselves and others say that he or she went straight to God. We are not entitled to judgment, so we testify to the maturation and spiritual growth that has been a witness to us.

          Following the tradition of centuries, we pray for the dead at each Eucharist:

Remember also our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection and all who have died in your mercy: welcome them into the light of your face. (Eucharistic Prayer II)

          Two lines from our Liturgy of the Hours readings affirm the belief that God’s love pursues us until we are face to face:

St. Augustine: “…Faith…assures us that when believers die they go but a little distance from us that they may pass to a better state.” (4^th-5^th c.)

St. Catherine of Genoa: “God so transforms the soul that it knows nothing other than God…God will not cease until the soul is brought to its perfection.” (15^th c.)

          I am long past 18 when I made multiple visits to chapel on Nov. 2. My parents have joined the “faithful departed.” These readings and those from the lectionary for this day confirm that:

We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death,
so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
we too might live in newness of life.        (Romans 6:4)

           Sr. Christa Kreinbrink, OSB