ALL SOUL'S DAY
2 NOVEMBER 2014
As
we gather with the living members at Saint Pius today, the first two days of
November remind us that the communion of the Body of Christ goes beyond what we
experience with our senses. Yesterday, the
Solemnity of All Saints reminded us that countless men and women surround the
throne of God and intercede for us. Today,
the Feast of All Souls reminds us of another dimension of that community: the reality of those who have died and who
are being purified by the fire of God's love to be united completely with God
and the saints. Because we have no idea
of God's judgment, we pray for them.
As we
reflect on this communion which goes beyond our senses, an example from history
might help. On April 14, 1912, the radio
operator on the ocean liner Californian
in the North Atlantic turned off his set and went to bed. That was standard practice in those days. Mariners had navigated the seas for centuries
without radio communication, and there seemed to be no need to keep this
relatively new form of communication on 24/7.
However,
that was the night when the Titanic
sank, and over 1,500 passengers and crew perished. The doomed liner was only a few miles away
from the Californian, and lookouts on
the Titanic had spotted it. Even thought the radio operator on the Titanic desperately tried to contact the
Californian, no one on board that
ship was listening. No one could respond
to save what likely would have been hundreds of people.
In a
similar way, praying for our beloved dead keeps alive our communion with those
who have gone before us. Saint Paul
reminds us that when we keep our baptismal commitments, when we die to
ourselves, we share in Christ's resurrection.
That is the promise of the one who assures us that everyone who sees the
Son and believes in him will have eternal life.
But we know that our loved ones have not always died to themselves. We know that there were times when they took
their eyes off him. We pray for them,
trusting that our prayers have an effect.
We often
misunderstand the concept of Purgatory.
Purgatory is not a place, because there is no time and place in
eternity. Purgatory describes the
process by which God purifies them. In
our iconography, we place haloes around those who are saints. They have become so completely transparent
that the fire of God's love shines through them. For those deceased who have failed to die to
themselves in living their baptismal promises, the fire of God's love burns
away whatever separates them from the saints.
Just as their prayers for us when they were alive have helped and
supported us in ways that we do not know, so do our prayers for them.
When we
pray for the dead, we keep our communication open with them. They are not forgotten. That prayer is 24/7, because Christians
around the world today are praying for them today. We can also learn lessons from the Titanic.
The loss of life went beyond a radio operator who was asleep. There should have been more lifeboats on the Titanic.
The life boats that were launched were not filled, because the arrogance of the
owners thought there was no need for drills on an unsinkable ship. There should have been as much concern for
the lives of the poor as there was for the rich. As the ship sank, the half full life boats
could have gone back to save drowning people.
We can
learn these and similar lessons and make changes in our lives now, just as changes
in the law about radio communication were changed 100 years ago. They remind us to keep
our eyes on Christ and live our baptismal promises more faithfully. The Saints intercede for us as we make these
changes, giving the love of God a chance to purify us. We pray for the dead who cannot make changes,
as they are being purified by the love of God in eternity.
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