Since praying for the dead is our Christian duty, it's sad to see how little attention is paid to All Souls Day. That's especially true since there is a special plenary indulgence that can be gained for the souls in Purgatory on All Souls Day. A plenary indulgence removes all temporal punishment for sin--and so, in effect, releases a soul from Purgatory.
All you have to do is visit a church, recite one Our Father and the Creed, receive Communion, and pray one additional Our Father and one Hail Mary for the intentions of the Holy Father.
The final requirement is that you take part in the Sacrament of Confession, but you can do that up to seven days before or afterward. Since most Catholic parishes offer Confession on Saturday, you can go to Confession this Saturday, and then fulfill the rest of the requirements on All Souls Day itself.
The All Souls Day indulgence is a wonderful way to show your love for a friend or family member who has died. In less than an hour on All Souls Day, you can release a soul from Purgatory. Why not gain the indulgence for your loved one?
The Church has encouraged prayer for the dead from the earliest times as an act of Christian charity. "If we had no care for the dead," Augustine noted, "we would not be in the habit of praying for them." Yet pre-Christian rites for the deceased retained such a strong hold on the superstitious imagination that a liturgical commemoration was not observed until the early Middle Ages, when monastic communities began to mark an annual day of prayer for the departed members.
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| All Souls Day by William Bouguereau |
In the middle of the 11th century, St. Odilo, abbot of Cluny (France), decreed that all Cluniac monasteries offer special prayers and sing the Office for the Dead on November 2, the day after the feast of All Saints. The custom spread from Cluny and was finally adopted throughout the Roman Church.
The theological underpinning of the feast is the acknowledgment of human frailty. Since few people achieve perfection in this life but, rather, go to the grave still scarred with traces of sinfulness, some period of purification seems necessary before a soul comes face-to-face with God. The Council of Trent affirmed this purgatory state and insisted that the prayers of the living can speed the process of purification.
Superstition easily clung to the observance. Medieval popular belief held that the souls in purgatory could appear on this day in the form of witches, toads or will-o’-the-wisps. Graveside food offerings supposedly eased the rest of the dead.
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| Polish Graves Lights |
Observances of a more religious nature have survived. These include public processions or private visits to cemeteries and decorating graves with flowers and lights. This feast is observed with great fervor in Mexico.
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| All Souls Procession, Tuscon, Arizona |
COMMENT:
Whether or not one should pray for the dead is one of the great arguments which divide Christians. Appalled by the abuse of indulgences in the Church of his day, Martin Luther rejected the concept of purgatory. Yet prayer for a loved one is, for the believer, a way of erasing any distance, even death. In prayer we stand in God's presence in the company of someone we love, even if that person has gone before us into death.
Whether or not one should pray for the dead is one of the great arguments which divide Christians. Appalled by the abuse of indulgences in the Church of his day, Martin Luther rejected the concept of purgatory. Yet prayer for a loved one is, for the believer, a way of erasing any distance, even death. In prayer we stand in God's presence in the company of someone we love, even if that person has gone before us into death.
QUOTE:
“We must not make purgatory into a flaming concentration camp on the brink of hell—or even a ‘hell for a short time.’ It is blasphemous to think of it as a place where a petty God exacts the last pound—or ounce—of flesh.... St. Catherine of Genoa, a mystic of the 15th century, wrote that the ‘fire’ of purgatory is God’s love ‘burning’ the soul so that, at last, the soul is wholly aflame. It is the pain of wanting to be made totally worthy of One who is seen as infinitely lovable, the pain of desire for union that is now absolutely assured, but not yet fully tasted” (Leonard Foley, O.F.M., Believing in Jesus).
“We must not make purgatory into a flaming concentration camp on the brink of hell—or even a ‘hell for a short time.’ It is blasphemous to think of it as a place where a petty God exacts the last pound—or ounce—of flesh.... St. Catherine of Genoa, a mystic of the 15th century, wrote that the ‘fire’ of purgatory is God’s love ‘burning’ the soul so that, at last, the soul is wholly aflame. It is the pain of wanting to be made totally worthy of One who is seen as infinitely lovable, the pain of desire for union that is now absolutely assured, but not yet fully tasted” (Leonard Foley, O.F.M., Believing in Jesus).
PRAYERS FOR NOVEMBER:By tradition, the Catholic Church dedicates each month of the year to a certain devotion. In November, it is the Holy Souls in Purgatory, those faithful Christians who have died and gone before us but who still must atone for their sins. The time they spend in Purgatory cleanses them so that they may enter Heaven free from all effects of sin.
Praying for the dead, especially for those we have known, is a requirement of Christian charity. Our own prayers and sacrifices can be offered up to relieve their suffering. Some or all of the following prayers can be incorporated into our daily prayers during this month.
Eternal Rest One of the most commonly recited of Catholic prayers in times past, this prayer has fallen into disuse in the last few decades. Prayer for the dead, however, is one of the greatest acts of charity we can perform, to help them during their time in Purgatory, so that they can enter more quickly into the fullness of heaven.
Weekly Prayers for the Faithful Departed The Church offers us different prayers that we can say each day of the week for the faithful departed. These prayers are especially useful for offering a novena on behalf of the dead.
A Prayer for Deceased Parents Charity requires us to pray for the dead. In the case of our parents, to do so should not be simply a duty but a joy. They gave us life and brought us up in the Faith; we should be happy that our prayers can help end their sufferings in Purgatory and bring them fully into the light of Heaven.
A Prayer for a Deceased Mother For most of us, it was our mother who first taught us to pray and helped us to understand the mysteries of our Christian Faith. We can help repay her for that gift of faith by praying for the repose of her soul.
A Prayer for a Deceased Father Our fathers are the model of God in our lives, and we owe them a debt that we can never fully repay. We can, however, pray for the repose of our father's soul and thus help him through the sufferings of Purgatory and into the fullness of Heaven.
Prayer for Mercy on the Souls in Purgatory While we know (and the Holy Souls in Purgatory know) that the pains of Purgatory will end and all who are in Purgatory will enter into Heaven, we are still bound by charity to try to lessen the suffering of the Holy Souls through our prayers and deeds. While our first responsibility, of course, is to those people we have known, not everyone who ends up in Purgatory has someone to pray for him. Therefore, it is important to remember in our prayers those souls who are most forsaken.
Prayer for All the Deceased This beautiful prayer, drawn from the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, reminds us that Christ's victory over death brings us all the possibility of eternal rest. We pray for all of those who have gone before us, that they, too, may enter into Heaven.
Praying for the dead, especially for those we have known, is a requirement of Christian charity. Our own prayers and sacrifices can be offered up to relieve their suffering. Some or all of the following prayers can be incorporated into our daily prayers during this month.
Eternal Rest One of the most commonly recited of Catholic prayers in times past, this prayer has fallen into disuse in the last few decades. Prayer for the dead, however, is one of the greatest acts of charity we can perform, to help them during their time in Purgatory, so that they can enter more quickly into the fullness of heaven.
Weekly Prayers for the Faithful Departed The Church offers us different prayers that we can say each day of the week for the faithful departed. These prayers are especially useful for offering a novena on behalf of the dead.
A Prayer for Deceased Parents Charity requires us to pray for the dead. In the case of our parents, to do so should not be simply a duty but a joy. They gave us life and brought us up in the Faith; we should be happy that our prayers can help end their sufferings in Purgatory and bring them fully into the light of Heaven.
A Prayer for a Deceased Mother For most of us, it was our mother who first taught us to pray and helped us to understand the mysteries of our Christian Faith. We can help repay her for that gift of faith by praying for the repose of her soul.
A Prayer for a Deceased Father Our fathers are the model of God in our lives, and we owe them a debt that we can never fully repay. We can, however, pray for the repose of our father's soul and thus help him through the sufferings of Purgatory and into the fullness of Heaven.
Prayer for Mercy on the Souls in Purgatory While we know (and the Holy Souls in Purgatory know) that the pains of Purgatory will end and all who are in Purgatory will enter into Heaven, we are still bound by charity to try to lessen the suffering of the Holy Souls through our prayers and deeds. While our first responsibility, of course, is to those people we have known, not everyone who ends up in Purgatory has someone to pray for him. Therefore, it is important to remember in our prayers those souls who are most forsaken.
Prayer for All the Deceased This beautiful prayer, drawn from the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, reminds us that Christ's victory over death brings us all the possibility of eternal rest. We pray for all of those who have gone before us, that they, too, may enter into Heaven.
Prayer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory Christ's mercy encompasses all men. He desires the salvation of everyone, and so we approach Him with confidence that He will have mercy on the Holy Souls in Purgatory, who have already proved their love for Him.
De Profundis The De Profundis takes its name from the first two words of the psalm in Latin. It is a penitential psalm that is sung as part of vespers (evening prayer) and in commemorations of the dead. Every time you recite the De Profundis, you can receive a partial indulgence (the remission of a portion of punishment for sin), which can be applied to the souls in Purgatory.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12575a.htm (Purgatory)
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