Remember the Dead
November 2, 2023
Dante and Virgil Entering Purgatory, Luca Signorelli; 1499-1502
MORE than a thousand years ago, a pilgrim visited a monastery in Cluny, France and reported a vision of demons who were annoyed by prayers for the dead. The prayers had the alleged effect of getting souls to heaven faster. St. Odilo then ordered a commemoration of all the faithful departed to be celebrated in his monasteries every year on November 2nd. The custom spread throughout Europe and became a general feast of the Catholic Church. The entire month of November was dedicated to prayers for the dead.
Praying for the dead is only reasonable if there is some intermediary state between heaven and hell. Today most Christians reject the belief in purgatory. Many even reject the belief in hell and prefer to think all suffering ends with death. Hell, they say, occurs in this life with the normal trials brought about by immoral actions. A Christian who doesn’t believe in hell is a walking contradiction.
All Souls Day is also often, in practice, a day of prayer to the dead. May all those in paradise befriend us.
“In that abode of sorrow the departed souls hunger after the possession of God, and with so famishing a desire that nothing on earth can be compared with it. They thirst after the fountain of eternal life with that thirst which knows no comparison in this world. They suffer; poor and destitute of all worldly goods. Yea! they are even deprived of all those consolations which at times lessen our desires, and afford us moments of repose. Here upon earth, though we long and sigh ever so much after a thing, still we can sleep; and the pains produced by our heart’s desires in our waking moments leave us, we feel them no longer. We can engage ourselves in other occupations; other cares may distract our minds. We may, at times, enjoy various pleasures, and partake of the good things of this life. Now all these things remove, or, at least, soothe the pain and care of our desires. Not so, however, is the condition of these distressed souls. They have no refreshing slumber; they are incessantly awake; they have no occupation; they can not indulge in other cares, in other distractions. They are wholly and continually absorbed with the burning desire of being liberated from their intense misery.” (Father Francis Xavier Weninger)
See prayers for the faithful departed here and here.
