A consoling and beautiful relationship with the departed is possible. We are social creatures and it only makes sense that we be bound with them in an economy of salvation.

To those immersed in the things of the world, who believe most everyone has an automatic right to heaven and who have no time for their dead relatives or friends, these are offensive thoughts. How many of the dead resent them? How many of the dead wish they would listen to the great authorities on the subject rather than rely on their own instincts? Love and gratitude oblige us to the dead, especially today, All Souls’ Day, and throughout the month of November.

We believe that there is a place called purgatory, in which the souls who depart this life without being perfectly cleansed from all imperfections are detained and must suffer until they have fully satisfied the justice of God. This faith is founded upon Scripture, tradition, and reason. In the Old Testament we read: “It is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.”–II. Mach. 12:46. St. Paul writes: “If any man’s works burn, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.”–I. Cor. 3: 1 5. The Apostle here speaks of a state in the other world, in which souls are tried by fire for some time; or, in other words, he speaks of purgatory. Of the Fathers of the Church who give testimony to the existence of purgatory, I shall mention only one, St. Gregory of Nyssa, who says: ” If any one has departed this life knowing the difference between virtue and vice, he cannot approach the Deity, until a purifying fire has obliterated the stains with which the soul is contaminated.” Reason also teaches us that there is a purgatory. How many people die who have not been guilty of mortal sins, but are not free from lesser faults. Where will they go? To heaven? Impossible, because nothing defiled can enter. To hell? By no means. For it would be contrary to the mercy and justice of God to condemn man to hell for all eternity on account of a few small faults, counterbalanced by a living faith and numerous good works. Therefore, there must be a middle place where souls are detained until they have rendered that fall satisfaction to God which they neglected here, after which they are admitted into heaven.

— “The Cry of the Souls in Purgatory to Us,” Rev. John Evangelist Zollner, 1884

May the angels lead thee into Paradise; may the martyrs receive thee at thy coming, and bring thee into the holy city, Jerusalem. May the choir of angels receive thee, and with Lazarus, who once was poor, mayest thou have eternal rest.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May they rest in peace. Amen.

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