We are approaching the end of the liturgical year. In the new calendar, this coming Sunday is the Feast of Christ the King. In the 1962, it is the 24th Sunday After Pentecost. In her wisdom, the Church gives us pause on this last Sunday of the year to consider the last judgment. Actually, this entire month should give us occasion to consider the four last things: heaven, hell, death, and judgment.
Nov. 1, of course, was All Saints Day, on which we were presented with the glorious image of the saints in heaven worshiping the Lamb that was slain and whose prayers of intercession are offered to Him as the sweet fragrance of incense.
Following All Saints Day was the Feast of All Souls. On this day especially, we are reminded to pray and offer sacrifices for the souls in purgatory. These souls have died in the state of grace, yet the temporal punishment due to their sins has not been completely expiated. This remaining punishment is more easily understood by analogy. Suppose a boy throws a rock at a neighbor’s window and breaks it. Then, thinking better of what he did, he apologizes. The neighbor forgives the boy, yet the window remains broken. The boy perhaps works a summer job to raise the money to have the window replaced. This is temporal expiation.
Pray for the Dead
In God’s mercy, he allows us to help the poor souls. Consider how grateful that boy would be if his friends pitched in and helped him raise the money to have the window replaced? Even later in life, would he not remember those friends? How much more so the souls who now suffer terribly in purgatory would be grateful to those who assisted them in getting into heaven sooner? When they do reach heaven, would they not remember to pray for those who helped them?
When we consider that we are likely destined to spend some time ourselves in purgatory and would certainly want our friends and relations praying for us then, how natural it becomes to foster a devotion to aiding the poor souls. Will He who declared, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.” not make good on this wonderful promise?
I have heard it said that, on average, a mortal sin requires 7 years expiation in purgatory. If you’re like me, you might be wondering how many centuries of purgatory might be awaiting you. The advice I can give us is to be merciful now. Remember the poor, holy souls daily. Christ is not a liar, and he has promised mercy to the merciful.
The Church is there to help, too. There are any number of indulgenced works we can do for the holy souls. The Church takes expiation, as it were, from the infinite treasury of the good works of Christ and the saints and attaches it to particular good works. These are indulgences. Among the indulgenced works are the family rosary, reading the Bible for 30 minutes, and attending Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Under the usual conditions (which I’ll list later), the indulgence gained can be plenary, meaning complete and total. A plenary indulgence gained for a poor soul immediately frees him from purgatory, and he enjoys the beatific vision immediately. But what if the indulgence is only partial. Well, “only partial” may go a long way. We don’t know for sure. If our good friend needed help replacing his window, would we deny him 25% of the cost just because we cannot give 100%?
The conditions for gaining a plenary indulgence are as follows:
- Be in the state of grace at the time of performing the work. If you’re not in the state of grace, go to confession first.
- Receive Holy Communion (in the state of grace, of course) on the same day as the indulgenced work. (If for some reason this is not possible, your confessor may be able to commute this to another day).
- Have the intention of gaining the indulgence.
- Go to confession within 20 days of performing the work.
- Be free from any attachments to sin (even venial sin). A good start is to pray for this and to tell our Lord you desire never again to offend Him.
- Do the work required for the indulgence.
If you are a daily communicant and you go to confession every two weeks, you could potentially gain a plenary indulges for a poor soul every day! (Only one plenary indulgence may be gained each day.)
Biblical References
2 Maccabees 12:46 – It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.
1 Corinthians 3:15 – If any man’ s work burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
Matthew 5:7 – Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Artwork
Artwork used in this post are clips from a painting by Carracci and is in the public domain.