All Souls’ Day
By Fr. Victor Feltes
Yesterday, we celebrated all of the saints in Heaven. The saints in Heaven now enjoy supreme, definitive, enduring happiness. They are in the glorious presence of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with all the holy angels. There, the saints’ deepest human longings are fulfilled without end. The Church’s recognized saints, beatified saints, and canonized saints, are Christianity’s hall of famers. We celebrate these saints on their feast days throughout the year. However, there are also many, many unknown saints in Heaven. How do I know that? Because of what St. John describes in the Book of Revelation.
In the Book of Revelation, when John describes his vision of Heaven, he says: “I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue.” Thirteen years ago, I printed out this list of recognized saints. It is eighty-one pages long and lists more than 13,000 names. But the number of those in Heaven is “a great multitude which no one could count.” I could count beyond 13,000 in less than a day, so there must be many more saints in Heaven than these.
Something I think many Christians do not realize is that if your relative, or friend, or neighbor who passed away is now in Heaven, yesterday was their feast day. We celebrated them on All Saints’ Day. Today, is All Souls’ Day. So what is the difference? Today, we remember and pray for those who have died as friends of God but are still on their way to Heaven.
Why are there any Christians who have died but are not yet in the full glory of Heaven? Well, what if we die as friends of God but we are not yet fully perfect? The Book of Revelation says “nothing unclean will enter [God’s holy, heavenly city].” What if we die still loving some of our sins? What if we die still a slave to certain vices? What if we die carrying hatred or unforgiveness towards others in our hearts? Psalm 24 asks, “Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord? Or who may stand in his holy place?” Then it tells us, “One whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain.” And Jesus tells us in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.”
Jesus tells us in our gospel, “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me.” But what if we die as his friends but with unclean hearts, not yet ready to stand before and behold God’s all-holy, fully-unveiled presence? Happily, God provides a way to perfect, to heal, to sanctify his friends (if, and as needed) after death. This purifying process is called Purgatory, and everyone who enters it will surely reach Heaven. Yet we know from lived experience that personal change is difficult, so we should help the souls of people in Purgatory with our prayers.
One spiritual problem in our culture these days is the idea that every Christian who dies is immediately in Heaven. We can hope for our loved one’s quick entry into Heaven, but an ordinary funeral Mass is not a canonization Mass. If I die and need the cleansing work of Purgatory, I hope that people will be praying for my soul instead of assuming that I’m already all the way home to Heaven. We can and should pray for the dead. We who are united in the Body of Christ, even if temporarily separated by death, remain joined in love. We on earth do not know with certainty whether our loved ones have reached Heaven yet, until the Church beatifies or canonizes them, or unless we receive some private revelation from God. But whether they are with the saints in Heaven or with the souls in Purgatory, they can still pray for us!
St. James writes in his New Testament letter that, “The prayers of a righteous person are very powerful.” We ask people on earth to pray for us, especially if someone is holy, and we are eager for the help of their prayers to God. How mighty are the prayers of those holy ones who began journeying closer to God before us? “The prayers of a righteous person are very powerful.”
Here’s some homework for today: first, I invite you to think of the most loving, devout, holy people you know who have passed away and pray for them in case they need it. (No loving prayers are ever wasted.) Next, thank God for the great gift those people were and are. Finally, ask these holy souls to pray for you. They will be happy to help you.
“I believe no happiness can be found worthy to be compared with that of a soul in Purgatory except that of the saints in Paradise; and day by day this happiness grows as God flows into these souls, more and more, as the hindrance to His entrance is consumed.”
~St. Catherine of Genoa, Treatise on Purgatory
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