By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
“Vita mutatur, non tollitur” — life is changed, not ended, we pray in the preface for the Requiem Mass for each of the departed, for all of them together on All Souls’ Day and throughout the month of November.
As our parish goes together in spirit with the priest to the holy altar for the Masses of All Souls Day we recall the faithful departed of every age and place on Earth. How great is this mission of Holy Church, to offer the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ her Lord, the most effective and most powerful succor for the aid of suffering souls still awaiting union with God? The resurrected Body of the Lord in the Eucharist present on our altars first truly died on Calvary, our eternal God in perfect communion with the weakness of our human flesh.
The mystery of our own suffering and death is met by the offering of the Lord Jesus in the Calvary which is every Holy Mass. The offering is the selfsame as Calvary because the death of the Lord on the first Good Friday was a perfect offering never again to be repeated. As well, whenever God does anything He does it perfectly and thus never need do anything more than once.
Except love us. Yes, God continually loves us through the beating heart of His Resurrected Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ lives now for us particularly here in the Most Blessed Sacrament. The risen Lord meets us this way and promises each of us a share in His unending life.
The Eucharist is both promise of our own eternal life and effective reparation and healing for the souls who still await the complete purgation or purification of the temporal punishment due to sin.
Dom Prosper Gueranger teaches: “Every sin causes a twofold injury to the sinner: It stains his soul, and renders him liable to punishment. Venial sin, which displeases God, requires a temporal expiation. Mortal sin deforms the soul, and makes the guilty man an abomination to God: Its punishment cannot be anything less than eternal banishment, unless the sinner in this life, prevents the final and irrevocable sentence through confession to a priest and penance. . . . For every fault satisfaction must be made to God’s justice, either in this world or the next.
“On the other hand, every supernatural act of virtue brings a double profit to the just man: It merits for his soul a fresh degree of grace; and it makes satisfaction for past faults . . . and satisfactions given to God by sinners can be transferred to others: God is willing to accept it in payment of another’s debts, whether the recipient of the boon be in this world or in the next, provided he be united by grace to the Mystical Body of Our Lord, which is one in charity.”
The great Jesuit scholastic theologian, Francisco Suarez, also teaches: “I believe that this satisfaction for the dead is a matter of simple justice, and it is infallibly accepted with its full value, and according to the intention of him who applies it. Thus, for instance, if the satisfaction I make would if kept for myself, avail me in strict justice for the remission of four degrees of Purgatory, it will remit exactly the same amount to the soul [in Purgatory] for whom I choose it.”
As Fr. Sean Connolly writes:
“So, the teachings of the Holy Bible are clear, the infallible theology and Tradition of the Church is clear, our prayers and our penances of we members of the Church Militant still here on Earth are immensely helpful to our brothers and sisters of the Suffering Church in Purgatory. Since we of the Catholic Church, members of Christ’s Mystical Body are a family, we are all duty bound to one another. We are in it together, we are in this fight together to make it to Heaven and we are not in it alone. We all must help each other out and who in the Church needs more help than our brothers and sisters in Purgatory…still expiating their sins before they can enter into Heaven?
“Is any condition more pitiable than theirs? So great is their anguish on that river of fire, that river of purification that bears them on little by little to the ocean of Paradise.
“May we heed the call of the Church and have pity on them, those dear holy souls in Purgatory and continually offer our prayers and penances for their speedy entry into Heaven.
“In following the example of our ancestors let us utilize the two most powerful instruments we have at our disposal for not only getting the souls in Purgatory into Heaven but ourselves as well, and that is prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary who is the Refuge of Sinners — she who is so close to Our Lord in Heaven is our grand intercessor — and as a loving mother of us all will not fail to look with favor on our prayers for those of her children most in need. And the second instrument, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass — the most powerful and effective form of prayer for any intention. May our prayers which we join to the Sacrifice offered by Father at Mass, grant remission to all the faithful departed, that the Precious Blood of Our Lord shed forth at this altar may extinguish the purifying flames of the Holy Souls whom we pray for and lead us all unto eternal life. Amen.
“Our Lady of Refuge of Sinners, pray for us.
“All our Patron Saints and Guardian Angels, pray for us.”
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(With special thanks to Fr. Sean Connolly, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, for research used to write this article.)
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