November 2 2025 - All Souls' Day - Grief and Hope

 A number of years ago, during my first parish assignment at St. Columbkille, in Parma, All Souls Day fell on the first Friday of November. On first Fridays we had the practice of bringing Holy Communion to our homebound parishioners, as some of our Eucharistic ministers do here. And so my first communion call that day was to a woman named Josephine, and elderly woman with a thick polish accent to whom I had been bringing Communion for several years.  

Prior to administering Holy Communion I asked her a question I didn’t always ask during my communion calls. I asked her if she had any particular intentions that she would like to voice as she received Holy Communion that day. And she replied that since today is the Feast of All Souls she would like to pray and offer her Communion for her father who was arrested and killed in the Concentration Camp at Auschwitz during World War II.  After we prayed, and she received Holy Communion, she asked if I would like to see a picture of her father.  I said I would.

She went into the bedroom and brought out a rectangular photograph of very thin man, dressed in a prison outfit, in three poses: a profile looking to the right, one where he was looking up and to the left, and the middle one, he was looking directly at the camera with a haunted expression on his face. I thought of the horrors he witnessed in that Concentration Camp—they seemed reflected in his eyes--and I had to sit down.  

Josephine then said, Father, I try to think of good memories, but so often I am overwhelmed with sadness.  Why do we always remember the hurtful things?

After a moment, I said, I think it’s important not to forget our loved ones, as hurtful as their memories are, so that we can pray for them, and to pray that terrible things like war and genocide never happen again.

She said, “All Souls Day is always a very sad day for me, but it is also the anniversary of our coming to this country and escaping those horrors.”  How providential, I thought! Because that’s what All Souls is all about. On All Souls’ Day we pray that our loved ones arrive at their heavenly homeland. 

Today can be a sad day; to remember the faithful departed whom we loved in this life can evoke strong emotions.  And  sometimes we think of those we’ve encounter on life’s path—and those memories are not always sweet. So, today don’t only pray for those who were good to us in this life, but also those who may have hurt us—they need our prayers too. No matter who they were in life, how they acted, who they loved or hurt, we pray for all of the souls in purgatory today, that they may be open to all of the purification they need in order to enter eternal life with God.

Today is also a day of hope. All Souls Day reminds us to pray, but also it is a reminder that we hope to be reunited with our loved ones in the new and eternal life of the resurrection. That word hope was mentioned in the opening prayer: “Listen kindly to our prayers, O Lord, and, as our faith in your Son, raised from the dead, is deepened, so may our hope of resurrection for your departed servants also find new strength.” The preface for the Eucharistic prayer will also speak of the hope of resurrection.  In the face of sadness, it is so vital for us to renew our hope in the promises of Christ—that those who die with Him as Lord shall be raised with Him in the resurrection to come.

We also acknowledge today the power of our prayers.  Our prayers are powerful and effective in helping those in purgatory make their way to God and to prepare for the resurrection. When are overwhelmed with grief for our loved ones the best thing to do is to turn to God in prayer for their souls and to renew our hope in the resurrection. As Saint Thomas Aquinas said that the greatest act of love we can perform on behalf of the dead is to pray for them.  

May perpetual light shine upon our departed loved ones. And as we continue the celebration of the Mass for the repose of the faithful departed, we do so, not as a mere remembrance, but as a powerfully effective way of loving them and helping them, a duty that all Christians share, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023 - Conversation with an athiest tailor

 A few years ago I had to pay a visit to our local tailor, as, surprise, after a few years of priesthood, I needed my cassock and a few pairs of paints to be let out a bit. 

After taking care of business, the tailor says to me if she could ask me a personal question. I love personal questions, so I said, “Of course.” She said that she had been raised without any faith, and didn’t  believe in God, and that she came from a land very hostile toward religion. And she would like to know why a young man such as myself (I did say this was a few years ago), why a young man like myself would want to be a priest. Now, I’ve told my vocation story to Catholics, but now speaking to an atheist, I knew my answer had to be a little nuanced. 

After a moment’s reflection, I said, “I think both you and I know how much evil is in the world, yes? Well, I believe much of that evil comes from people not knowing about God’s love—from turning away from God; and I want to help people turn toward God.” She became quite pensive at that, and she then began to explain how the Stalinists, the Atheistic Communists, caused so much destruction and suffering in her country, and of course, outlawed religion. But, she claimed that Stalin has been replaced, and even though religion has been allowed again, many of the people who worked for Stalin were now in religious leadership, and they still seem to be oppressing the people. They exchanged the hammer and sickle for the cross, but they did not change their hearts, and now used the cross to control people. So the tailor sees Christians as largely hypocritical. 

What do you say to that? I told her that God is not fooled by actors. God sees to the heart. And we will be judged by our true intentions and actions in this life. There will be justice.

Throughout the Gospel, the Lord is constantly confronting the scribes, elders, pharisees, and Sadducees for their religious hypocrisy. He uses that word hypocrisy quite a bit. For at that time, the word hypocrite was a technical word, it was a mask-wearing play actor. The actor changes his mask depending on the character he is playing. And so the Lord calls these people hypocrites because they were wearing the mask of the religious leader, but they were in fact leading God’s people away from God. As we heard in the Gospel today, these so-called religious leaders were seeking places of religious authority and power, but using it to oppress and mislead--they were guilty of the grave misuse of power and God was not pleased with their masquerade, their corruption of religion. 

Religion: it can be the best thing around, and it can be the worst thing around. When religion functions well, according to its own deepest purpose, it brings us into friendship with God, it brings out the best in us—it brings relief, and mercy, and peace, and joy. But, when it is dysfunctional, when religion goes bad, it goes really bad, and it can bring out the worst in us—and be a source of misery, rather than mercy.

The ancient Romans would say: “Corruptio optimi pessimo”, the corruption of the best is the worst. When the best thing goes bad, it really goes bad. And that’s certainly true for religion. Dysfunctional religion can be very dangerous. It can create murderous terrorists who commit acts of violence in the name of God; it can lead to the exploitation of good trusting people; it can create terrible scrupulosity where the love of God is replaced by a false image of God as a tyrant; it can lead religious leaders to abuse their power, and lay people to become filled false piety and self-righteousness.

Now notice, how even though Jesus points out the religious failure of the Scribes and Pharisees, he doesn’t discredit religious leadership altogether. Were the Scribes and Pharisees in many ways corrupt? Yes. But does that mean that the whole idea of teaching authority and religious leadership is altogether corrupt? Absolutely not. After all he founded his Church on the religious leadership of the Apostles. Regarding the apostles he says, "those who listen to you, listen to me. those who reject you, reject me"

Contrast the corrupt religious leadership of the Pharisees with the great humility and authentic leadership of the saints, who we celebrated this week on the Holy Day of Obligation, All Saints Day. The saints do not use religion to inflate their own egos, rather, they seek to become empty of ego, to serve others and help others to be as holy as possible. Their humility is truly humbling, their goodness is truly inspiring. The saints never preach what they are unwilling to do themselves. They are the first ones in the confessional when they’ve sinned, and are the first ones with a cup of water, to give drink to the thirsty. They illustrate our religion’s highest ideals; they show us how God transforms those who follow Christ in holy surrender to the Divine Will. 

And remember, the saints weren’t born saints. Many of them lived for decades at odds with God, in league with the Devil, off the path of Christ and his righteousness. But when God broke into their life they responded with faith, hope, and love, thanks be to God. If the corruption of the best is the worst, many of the saints show us how the redemption of the worst, is the best; they show us the marvelous things that can happen when we seek conversion and the growth in holiness God desires for us.

This month, the month of November, the Body of Christ the Church prays in a special way for the souls in purgatory who at the end of life, were found in need of further purification from the effects of sin in their life. Yes, they died in friendship with the Lord, but at the time of death, they still had need of further purgation. So we should seek purification from the effects of sin in this life, now, through penance and works of mercy. For the saints attest to the fact that purification in this life, is preferred, to the purifying sufferings of purgatory.  But our prayers truly help those in purgatory, our prayers are acts of love. 

At first Friday Holy Hour, I recommended the practice of bringing to the Lord the names of your departed loved ones. I recommend taking a note book, and prayerfully writing down the names of the dead who have touched your life. “Uncle Jim, may he rest in peace. Aunt Martha, may she rest in peace.” Anyone who touched your life, pray for them. Anyone who blessed you or hurt you. Anyone who was a model Christian, and those who weren’t, pray for them. When we pray for the poor souls, we also begin to loosen any of the resentments or unforgiveness we might be carrying regarding the dead. And it is vital to let go of those things: they cause us unhappiness on earth, and we will not enter heaven until we are willing to let them go. 

Our religion is so beautiful, because it teaches us to practice love toward the living and the dead, to orient ourselves toward the love of God, the Father of Creation. Through our practice of love, may we witness to unbelievers the redemptive and transformative power of the Gospel of Christ for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

All Souls 2021 - Praying for the Dead

 Yesterday, All Saints' Day, we celebrated the great multitude of saints: the ranks of martyrs, apostles, confessors, virgins, and holy souls who upon their earthly death were judged by God to be immediately worthy of entrance into heavenly glory. 

Today Catholics join in praying for the faithful departed, who died in friendship with Christ, but were judged by God to still be in need of some purification prior to their entrance into heaven. Instead of entering heaven immediately, these souls were taken by God to the spiritual hospital called purgatory.

As the old Roman Martyrology puts it: Holy Church, our good Mother, after having exalted with fitting praise all her children who now rejoice in heaven, strives also to help all those who still suffer in purgatory, and to this end intercedes with all her power before Christ, her Lord and Spouse, in order that as speedily as possible they may join the society of the elect in heaven.

Today is a day of sadness as we remember our dear loved ones who have died. And yet, our grief is tempered by hope in heavenly glory for the faithful departed. Our Lord in the Gospel is presented as the Good shepherd who does not want to lose even one of His sheep. This is the will of the Father who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me.  Our loved ones who have died in friendship with Christ are not lost. 

And yet, we also acknowledge that those who die with vestiges of sin and selfishness must be cleansed before entering that place prepared for them in heaven. There is some suffering in purgatory. It is like when we were children and were got full of mud and grime while playing outside. Before entering the house we had to be sprayed down with the hose, maybe even scrubbed with harsh bristles. 

Well our sins of pride and lust and selfishness are a lot more grievous than mud. So the suffering of purgatory is also serious. But, the holy souls in purgatory, and they are holy souls, as they have been saved by Christ, the holy souls want to be in purgatory as long as they need to be. If I were to visit the Pope, I would want to get cleaned up, put on my absolute best clothing, out of respect for his Holiness, how much more would we want to get our souls cleaned up for God in heaven. 

The souls who would refuse purgatory, obstinately, refuse heaven.

Just as our prayers, penances, and sacrifices can aid souls in this life, obtaining for them help from God, so too our prayers, penances, and sacrifices aid the souls in purgatory. Again, just as a mother offers prayers for her son as he commences on a journey, we pray for the souls of the dead, as they make the journey from earthly life to heavenly life. The mother doesn’t stop praying until she receives notice that her son has safely reached his destination, so we do not stop praying for the souls in purgatory until we obtain from God some definitive proof that they have reached heaven, like their canonization. Until a particular soul is canonized, we do not err in praying for them.

And we pray because we love. It is an act of love, an act of mercy to pray for the souls in purgatory. We love them, and we want them to reach their heavenly destination. That which you did for the least of my brethren, you did for me. A prayer for a soul in purgatory helps them take one step closer to heaven, and brings them comfort, relief, and assistance on their journey.

And so, we who are members of the Church Militant here on earth, can help the members of the Church Suffering in purgatory, arrive more quickly to their eternal destination: the Church Triumphant in heaven.

May we be generous in our prayers and acts of charity toward our beloved dead, that with them, we may come to see God face to face in heaven, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

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God, the Almighty Father raised Christ his Son from the dead; with confidence we ask him to save all his people, living and dead.

That Christ, Son of the Living God, who raised up Lazarus from the dead, will raise up to life all the dead who have been redeemed by his precious blood.  Let us pray to the Lord.

That Christ, consoler of all who mourn, who dried the tears of the family of Lazarus, will heal the pain and dispel the darkness and doubt that comes from grief…..  Let us pray to the Lord.

That Christ, our Savior, will destroy the reign of sin in our earthly bodies, and grant us eternal life.  Let us pray to the Lord.

That Christ, our Redeemer, will look on all those who have no hope because they do not know him, and bring them to faith in the resurrection and in the life of the world to come.  Let us pray to the Lord.

For all those who have died. For our beloved dead who we pray for in a special way today, this All Souls day and during the month of November. For all of the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom; that those we remember in prayer may pass over to a dwelling place of light and peace. Let us pray to the Lord.

God our shelter and our strength, you listen in love to the cry of your people: hear the prayers we offer for all those who have died.  Cleanse them of their sins and grant them the fullness of redemption.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.

All Souls 2020 - Mourning and Praying for the Dead

A few years ago, All Souls Day fell on the first Friday of November, and so I was visiting and bringing Holy Communion to homebound parishioners. My first stop was to a woman named Josephine, and elderly woman with a thick polish accent, to whom I had been bringing Communion for several years.  

I asked her if she had any particular intentions she would like to offer as she received Holy Communion, and she said, since today is the Feast of All Souls she would like to pray for her husband and her father who were arrested and killed in the Concentration Camp at Aushwitz during World War II.  After we prayed, and she received Holy Communion, she asked if I would like to see a picture of her father.  I said I would.

She went into the bedroom and brought out a rectangular photograph of very thin man, dressed in a prison outfit, in three poses: a profile looking to the right, one where he was looking up and to the left, and the middle one, he was looking directly at the camera with a haunted expression.

I thought of the horrors he witnessed—they seemed reflected in his eyes--and I had to sit down.  

Josephine then said, Father, I try to think of good memories, but so often I am overwhelmed with sadness.  Why do we always remember the hurtful things?

After a moment, I said, I think it’s important not to forget our loved ones, as hurtful as their memories are, so that we can pray for them, and to pray that terrible things like war and genocide never happen again.

She said, “All Souls Day is always a very sad day for me, but it is also the anniversary of our coming to this country and escaping those horrors.”  How fitting, I thought because that’s what All Souls is all about. Today we pray that our loved ones arrive at their heavenly homeland. 

Today can be a sad day, it might be a sad month, for the whole month is dedicated to praying for the souls of the dead—remembering the faithful departed whom we loved in this life can evoke strong emotions. And that’s not bad. For the Lord promises comfort to those who mourn: blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. We are comforted by the knowledge that our prayers truly help our departed loved ones. Every moment of sorrow, is a moment to turn to the Lord, and to know the comfort that can only come through Him.

When are overwhelmed with grief for our loved ones the best thing to do is to turn to God in prayer for their souls and to renew our hope in the resurrection. As Saint Thomas Aquinas said that the greatest act of love we can perform on behalf of the dead is to pray for them.  

And yet, we simply don’t pray, today and this month, for those who were good, we pray for all souls. No matter who they were in life, how they acted, who they loved or hurt, we pray for all of the souls in purgatory, that they may be open to all of the purification they need in order to enter eternal life with God. If there is a soul, who may have hurt us or hurt a family member, that we cannot bring ourselves to pray for, we should work on that today, and this month. Praying for our enemies, truly praying for their greatest good, their conversion to Christ, shows that we are not bound by malice or hate for them, but are concerned for all souls.

The scripture readings for this holy day speak of a time when the dead, when all souls shall be gathered before Christ, to be judged, but in the meantime, we continue to pray for all, to work for the good of all, the conversion of all, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That Christ, Son of the Living God, who raised up Lazarus from the dead, will raise up to life all the dead who have been redeemed by his precious blood.  We pray to the Lord.

That Christ, consoler of all who mourn, who dried the tears of the family of Lazarus, the widow’s son, and the daughter of Jairus, will bring comfort to all those who mourn for the dead.  We pray to the Lord.

That Christ, our Savior, will destroy the reign of sin in our earthly bodies, and grant us eternal life.  We pray to the Lord.

That Christ, our Redeemer, will look on all those who have no hope because they do not know him, and bring them to faith in the resurrection and in the life of the world to come.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those who have died. For our beloved dead who we pray for in a special way today, this All Souls day and during the month of November, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for N. for whom this Mass is offered. Let us pray to the Lord.

Homily: 31st Sunday in OT 2016 - "To seek out and to save"

A priest I know tells the story of a young man who was dying of cancer—who was just 24 years old.  In the final stages of his illness, the priest went to see the young man, and the young man said: “Father, you once told us something that has made it easier for me to accept my death.  You said: ‘There are only two potential tragedies in life, and dying young isn’t one of them.  You said the first tragedy is If you go through life and don’t know that you are loved, and the second is if you go through life and you don’t tell those whom you love that you love them. When the doctors told me that my cancer was terminal, my family has stood by my side, I realized how much I’ve been loved, and I’ve been given this time to tell my family and others how much they mean to me.  People ask me: ‘What’s it like being 24 years old and dying?’  I tell them, ‘It’s not so bad.  It beats being 50 years old and living without values and faith and knowledge that I’m loved by God and my family.”

Faith prepares us for death.  Faith helps us to love and to know we are loved.

I thought of this story for several reasons. For one, it is priesthood Sunday. We thank God for our priests and pray for our priests. Priests who baptize, priests who absolve, priests who celebrate the Eucharist, priests who help hardened sinners return to Christ, priests who help families live the Gospel, priests who help us prepare for the end of our earthly life.  The Catholic Church will need priests until the end of time, to carry out the ordained ministry according to God’s plan.  And each of us has a role to help young men hear God’s call to the priesthood—help them to truly believe that to be a priest is a wonderful vocation and in invaluable one.

This may sound a bit morbid or strange, but as I began to discern my own priestly vocation, one of the aspects of priestly ministry that really spoke to me was the priest’s serenity in the face of death. Priests are called to visit the beds of the dying. The priest is summoned to the beds dying strangers and longtime parishioners, both lukewarm and devout souls; and he is called upon to administer the Church’s final rites, to help the soul prepare to meet God.

Death—which most men fear and spend their lives fleeing from and distracting themselves from, priests, put aside this fear, perhaps even conquer it, to bring peace to others. What a blessed vocation!
Another reason I thought of the story is because today is our annual Bereavement Mass. Joining us today are family members of those who have died in the last year. We grieve for those who have died. Grieve because life is different without them, their absence is felt so deeply. And so it’s important for us to gather together in our grief to pray for each other—to turn to God who is the source of our consolation, and to thank God for the opportunities he gave us to love them.

That love, no doubt continues, even years after their passing as we pray for the departed, remembering them at the altar, lifting their souls to God.

This Wednesday, November 2 is the feast of All Souls—a day set aside in the Church year simply to pray for the repose of our loved ones. Though Tuesday is the feast of All Saints, a Holy Day of Obligation, where all Catholics are obligated to attend Mass, I also urge you to consider attending Mass on Wednesday, to pray for our beloved dead.

One of the most devastating and tragic effects of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, was that Protestants stopped praying for the poor souls.  And they really lost something essential to the Christian life. Praying for the dead is part of being Christian. It’s a practice found in Scripture, taught by Sacred Tradition, encouraged in the words and writings of the Saints.

Why do we pray for the dead? It’s an act of mercy! It’s an act of mercy to help those in need. And the souls in purgatory are in need of our prayers. Those who die with even the smallest amount of earthly selfishness, with attachment to the things and ways of the world, are in need of purification before they can enter heaven.

Understandably, many Catholics do not like to pray for our departed loved ones.  We like to imagine our loved ones who did display so much love and affection throughout their lives to have entered immediately into heaven. It can be painful to think of them still awaiting entrance into the heavenly kingdom.  But to be honest, most souls need such purification. The only members of the faithful departed we know with absolute certainty to be in heaven are those definitively declared by the Church to be canonized Saints.  Until a soul is declared a Saint by the church we do not err in praying for their eternal repose.

Many of the saints, St. Padre Pio, St. Catherine of Genoa, had strong devotion to praying for the poor souls.  It is an act of love to pray for our loved ones. So continue to show your love for them by praying for them constantly, offering rosaries and novenas for them, having Masses celebrated for them. Just as we can offer comfort to our loved ones by hold their hands as they lay dying, so too we can bring them comfort and aid through our prayers.

If you haven’t had a Mass celebrated for loved ones recently, go to the parish office this week and schedule a Mass. For, the Mass is the greatest and most powerful prayer we can offer on behalf of those who have died.

Christ's whole life on earth was dedicated to bringing people back into friendship with God, helping them to be free from sin, as he says in the Gospel today: "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost."

All of us have been given a share in this mission: to seek and to save what was lost.

By praying for the dead we help souls complete the journey, by sharing our faith with unbelievers we may help souls begin the journey. We thank God this weekend for our priests, and pray that we may always have good faithful priests to assist us on the journey, and pray for and thank God for the gift of our loved ones who have walked with us, laughed with us, cried with us, and embraced us throughout the journey.

May the Lord Jesus, through the Word and Sacrament we celebrate today, make us ever more faithful in the mission for the glory of God and salvation of souls.