Our culture loves to celebrate Halloween, the Catholic Christian commemoration of All Hallows Eve -- the eve of the Feast of All Souls.
» As I write this I come to feel as though I am directing much of this towards those, like myself, with a protestant background, or those who are not yet part of the Catholic Church. Please bear with me and take out of these thoughts the things that you yourself can best meditate on (or investigate further) for your own spiritual growth. «
At this time the Church draws our attention especially to the Four Last Things: Death, Judgement, Heaven or Hell.
We all have to face death. That is the end of our chance to be part of the Church Militant.
Death could come any time for any one of us. Are we ready?
- Am I in a state of mortal sin?
- Do I intend to examine my conscience and go to confession, especially if I THINK I may have committed a mortal sin?
- Have I made good use of the time, talents and material things that God has given me to use?
- Have I been faithful to Christ and His Church?
- etc. ...
As part of Christ's Body we each need to realize that we are part of the entire body of Christ -- not only the Church Militant (the Church here on earth), but also the Church Suffering (the Holy Souls in Purgatory) and the Church Triumphant (the Saints in Heaven).
ALL HALLOWS EVE or Halloween --
As we discussed in the post about the Christian origins of Halloween it is important in this day and age to recall that Satan is real. Evil is real. We are fighting a spiritual battle against forces beyond our ken. The good news is that we already know the outcome. Satan and his minions will loose. Unfortunately he will convince as many people as he can to choose Hell over eternity with God.
In our final moment we are judged. Many or most will choose the horror of spending eternity apart from God. Others will choose to love Our Lord above all else. Even if we choose God there is no guarantee that we will enter heaven right away. Some people die for our Lord or live such pious and selfless lives that they go (almost?) directly to heaven. Will that be you? Will that be me? That's my goal, but ...
The Feast of ALL SAINTS commemorates the Church Triumphant --
We belong to a vast family. Many holy men and women have lived lives so holy that in the end they were judged pure enough to enter into Heaven. These people are not dead, only their bodies are dead as they await to have their souls reunited with their bodies on "the last day". These friends are there to intercede for us with Our Lord.
Jesus Himself has gone before us with His Body and Soul and is seated at the right hand of God the Father.
Mother Mary, too, has been assumed body and soul into heaven. God has crowned Mary, another human like ourselves, as Queen of Heaven.
We can pray and follow what Jesus commands us to do. We can also ask our family and friends to pray for us.
But there are those who are closer to Our Lord than anyone here on earth -- those holy souls in heaven. They too can intercede for us. Jesus especially listens to Mary's requests as he did at the Cana wedding (John 2:1-11). We are to honour our father and mother. Jesus honours Mary in the same way.
The Commemoration of ALL SOULS is when we remember those who have gone before us. --
God alone knows what cleansing a soul needs before being pure enough to enter Heaven. If we die in a state of grace we may require "a bath", so to speak.
Our brothers and sisters who cannot bear the thought of being in the glory of God and worshiping Him forever are sent immediately where they choose: Hell.
The poor, holy souls in Purgatory, however, are guaranteed to enter heaven. Bathing is the best analogy that I've been able to think of. Some of us need a long, hot scrub in lots of very hot water in order to remove the stain of our sins. Others will only need to rinse their hands to remove such stain.
This is not to say that Jesus's sacrifice was not sufficient. I always think of what Jesus said about making things right before going on:
"Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. "Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent." (Matthew 5:25-26)Purgatory also exists because we are responsible for our sins. Can we really expect to go through life, even a very pious life, but never to be responsable in any way for our sinfulness? Jesus paid the price we cannot pay. Out of Love He suffered and died for our salvation. Does this mean we no longer accept any blame for what we have done? If this were the case then we could go ahead and commit any sin we felt like, just so long as we said "sorry" afterwards. I have difficulty in understanding the protestant rejection of this. Purgatory is not a man-made idea. We would not even know about it if it weren't for the intervention of the Holy Spirit.
This brings me to my final point in this post on the last things.
As the Church Militant one of our jobs is to pray and make sacrifices for the holy souls in Purgatory. They cannot do anything to help themselves. They can no longer receive Our Lord in Holy Communion, and they are also being denied the Beatific Vision for the time being.
We do not know what Purgatory is like. (I certainly haven't been there. I hope to bypass it entirely.) It is a place of temporal suffering however. These souls are being refined into gold by passing through fire. (1 Peter 1:7) We know that fire hurts. Paying a traffic fine hurts in one way. A year in jail hurts.
So let us always remember to pray for the souls in Purgatory. Pray, do good works, offer up sacrifices for them.
God be with you!
Dominus vobiscum!
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