All Souls Day at Work
Most of us, I would guess, will be working today, All Soul's Day. But don't get so wrapped up in your work that the day slips by. Try to remember the Holy Souls today. Pray for them. All Soul's Day only comes once a year.
Of course you can, and should, pray for the Holy Souls any time. You don't need to wait for All Soul's Day to roll around. Still, this day is set aside just for them - those who've died, are saved, but haven't gotten to Heaven yet.
It's especially important to remember the Holy Souls these days. I don't know if a lot of people pray for the Holy Souls anymore. We Catholics used to be really aware and sensitive to the plight of the Holy Souls, but I don't think that's so true anymore.
If you've been to a funeral mass lately, it seems like most priests kind of assume the deceased is in Heaven. You know what I mean, don't you? They hardly ever talk about Purgatory anymore. They almost never tell us we need to pray for our dead loved ones because they may really need our prayers and sacrifices to help them get out of Purgatory. Mostly they make is sound like we've already got an ally in Heaven who can pray for us. It seems like anyone who dies these days just flies right through the Pearly Gates, no questions asked.
But we Catholics know that's not true. We know the Church doesn't teach that. We know that people who've died and haven't made sufficient reparation for the sins they've committed don't get to walk right in to Heaven. They've got to serve their time in Purgatory until their souls are "cleaned up" - so to speak.
Of course, that may be a bit simplistic. Not wrong, but not really right. It's not like God's going to checking us out, the way we might get checked out when we're hired at a new job. It's more like we know we're just not qualified for the job in the first place.
If you've ever gotten a job where the fit wasn't right, you'll get a sense of what I mean. Somehow either you, or your employer, or both, just didn't realize you weren't really going to fit in, or you weren't really all that qualified, for the job. Things didn't work out the way you thought. It's an uncomfortable position to be in, if you've ever been through it.
I took a job once where all seemed great - until about a week or so into the job. Boy, did I want out of there. What a mistake!
As it turned out, there was major turnover in the ownership and management of the firm, and I wound up fitting in a lot better after the changes. But for quite few months, I was pretty upset and miserable. Had things not changed at the company, I would have tried to leave after less than a year. It was rough.
So if you think I'm being negative or too "traditional," or legalistic, or just a stick in the mud about the whole Purgatory thing, think again. It's really a good thing, a merciful and loving thing, that God doesn't let us waltz into Heaven unprepared.
You've got to be ready to spend eternity in the Presence of God, in the company of His saints.
Maybe you could imagine someone trying to run a marathon without training at all. How would that work out? Or running a spring against trained sprinters. What would be the point?
So if you walk into Heaven and you're really not prepared, do you really want to be in God's Presence? Would you feel like one of the gang with folks like St Francis of Assisi, St Ignatius Loyola, St Agnes, St John the Baptist, Our Blessed Mother. Heck, I'm not so sure I'd feel comfortable with my own mother up there if she could see me - really see me - with all those imperfections I've got.
It's not like when you were a kid and you could hide things from your mother. She'd know what was up. She'd know what you'd done. She'd know that you hadn't really made up for all those bad things. (Do you really think there are any secrets in Heaven?) Do you really want her knowing all that? And that's just your mother.
Do you want to be standing in front of the Perfect Being with all your grudges, dislikes, resentments, unkind or impure thoughts and all the rest - knowing He sees all that? Don't you want all that stuff gone - and isn't that what you say every time you go to confession? You know, "I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life." Then you got out and sin again...and confess again...and sin again...Don't you want that cycle broken once and for all?
What do you think, that just because you die, you're automatically a different person, that you're perfect just "like that"? You're going to appear before Christ just as you are the moment you die, with all that baggage that's hanging around and hasn't been taken care of yet?
See, God doesn't want us to be somewhere where we don't fit in, or we're not completely relaxed and comfortable with ourselves, our relationship to Him, and everyone else in Heaven. He doesn't want us being self-conscious, doubting whether we belong or any of that. He wants us to be perfect, so that we know we belong in the same place as all those great saints we've all read about. (Maybe you've even met one or two.)
Really, it's better for us to spend a little time getting things just right before we get to Heaven.
So all those Holy Souls are getting ready for the great day. And if our prayers and sacrifices can help speed things up, they'd be pretty grateful, I'd imagine. And if we help them get to Heaven a little faster, you've got to think they'll be praying like crazy for us if we wind up in Purgatory after we die, right?
So don't get too busy today for the Holy Souls, no matter how busy you get at work today, OK?
Of course you can, and should, pray for the Holy Souls any time. You don't need to wait for All Soul's Day to roll around. Still, this day is set aside just for them - those who've died, are saved, but haven't gotten to Heaven yet.
It's especially important to remember the Holy Souls these days. I don't know if a lot of people pray for the Holy Souls anymore. We Catholics used to be really aware and sensitive to the plight of the Holy Souls, but I don't think that's so true anymore.
If you've been to a funeral mass lately, it seems like most priests kind of assume the deceased is in Heaven. You know what I mean, don't you? They hardly ever talk about Purgatory anymore. They almost never tell us we need to pray for our dead loved ones because they may really need our prayers and sacrifices to help them get out of Purgatory. Mostly they make is sound like we've already got an ally in Heaven who can pray for us. It seems like anyone who dies these days just flies right through the Pearly Gates, no questions asked.
But we Catholics know that's not true. We know the Church doesn't teach that. We know that people who've died and haven't made sufficient reparation for the sins they've committed don't get to walk right in to Heaven. They've got to serve their time in Purgatory until their souls are "cleaned up" - so to speak.
Of course, that may be a bit simplistic. Not wrong, but not really right. It's not like God's going to checking us out, the way we might get checked out when we're hired at a new job. It's more like we know we're just not qualified for the job in the first place.
If you've ever gotten a job where the fit wasn't right, you'll get a sense of what I mean. Somehow either you, or your employer, or both, just didn't realize you weren't really going to fit in, or you weren't really all that qualified, for the job. Things didn't work out the way you thought. It's an uncomfortable position to be in, if you've ever been through it.
I took a job once where all seemed great - until about a week or so into the job. Boy, did I want out of there. What a mistake!
As it turned out, there was major turnover in the ownership and management of the firm, and I wound up fitting in a lot better after the changes. But for quite few months, I was pretty upset and miserable. Had things not changed at the company, I would have tried to leave after less than a year. It was rough.
So if you think I'm being negative or too "traditional," or legalistic, or just a stick in the mud about the whole Purgatory thing, think again. It's really a good thing, a merciful and loving thing, that God doesn't let us waltz into Heaven unprepared.
You've got to be ready to spend eternity in the Presence of God, in the company of His saints.
Maybe you could imagine someone trying to run a marathon without training at all. How would that work out? Or running a spring against trained sprinters. What would be the point?
So if you walk into Heaven and you're really not prepared, do you really want to be in God's Presence? Would you feel like one of the gang with folks like St Francis of Assisi, St Ignatius Loyola, St Agnes, St John the Baptist, Our Blessed Mother. Heck, I'm not so sure I'd feel comfortable with my own mother up there if she could see me - really see me - with all those imperfections I've got.
It's not like when you were a kid and you could hide things from your mother. She'd know what was up. She'd know what you'd done. She'd know that you hadn't really made up for all those bad things. (Do you really think there are any secrets in Heaven?) Do you really want her knowing all that? And that's just your mother.
Do you want to be standing in front of the Perfect Being with all your grudges, dislikes, resentments, unkind or impure thoughts and all the rest - knowing He sees all that? Don't you want all that stuff gone - and isn't that what you say every time you go to confession? You know, "I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life." Then you got out and sin again...and confess again...and sin again...Don't you want that cycle broken once and for all?
What do you think, that just because you die, you're automatically a different person, that you're perfect just "like that"? You're going to appear before Christ just as you are the moment you die, with all that baggage that's hanging around and hasn't been taken care of yet?
See, God doesn't want us to be somewhere where we don't fit in, or we're not completely relaxed and comfortable with ourselves, our relationship to Him, and everyone else in Heaven. He doesn't want us being self-conscious, doubting whether we belong or any of that. He wants us to be perfect, so that we know we belong in the same place as all those great saints we've all read about. (Maybe you've even met one or two.)
Really, it's better for us to spend a little time getting things just right before we get to Heaven.
So all those Holy Souls are getting ready for the great day. And if our prayers and sacrifices can help speed things up, they'd be pretty grateful, I'd imagine. And if we help them get to Heaven a little faster, you've got to think they'll be praying like crazy for us if we wind up in Purgatory after we die, right?
So don't get too busy today for the Holy Souls, no matter how busy you get at work today, OK?
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