All Souls' Day at Work
We're heading to work on All Souls Day today. First things first: Don't just jump into your daily grind without remembering the Holy Souls. They're suffering while you work. Pray for them. If for no other reason, remember and pray because you may be one of their number some day. And if you are, you'll look for the consolation of the remembrance and prayers of others.
While suffering may be their lot for a time, remember too that they're destined for Heaven - just not yet. When they died, they weren't quite ready to stand with the angels and saints in the Presence of Almighty God. Their souls needed a little "cleansing" first.
To understand this need for cleansing better, put yourself in their place: You died in the state of grace so you're not going to Hell. (Relief!). But now you face your individual judgement. But rather than picture yourself at a kind of trial with Our Lord standing as accuser and Judge, maybe think of it this way: Instead of waiting for your "sentence," you'll already know what's next. If you're ready for it, you head for the door marked "H" (Heaven); if not, the one marked "P" (Purgatory). If it's "P" it will be because you know, in some mysterious way, that you're simply not fit to be in God's Presence with all those little attachments and sinful inclinations that you just couldn't totally eliminate during your time on earth.
I'm not a theologian, so if this interpretation likely isn't exactly on point, here's another way we Catholic men at work might think about it.
If you've ever worked at a job where you're not really a good fit, you know that awkward feeling you get as you go about your business. I've been in a couple of situations like this, one worse than the other. In the worse case, daily work was (not so ironically) a real chore, to put it mildly. I'd show up every day knowing that no matter how I tried, I simply couldn't do the job the way my employer expected it should be done. It was just one of those situations where, during the hiring process, my employer thought my particular skill set and experience would fill a gap, as I also thought. With both of us on the same page, I accepted the offer of employment. Unfortunately, the company promptly restructured it's way of doing business, and I just didn't fit in with their changed plans. It all worked out in the end, but for a stretch it was borderline torture just showing up for work each day.
I've read that in a somewhat similar manner, we'll know if we're going to "fit in" when our time comes. As C.S. Lewis put it, "It is quite useless knocking at the door of heaven for earthly comfort. It's not the sort of comfort they supply there." When we die, though, we will know what they do supply there; and with a clear awareness of our lingering imperfections, we'll immediately know that Purgatory is our next stop, and that it will be time well spent.
While suffering in Purgatory may not be all that appealing, it beats the suffering some of us face during our time on earth. At least the Holy Souls in Purgatory know it's all for a purpose: to get them ready for Heaven. It's not always so easy for us to connect our own suffering to Heaven in this way. We might keep this in mind as we console the Holy Souls with our remembrance and prayer: Our own suffering ultimately serves a purpose too. Here's something from Father William Doyle to help us better understand all this:
“You must bear in mind that if God has marked you out for very great graces and possibly a holiness of which you do not even dream, you must be ready to suffer; and the more of this comes to you, especially sufferings of soul, the happier it ought to make you. St. Vincent de Paul says that ‘One of the most certain marks that God has great designs upon a person is when He sends desolation upon desolation, suffering upon suffering.’ Love of God is holiness, but the price of love is pain. Around the treasure-house of His love God has set a thorny hedge; those who would force their way through must not shrink when they feel the sharpness of the thorns piercing their very soul. But alas! How many, after a step or two, turn sadly back in fear, and so never reach the side of Jesus.
“You will see, therefore, that your present state is quite a natural one to expect, and instead of depressing you, should rather console and rejoice your heart. Do not be surprised if you find the life of sacrifice – constant sacrifice – a hard one. Crucifixion is ever so to human nature, even the big saints found that, and shrank from it with all their might. Poor, weak human nature is ever crying, ‘Come down from the Cross,’ and the devils, of course, will pull us down if they can; the easier life of others, too, is a temptation to us and is naturally more attractive; all of which often plunges one into a feeling of sadness and that feeling of ‘being crushed,’ about which you speak.” (Father William Doyle, S.J., 1873-1917)
Have a happy and holy All Souls' Day!
While suffering may be their lot for a time, remember too that they're destined for Heaven - just not yet. When they died, they weren't quite ready to stand with the angels and saints in the Presence of Almighty God. Their souls needed a little "cleansing" first.
To understand this need for cleansing better, put yourself in their place: You died in the state of grace so you're not going to Hell. (Relief!). But now you face your individual judgement. But rather than picture yourself at a kind of trial with Our Lord standing as accuser and Judge, maybe think of it this way: Instead of waiting for your "sentence," you'll already know what's next. If you're ready for it, you head for the door marked "H" (Heaven); if not, the one marked "P" (Purgatory). If it's "P" it will be because you know, in some mysterious way, that you're simply not fit to be in God's Presence with all those little attachments and sinful inclinations that you just couldn't totally eliminate during your time on earth.
I'm not a theologian, so if this interpretation likely isn't exactly on point, here's another way we Catholic men at work might think about it.
If you've ever worked at a job where you're not really a good fit, you know that awkward feeling you get as you go about your business. I've been in a couple of situations like this, one worse than the other. In the worse case, daily work was (not so ironically) a real chore, to put it mildly. I'd show up every day knowing that no matter how I tried, I simply couldn't do the job the way my employer expected it should be done. It was just one of those situations where, during the hiring process, my employer thought my particular skill set and experience would fill a gap, as I also thought. With both of us on the same page, I accepted the offer of employment. Unfortunately, the company promptly restructured it's way of doing business, and I just didn't fit in with their changed plans. It all worked out in the end, but for a stretch it was borderline torture just showing up for work each day.
I've read that in a somewhat similar manner, we'll know if we're going to "fit in" when our time comes. As C.S. Lewis put it, "It is quite useless knocking at the door of heaven for earthly comfort. It's not the sort of comfort they supply there." When we die, though, we will know what they do supply there; and with a clear awareness of our lingering imperfections, we'll immediately know that Purgatory is our next stop, and that it will be time well spent.
While suffering in Purgatory may not be all that appealing, it beats the suffering some of us face during our time on earth. At least the Holy Souls in Purgatory know it's all for a purpose: to get them ready for Heaven. It's not always so easy for us to connect our own suffering to Heaven in this way. We might keep this in mind as we console the Holy Souls with our remembrance and prayer: Our own suffering ultimately serves a purpose too. Here's something from Father William Doyle to help us better understand all this:
“You must bear in mind that if God has marked you out for very great graces and possibly a holiness of which you do not even dream, you must be ready to suffer; and the more of this comes to you, especially sufferings of soul, the happier it ought to make you. St. Vincent de Paul says that ‘One of the most certain marks that God has great designs upon a person is when He sends desolation upon desolation, suffering upon suffering.’ Love of God is holiness, but the price of love is pain. Around the treasure-house of His love God has set a thorny hedge; those who would force their way through must not shrink when they feel the sharpness of the thorns piercing their very soul. But alas! How many, after a step or two, turn sadly back in fear, and so never reach the side of Jesus.
“You will see, therefore, that your present state is quite a natural one to expect, and instead of depressing you, should rather console and rejoice your heart. Do not be surprised if you find the life of sacrifice – constant sacrifice – a hard one. Crucifixion is ever so to human nature, even the big saints found that, and shrank from it with all their might. Poor, weak human nature is ever crying, ‘Come down from the Cross,’ and the devils, of course, will pull us down if they can; the easier life of others, too, is a temptation to us and is naturally more attractive; all of which often plunges one into a feeling of sadness and that feeling of ‘being crushed,’ about which you speak.” (Father William Doyle, S.J., 1873-1917)
Have a happy and holy All Souls' Day!
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