In the 1970s, when I was a new Catholic, I noticed JMJ printed on the top of a Catholic school student’s paper. “What’s that?” I asked. “That stands for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” I was told. “We put it on all our papers at school.”
I was curious. “Why?”
“Because if we write JMJ, we think “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” and any time we think that we help a Poor Soul in purgatory.
I was fascinated….and introduced to today’s feast, the Feast of All Souls. In the pre-Vatican II Catholic world, November 2 and the care of “Poor Souls” was front stage center in popular Catholic practice. That emphasis was still very strong in the 1970s.
It is not so much front row center today, but our ability to connect with and assist those who have died remains solid Catholic teaching.
Context
From early Christian times, some day of the year was dedicated to remembering those who have died. In the Western church it was paired with the celebration of All Saints in the 11th century.
In many ways, today’s reflection is a continuation of the discussion of Grace on October 19 and Faith and Works on October 26. God gives us Grace so that we can eventually be one with Him in heaven. This grace comes to us in many natural and religious ways. At the center of those ways is Jesus, the Christ, who came to “justify” us—to make us right with God—by his life, death, and resurrection. This saved us.
Each day God makes His life itself available to us through the Holy Spirit, which enables us to develop through grace to know, love, serve, and witness God throughout our lives. As we live in that grace, we do good “works” as God lives in us and continues to save the world around us—in part through our expressed faith and witness. We are being saved.
But, when we die, we may not yet be “perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48). Hence, today, we pray for those who have died in Christ who are closer to heaven than we are—yet still in the process of being formed to match God’s likeness. They will be saved.
The Book of Wisdom and What Happens When We Die
We hear about these souls in today’s first reading, a reading frequently chosen by family members for funeral liturgies.
The souls of the just are in the hand of God,
and no torment shall touch them.
They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;
and their passing away was thought an affliction
and their going forth from us, utter destruction.
But they are in peace.
The Church teaches that when we die we experience a “particular judgment.” We will face God who will review our life with us. “Those who die in God’s grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live forever with Christ. They are like God forever, for they “see him as he is,” face to face.” (CCC 1021-1023)
The catechism goes on to say, “Those who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. (CCC 1030-1031)
The mental concept of Purgatory grew out of the same practices of penance and “good works” that led to the same abuses that paved the way for the Protestant Reformations of the 16th century that were discussed last week. I think that puts up some barriers in our 21st century minds to look at them. We are not like the school children of earlier generations who think “JMJ” and help the Holy Souls on a daily basis. The catechism notes that the Councils of Florence (1431-1449) and Trent (1545-1563) developed the doctrines of Purgatory. Some of the ways they discussed it seem strange to us today.
However, Scripture, including today’s selection from Wisdom, speaks all the way back to Genesis of a reverence for the dead. Scott Hahn, in his recent book, Hope to Die: The Christian Meaning of Death and the Resurrection of the Body, notes how important concern with the bodies of the Patriarchs and connection with them was to the authors of the Old Testament. (p 33-35) Jesus often told stories about life after death that expressed connections with them.
And, so, today we remember and honor the “Poor Souls.” Why are they called “poor souls”? Because our ability to be an active part of our “being saved” ends when we die and face God in judgment. (CCC 1021) These are Poor Souls, “poor in the spirit,” who must depend on the merits of Christ, the prayers of the saints, and our prayers, to move them along to heaven. In some ways, it seems to me, Purgatory is a logical solution to the problem that few of us would get an A+ on living by all the Ten Commandments AND all the Beatitudes if we were to die today. Yet, because we have been saved…we will be saved…and a process of purification is part of it.
Jesus Assures Us
Today’s Gospel contains very assuring words:
“Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me….
And this is the will of the one who sent me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,”
We belong to Christ….by baptism, by profession of faith, by hope, by life lived fervent some days and slothful other days. Yet we belong to Christ. He’s NOT going to let us go–even if we are not quite ready for heaven. We will be saved.
Indulgences
Indulgences also come out of those complex times before the Reformations. Today, they are ways that we, ordinary Faithful, can help our families and friends who have gone to be with God. There is a whole Enchiridion of Indulgences.
Of special note during November are indulgences for going to a cemetery to pray for the dead. Generally, a plenary (complete) indulgence for this is granted on each of the first eight days of November. This year, because of COVID, Pope Francis has extended this through each day in November. For those who cannot leave home, they only have to lift their hearts and minds to God to pray for the dead.
Plenary and partial indulgences can be complex, but plenary has more capacity to do good, and requires that we go to communion, confession, say a prayer for the pope, and be free of attachment to sin. I try to be free of that attachment, though I wouldn’t have assurance today that I have accomplished that…and so….I pray for family and friends. JMJ They will be saved.
Peace.
Prayer:
Today’s Prayer is a famous prayer, the Prayer of St. Gertrude for Holy Souls:
“Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.”
