The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed
Today we celebrate the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. This is the remembrance of all of the Faithful Departed who have died in God’s Friendship, but are still undergoing the purification of Purgatory. Now, Catholic teaching on Purgatory is one of the harder teachings for some people to accept, but that is often because the teaching is not understood. If we look more closely at it, we can begin to see that this teaching about Purgatory is actually one of the most beautiful expressions of God’s mercy.
We can begin by looking at a sentence from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:48). There Jesus tells us: “be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect.” When Jesus says this, he means it. Moreover, we will not be able to enter heaven until we are perfect as God is perfect. Fortunately, Jesus, as God Incarnate, shows us what it looks like for a human being to be perfect as God is perfect. Even better, it is not our job to bring ourselves to that perfection. Rather it is Jesus’ job with his guidance and grace to bring us to that perfection. Our job is to listen to Him and to obey Him as He brings us to be perfect as God is perfect.
Unfortunately, most of us tend to drag our feet in this, so we are not finished when we come to the end of our lives. However, God, in His love and mercy, provides us with the means to continue to grow to this state of perfection, and this is what we call Purgatory. Even better, once we are in Purgatory, we are assured of Salvation. And once we are perfect as God is perfect, we will enter Heaven.
Reflection by Fr. Aquinas Keusenkothen, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections