All Souls Day: The Importance of Praying for the Dead

November 2nd is a day that the Church devotes to the suffering souls in Purgatory. These suffering souls are turning toward us, asking for our help. “Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you, my friends, because the hand of the Lord has touched me” (Job 19:21; Office of the Dead). Because the suffering of their purification is passive, they are helpless in themselves. We can pray and offer up sacrifices and good works with the desire that God may accept them and hasten the delivery of those souls he deems ready and worthy of such help. These Poor Souls depend on us and our prayers.

A place of regret and longing, Purgatory, a “realm of twilight,” is a level of Hell due to the absence of the Beatific Vision. The suffering there is bitter and great, surpassing all imaginable suffering here on earth. The Catholic Encyclopedia states “that purgatory exists, and that the souls detained therein are helped by the suffrages of the faithful, but especially by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar.” Praying for these souls and offering up our own mortifications is a great act of charity toward our neighbors who are suffering far worse than we can imagine in Purgatory; we can help them get to heaven faster by bearing some of their punishment.

Two hundred years before Christ, Judas Maccabeus

making a gathering….sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection, (for if he had not hoped in that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead); and because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them. It is, therefore, a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins. (II Macc, 12:43-46)

So why has this gone out of vogue nowadays? I have heard time and again that “funerals are for the living.” I have attended many funerals that seem more like canonizations than a sorrowful affair focused on praying for the deceased. Supposing the deceased is in Purgatory, how must he see it from Purgatory? He must be eagerly yearning for people to pray for him, to offer a Mass, to say a rosary, or to lend to him the smallest relief. How ridiculous everyone must look from his perspective, presuming that heaven is inevitable.

There are many accounts of help offered to the living by the poor souls. They are grateful receivers and want to help us in return. When I was in high school and college, I was often told to ask them to wake me in the morning by offering a few prayers for them in return. It works. They want prayers, desperately.

During this time of the year, we can gain a plenary indulgence for those suffering torments in Purgatory. (A plenary indulgence is the remission of the entire temporal punishment due to sin so that no further expiation is required in Purgatory). Here are the current regulations in force by Pope Benedict XVI.

• On All Souls Day, November 2nd, a plenary indulgence applicable only to the poor souls, is granted to those who visit any parish church or public oratory and there recite one Our Father and One Credo.
• On all the days from November 1^st through November 8^th, inclusive, a plenary indulgence applicable only to the Poor Souls, is granted to those who visit a cemetery and pray, even if only mentally, for the departed.

Conditions for both indulgences:

1. Only one plenary indulgence can be gained per day.
2. It is necessary to be in the state of grace, at least by completion of the work.
3. Freedom from attachment to sin, even venial sin, is necessary; otherwise the indulgence is only partial. (By this is meant attachment to a particular sin, not sin in general).
4. Holy Communion must be received each time the indulgence is sought.
5. Prayers must be recited for the intentions of the Holy Father on each day the indulgence is sought. (No particular prayers are prescribed).
6. A sacramental confession must be made within a week of completion of the prescribed work. (One confession made during the week, made with the intention of gaining all the indulgences, suffices).

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Eternal rest give to them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them. Amen.

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Tagged as: Charity, Prayer, Spiritual Life