One of the most powerful stories of my own ministry that truly highlights the concept of praying for the salvation of souls and praying for the souls in purgatory to say nothing of praying for the salvation of souls is one that happened many years ago when I was in Chelsea (Massachusetts). I returned to the parish from my day off. Still in my civilian clothes, two men appeared at the door. “Father,” said one in Spanish. “Could you come with us please?” They explained that I needed to give the Last

I went with the men to a hospital several cities away. They filled me in on the story and so I arrived fully aware of what I was to see. It was a family surrounding a man, about twenty-one years old laying still in a hospital bed. He was brain dead from an overdose on cocaine. A family member already lay a brown scapular around the man’s neck. He was obviously unconcious, the family was praying and crying for their brother, son, nephew, that God would have mercy on this man who snorted too much cocaine.

The scene was powerful and really showed me the importance of Last Rites.

I tell that story as an indication of the meaning of All Soul’s Day. All Saints’ Day is when we celebrate all those who are in Heaven. All Souls’ Day is when we pray for those in Purgatory. This is a Catholic Day for many of those who are not Catholic do not believe in this day. They believe either one goes to Heaven or to Hell, there is no middle ground. What makes it more interesting is that conservatives believe that most go to hell and liberals believe that most go to Heaven. We, however, have a strong focus on the mercy of God. We understand that it is God’s will that all are saved, but that it is not a slam dunk in every case.

If you think of it, we co-operate with the grace of God to bring life into the world as a race. If salvation is greater than Earthly life then would God not also want our co-operation there as well? So comes the Catholic practice of praying for the Souls in Purgatory. It is also rooted in the book of Maccabees which is one of the Books not in the Protestant Bible, however, if  you read it you will notice we are living it today.

Our faith is a communal religion of love. St. Paul, even explains that we have a call to strengthen one another in peace, love and joy (Romans 14:19). This is what our church is about on Earth and in Heaven. We are a community of those who are on Earth and those in Heaven all focused  on the salvation of souls. Today is the day we pray for those we love and even those we do not that they too may receive God’s mercy.

Deacon Bill taught the Confirmation students that according to St. Faustina God’s Mercy is so great that every person has a chance to choose Christ but our prayers to help them make that choice are essential.

So it is that we pray for those who have gone before us. We seek that they too may experience God’s mercy in Heaven even if they were not the perfect saints that we also venerate.

These may be our friends, our acquaintances and even our enemies, those we pray for that they may experience God’s light. It is central of our faith.

St. Catherine of Sienna experienced Purgatory and explained it is being imperfect in God’s love. His love is so powerful that it is like flames that touch infirmities. They purify each soul so that in time He or She may dwell for eternity in the midst of this love. Leading all to that love of God is our vocation in Christ.

We can often forget that mission and instead get lost in another vocation, for example making sure that a child is well off. However, the greatest gift we can give anyone is the opportunity to be saved. Woe to those who make a mockery of that gift by using the faith for personal gain or for other political reasons.

So we spend this day praying for all those who may be in purgatory as they await the time in Heaven.

We do this because we have to remember our Church is a community. It is a community here on Earth, it is a community in Heaven of the saved working to increase their numbers and it is the community in Purgatory awaiting the end of the purifying process so that they may be in God’s presence in Heaven. This is our Catholic doctrine, all of us connected and praying for one another as the one community of God.

Those who choose to be outside our community are those who have given up every opportunity to be part of it. They are those in Hell. That is not a place where you are sent because you were a failure at the vocation to holiness, that is a place you choose for you would rather not be part of God’s Kingdom. They have no place in our Church by their own choice.

Who are the people in Hell, ironically, our Church has never named any one there because our focus is on getting souls in God’s kingdom and our work is in getting them there. Heaven is our focus, and our concern and today is the day we especially pray for those who have gone before us. Those who were known for their holiness and even those who were not, such as a young  man of twenty-one who overdosed on cocaine: the man whose family begged a member of the Church be there at his deathbed that he may receive every chance possible at salvation.

This is the day that we pray in hope for all, proclaiming God’s mercy for and to each other.

Fr. Carr is an alliance member of the New Song Community (Canção Nova). He is the pastor of Holy Trinity Quincy, MA and is the editor of this blog. He is the author of several books, blogs and hundreds of videos all of which you may find at his website. He also has a regular radio program on WebRadio Canção Nova. Which he podcasts on Mixcloud and here on Catholicismanew.
You can follow him on twitter as @frbobcarr. Thoughts, comments on the homily? Let us know atFacebook