Gracious Aging   ~   "Poor Souls & Purgatory" Office of Friar Formation ~ Senior Friar Committee ~ Fall, 2004

The Word Wisdom 3:1,3b,4 The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They are in peace. For if before all, indeed they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality. The Sources General Constitutions Article 65 Aware that "people are what they are in the eyes of God and nothing more" let the brothers acknowledge that God is the highest good and only good... A Prayer Keep His Passion in Mind Lord Jesus, many years have passed since you hung on the cross with searching eyes and outstretched arms. Gone now is the pain but not the love, and not the searching. Your arms am still wide open still reaching out to us. You have loved us with art everlasting love, never closing your heart. May the memory of your crucified love and the grace of your Risen Presence comfort us, set us free, give us hope and make us strong. Amen.

The Day-to-Day Many people have had "life after life" or "out of body experiences," and are dead or near dead in this life. They experience passage through a tunnel towards an unearthly, radiant and welcoming light which they interpret as God. It does not seem as if Purgatory follows, unless judgement is rendered after the person reaches and communicates with the "warm, radiant light." However, no one who has returned to life has ever gone that far. At the funeral Mass, we ask God to forgive whatever wrongs the deceased has committed and pray that the deceased now rests in the Lord, or comes into the endless joy of Christ's presence. We also state that life is not ended, just changed. Moreover, popular spirituality espouses that the here and now, that life on earth is the proving grounds of Purgatory. That we are purified on earth. If this is true, then there is no longer the Church Suffering, just the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant.

So, I asked myself, "what's a Catholic supposed to believe?" Well, I consulted the New Catholic Catechism to learn what we should know about this topic. It states that those who die in Gods grace and friendship, [are] still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of eternal salvation, but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter into the joy of heaven. The Church gave the name Purgatory to this place of purification and developed this doctrine during the Councils of Florence and Trent. The teaching is based upon Scripture, the writings of St Gregory the Great, and the practice of prayer for the dead. Again from the Catechism, we read: "From the beginning, the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision." So there we have it. The church does indeed state that Purgatory exists. All Souls Day s for all the dead. It is good that we remember them and pray for them, wherever they are. We hope people pray for us after we die.