Today is the Feast of the Poor Souls. They are called poor souls because they cannot help themselves in their present condition. They are in purgatory where they are being cleansed of the temporal punishment due to their sins; only then can they enter into the fullness of God’s presence. Our prayers are very important to them because our prayers and sacrifices can help them to get to heaven. They long for heaven and God’s presence more than most of us ever do while we live on this earth.
During our time on this earth, we are distracted by so many things which make it easy to forget how very much God loves us and how we are to live that love in our everyday lives. Purgatory is a state of being in which we come to fully realize how much God loves us and we failed to live in that love as completely as we could have. The suffering in purgatory is not caused by flames of fire or other physical punishments. The pain and suffering in purgatory is caused by the regret and shame we endure because we did not love as God created us to love. We did not love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, nor did we love our neighbor as we love ourselves. It is the realization of how much God loves us and how much we have not loved Him and others in return that causes our pain.
Let us make a special effort during the month of November to pray for the holy souls in purgatory. They are indeed holy because they know the love of God better than we do. When we take the time to pray for these holy souls and unite ourselves to God, we are at the same time uniting them in a deeper way to God too. Some day we will need the prayers of others when we ourselves are in purgatory and the only ones that can pray for us then are those on earth and those in heaven. Make friends now of the holy souls in purgatory; they will not forget you when they enter the kingdom of heaven.
November is the month of the holy souls, so it is a good time for us not only to pray for them, but also to reflect on our own mortality. The one thing that none of us can ever avoid is death no matter what we do. It is not a gloomy or morbid thing to do to reflect on our death. Death is the birth into eternal life and as long as we have done all that we can to love God and our neighbor, we have nothing to fear. People who fear death are usually the ones who have gotten too caught up in the distractions of this world and have lived too much for what the world has to offer them. Those who have lived for God even though they have sinned as long as they have turned back to God to seek His love and mercy then they have nothing to fear. Many of the saints reflected every day on their death; the moment that they would meet God face to face. Doing this can only help us to stay focused on God and trying over and over to do His will. In many convents and monasteries, even to this day, the monks and nuns greet one another with the words “memento mori,” “remember death.” It is a reminder to one another that every one of us will die and meet God face to face.
In the weeks ahead I will offer some ideas and thoughts on preparing our funerals or the funerals of our loved ones. I have done this in the past and it is a good thing for us to know and consider.
