This week is an important week for us as believers. Monday we celebrate All Saints Day and on Tuesday we celebrate all souls Day.
In doing so, we remember that the real frontier that awaits us all is not the one between earthly life and death but rather that which is between life with Christ and life without him.
St. Paul reminds us that if we have faith in Christ and are Baptized in him nothing can separate us from his love not even death.
The Christian faith tells us that there are two permanent realities that await us: Hell and Heaven.
Hell is a real possibility. Hell reminds us that God has an unconditional respect for the freedom he has given us. We have a personal responsibility to choose our destiny, to cooperate with the gift of faith. Hell is a relationship in which we are completely isolated and alienated from all that is good and beautiful. It is a permanent state of rejection.
Heaven is the definitive completion of the human existence which comes through love which faith tends. It is a relationship of complete communion and intimacy with God and with those who are in God. It is a communion that is fully alive and vibrant.
We cannot pray for those in Hell for they have made their choice and by their choice they do not want our prayers anyway. We need not pray for those in Heaven for they are already there and are praying for us, thus they don't need our prayers but we need theirs.
Who do we pray for today?
This is where the Church's teaching on Purgatory comes in.
In the book of Revelation 21:27, John tells us that "nothing profane shall enter heaven."
What does this mean? It means that only those who have been perfected shall enter heaven.
We are saved by the full ascent of faith. However, this basic option of faith often times lies buried beneath layers of wood, straw, and stubble and needs to be dug out. Our fundamental yes to Christ is often hidden because we drag our feet and continue to cling to small sins and attachments to evil that weigh us down like barnacles on a ship. WE hesitate and resist and refuse god's grace at various moments of our life and all these moments add up and thus need to be removed.
In this life we experience purging with every act of faith and charity thus we remove ourselves from these things; but sometimes we die with them. What next?
St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:13-16,
"the work of each will be made clear. The Day will disclose it. That day will make its appearance with fire, and fire will test the quality of man's work. If the building a man has raised on this foundation still stands, he will receive his recompense; if a man's building burns, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as one fleeing through fire."
This fire of purgation is nothing but the divine flame of Jesus' love, fueled by mercy and justice, that burns brightly and seeks to cut open our closed heart and melt it and pour it in to a new mold so that it might fit into the living organism of the glorified body. Through the fire we are made into perfected vessels of God's glory.
The impurities that have weighed us down, that we have carried with us are now removed. This purgation is a product of God's mercy and love shown to us on the cross. Redemption belongs to Christ but we too have a personal responsibility for appropriating the gift of redemption in our life.
God refuses to remove our personal responsibility.
Analogy
Purgatory is like the going to dentist. My mother used to take me to the dentist because she loved me and she wanted me to have healthy teeth. Though she loved me she could not brush my teeth for me, that was my responsibility.
While in the chair, the dentist would be peering from above gazing into my mouth. And there all my sins would be revealed. All those moments of dragging my feet in not flossing, all those moments of dragging my feet and not brushing as I should was revealed. The tartar and plaque was evidence of my neglect; so was the receding gum lines and the cavities. There the dentist worked to remove all that which had built up over time. It hurt. I had to suffer the loss of that which had become part of me; I had to suffer the loss of that which was a product of my neglect, a product of my refusal to love myself.
My mother could not do it for me; but it was because of her love I was given the opportunity to be renewed and reformed and refreshed.
Then the dentist polished my teeth and I was a brand new man restored and made whole enabled to receive fully the reward, usually a sweet candy, a sweetness that always points to Heaven.
The question remains how can our prayers be effective?
How do we pray for the dead? How does what we do help those who are being purged?
The central expression of Christianity is self-substituting love. Jesus substitutes his love for us so that we might be redeemed. When we are baptized, we share in the ministry of Christ. We become ministers of reconciliation, ambassadors of Christ, as St. Paul tells us.
We share in the charity of Christ.
We must remember that God could have done redemption without us but he always chooses to incorporate us in the work of redemption. This is why he took the form of flesh. Thus he chooses to allow us to be a part of redemption not only for ourselves but also for others.
Also, we must remember, it is a greater act of charity to allow others to participate in charity as well, rather than just to do it alone.
Our praying for the dead and offering sacrifices for them does not take away from the charity of Christ but it magnifies it. We do because Christ did.
We must never forget that we are all part of the body of Christ and we are all connected. What one does affects all, when one rejoices we all rejoices and when one suffers we all suffer.
Praying for the dead is sharing in the charity of Christ and is fully realizing the impact of being a member of the Body of Christ.
Those who are dead look at us and say, "I hope in you for me" and when they get to heaven we say, "I hope in you for me." It is a beautiful tapestry of charity that reflects most perfectly the God, Deus Caritas Est, as Sacred Scripture reveals, God is love, a love that is forever communal and thus in eternity God will be all in all.
