Every November 2 is All Souls Day for Catholics.  It’s the one day of the year dedicated to praying for the faithful departed, so, when it falls on a Sunday, it supersedes the normal celebration.  Because we’re praying for the dead and meditating on purgatory, we omit the Gloria, and there’s an option to wear black vestments which Deacon Andrew chose because he said he looks good in black.

Four weeks ago, we talked about this promise, ‘Jesus, from now on, I’ll always love You even if I never get anything in return.’  We tend towards having a transactional relationship with God: We love and follow Him, as long as we get something in return.

So, perhaps today, we could pray the Mass not for ourselves, but offer it for our loved ones in purgatory.  Let me read you something from St. Augustine’s Confessions, about an event between him and his mother in the year 387, “The day was now approaching when my mother Monica would depart from this life…  She and I happened to be standing… at a window that overlooked the garden in the courtyard of the house…  The two of us… were enjoying a very pleasant conversation…  We were asking one another in the presence of the Truth – for you are the Truth – what it would be like to share the eternal life enjoyed by the saints…  In the course of our conversation that day, the world and its pleasures lost all their attraction for us.

My mother said, ‘Son, as far as I am concerned, nothing in this life now gives me any pleasure.  I do not know why I am still here, since I have no further hopes in this world.  I did have one reason for wanting to live a little longer: to see you become a Catholic Christian before I died.  God has lavished his gifts on me in that respect…  So what am I doing here?’”

This is one reason why purgatory exists: Though we love Jesus, we’re more attracted to things of earth.  Remember that question, ‘Who wants to go to heaven?  Put up your hand.’  All the hands go up.  ‘Who wants to go there today?’  The hands go down.  When we die, we need a time or state in which we let go of these attractions and love God above all else.  St. Monica reached a point where she only wanted to be here to bring her son to Jesus; after that, she only wanted to be with Jesus.

Another reason we know purgatory exists is because Jesus said, “Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Mt 12:32).  We know that sins can be forgiven on earth, ‘in this age.’  But what about ‘in the age to come’?  Sins aren’t forgiven in hell because it’s eternal separation from God, and sins aren’t forgiven in heaven because we’re already in His presence.  So, there must be some state after this life where sins can be forgiven—this is what the Church has named purgatory.

When Jesus died for us, He offered forgiveness for our eternal punishment, not temporal punishment.  If we get drunk on purpose and go to Confession, the Father forgives the sin, but our body will still suffer the damage of excess alcohol—that’s temporal punishment.  If we break someone’s window and apologize, we have to work to replace that window—that’s temporal punishment.  So, if we haven’t compensated on earth for the wrong things we’ve done, there is an ‘age to come’ when we can.

St. Augustine continues: “Shortly… she fell sick with a fever…  My brother and I rushed to her side, but she regained consciousness quickly.  She looked at us… and asked in a puzzled voice: ‘Where was I?’  We were overwhelmed with grief, but she… spoke… ‘Here you shall bury your mother.’  I remained silent as I held back my tears…  My brother… expressed his hope that she might not die in a strange country but in her own land, since her end would be happier there.  When she heard this… she reproached him… because he had entertained such earthly thoughts…  Thereupon she said… ‘Bury my body wherever you will…  One thing only I ask you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be.’  Once our mother had expressed this desire… she fell silent as the pain of her illness increased.”

St. Monica’s words are important, ‘One thing only I ask you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord.’  She asked this because she didn’t assume she was going directly to heaven, but assumed she was going to purgatory.

Based on this and on the Church’s teaching, perhaps we could make a little adjustment to the way we speak.  Instead of saying our loved ones ‘are in a better place,’ perhaps we could say, ‘They’re in the hands of God.’  This is what the First Reading says, “The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God” (Wis 3:1).  This doesn’t mean they’re in heaven, but that God takes care of them.

We’re generally a bit presumptuous.  We assume everyone’s going to heaven when Jesus taught that most people choose the road to hell and few take the road to life.  During funerals, we might think our loved ones are automatically in heaven.

It’s good that we want them to be free of pain, but let me explain why purgatory is actually better for them: It’s because it means their happiness will be greater.  I’d like to show you this 20-second clip of players winning the Stanley Cup.  They’re speechless because they spent their whole life trying to get there, and that is why the victory is so sweet and will last a lifetime.

When we say our family is already in heaven, we’re unintentionally saying that the happiness there is so ordinary that it required no preparation—that’s like my high school tennis tournament: We had fun and worked a little, and so the victory is fading.  Jesus wants to give us more happiness than we can possibly imagine, happiness with Him, which will never end.

The First Reading says, “Though in the sight of others they were punished, their hope is full of immortality.  Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good, because God tested them and found them worthy of himself; like gold in a furnace he tried them” (3:4-6).  There is a gold refinery in England that gets gold from two sources: gold that’s 90% pure and jewelry from pawnbrokers that’s at least 37% pure.  Here’s part of what they do to get gold that is 99.99% pure.

God the Father wants 100% purity.  He wants a faith, hope, and love that’s pure gold.  This is why life on earth is like purgatory.  And, for those who aren’t completely purified now but still love Jesus, their purification will continue in the age to come.

Today, let’s offer this Mass for our loved ones who we presume are in purgatory.  We may also want to take this pamphlet on indulgences that we went over three years ago.  Because we are united to Christ by Baptism, we can, by His grace working in us, help purify our loved ones so that they are ready for heaven.

November 2, All Souls Day, is a beautiful celebration: The one day of the year dedicated to the faithful departed; one day, at least, where we offer Mass not for ourselves but for them; one day to remember that Jesus loves us so much that He offers perfect happiness, and offers us a way of becoming 100% pure even after this life.