TEXT: 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 12, 2017

November 13, 2017 Father De Celles Homily

32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

November 12, 2017

Homily by Fr. John De Celles

St. Raymond of Peñafort Catholic Church

Springfield, VA

Most of us don’t like to think about death—it’s too sad and depressing.

But in today’s Gospel Jesus tells us we have to think about death, He says:

“stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour!!”

We have to think about death, but we have to think about it as it really is.

So St. Paul tells us in today’s 2^nd reading:

“We do not want you to be unaware

about those who have fallen asleep,

so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.”

In other words, as Christians we should have hope in the promise Jesus makes

in today’s Gospel that

“those who [are] ready” when he comes

will go “into the wedding feast with him.”

The source of our hope in the face of death

is Jesus’ promise of heaven to those who love him.

At the beginning of this Month, on All Saints’ Day we recalled this promise

as we remembered the dead who are already in heaven,

and saw in them the fulfillment of the promise given to us.

But hope also requires an understanding

of the feast we celebrated on the day after that

—on All Souls Day—

when we remembered the promise of Purgatory.

Most people probably don’t think of Purgatory

as a “promise” or a source of hope like heaven is.

Some Christians today even go as far as

rejecting the whole concept of Purgatory

as a remnant of medieval superstition

or preoccupation with sin and punishment.

But the origins of this dogma are found right in Scripture itself.

For example, the second book of the Maccabees tells us that

2 centuries before the birth of Jesus Jewish soldiers prayed for the dead,

[quote] “beseeching that the sin they had committed

might be wholly blotted out.”

And it concludes:

“to pray for the dead…was a holy and pious thing.”

Other people just can’t understand why Purgatory would exist in the first place

—they think if you’re good, when you die you go to heaven,

and if you’re bad you go to hell.

But perhaps we can begin to understand the “necessity” of Purgatory

if we recall a passage from the book of Revelation,

where St. John’s tells us that:

(quote) “Nothing unclean will enter heaven.”

So let’s think about this.

Let’s take 2 people–Mother Theresa of Calcutta

and a common ordinary sinner like, say, me.

The spiritual differences between her and I

are in many ways like the differences between day and night.

She was so pure and holy, so unattached to things of this world,

to even the most venial and small sins.

When Mother Theresa died, she was extremely ready to enter heaven:

she indeed seemed to have nothing unclean about her.

Which is why she’s a canonized Saint now.

But if I were to die today,

there’s no way that I would even try to argue the same about myself.

I don’t claim to be the worst sinner in the world,

but am still very much attached to things,

and I commit venial sins all the time:

I’m impatient, lazy, prideful, and on and on.

So it would seem that I’m in big trouble if I die today,

because according to St. John:

“Nothing unclean will enter heaven.”

But there’s good news: St. John also tells us elsewhere in scripture:

“There is sin which is deadly [mortal]…

but there is sin which is not deadly [mortal].”

In other words: some sins don’t cause us to lose eternal life!

But since nothing unclean can enter heaven,

somehow between my imperfect life on earth

and my entrance into to the perfection of eternal life in heaven,

something must happen to transform me

and make me perfectly purified.

As St. Paul says elsewhere, somehow, I’ll be purified “like gold in a fire.”

And Purgatory—the place of purgation, or purification—is that “somehow.”

The teaching on Purgatory then, essentially reflects the great mercy of God.

Because God could simply say that anyone

not perfectly living out his will on earth cannot enter into heaven.

So, maybe Mother Theresa could go to heaven,

but most of us in this room would never have a chance.

But that’s not God’s way: He is Our Father who loves us so much that,

unless we cut ourselves off from Him by a willful act of serious sin,

a mortal sin,

He will bring us to his heavenly banquet.

But like a loving Father He first washes us–purifies us—

before we sit down with the family for the banquet.

______

Some who believe in Purgatory fear it as a place of terrible torture and despair.

There is pain in Purgatory, there seems no doubt about that:

that is also the constant teaching of the Church.

But there is nothing to be frightened of

if we understand what the Church teaches about the pain of Purgatory.

First, it’s like the pain associated with any change.

When we die we have to change from being attached to the things of this world

—we have to let go of our bad habits and sinfulness.

And this kind of change is hard: like an athlete getting himself into shape,

the practice and exercising are painful.

Or more common, it’s like trying to cure some deadly illness, like cancer:

the treatment can be terribly uncomfortable, even terribly painful.

But also, the pain of Purgatory is fundamentally the pain of deprivation:

in other words, in Purgatory the souls are so keenly aware

that they’re so close and yet still so far

from the perfect and complete happiness of heaven.

It’s like the person in today’s psalm who prays:

” O God, …for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts

like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water. Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary to see … your glory.”

Purgatory is painful, but both these understandings of pain

also show us how these souls also experience intense spiritual joy.

Like athletes preparing for the contest who find

that the exercise is making them stronger and faster,

making them more and more ready to when the contest.

Or like the cancer patient who rejoices that the painful treatment is working,

that they are being cured, that they are going to live!

In a similar way, the souls in Purgatory also experience joy

as they become more and more the perfect creatures

God created them to be,

as they are strengthen, and cured from their sins, vices and faults.

But most importantly, they experience the anticipation of the joy of heaven itself,

because they are absolutely sure of their salvation.

You and I only hope to go to heaven,

but they know and have no doubt that they will be in heaven very soon.

As St. Catherine of Genoa wrote:

“I do not believe it would be possible to find any joy comparable to that

of a soul in Purgatory, except the joy of the Blessed in Paradise.

For every sight, however little, that can be gained of God

exceeds every pain and every joy that man can conceive without it.”

_____

Some say that nowadays Purgatory is irrelevant or unimportant to us.

But in reality, the opposite is true.

First of all, it can be a tremendous source of hope and consolation.

As St. Paul says in today’s second reading:

“console one another with these words.”

We all know people who can’t fathom how they could ever get to heaven

given the terrible sins they know or think they’ve committed:

the idea of Purgatory makes real sense to them,

giving them hope that God really can love them

and that heaven is in their reach.

Or think of the families who mourn their departed family members.

So often, especially as they deal with the immediate grief that comes with death

–they speak about the dead as if they were living saints

who went straight to heaven.

But when the immediate pain of loss subsides often the reality overcomes them

that their mother or father or spouse or child

wasn’t really as perfect as the eulogies said.

Or they realize that they themselves were somehow negligent

in showing their love for them when they were alive

–and they become overwhelmed by guilt.

Purgatory is a perspective on God’s love that gives them hope.

It makes it possible to understand that

not only Mother Theresa’s can go to heaven,

but that even a common sinner like you or I, or our moms and dads,

can also.

And it makes it possible to keep giving to them after they’ve gone,

by giving our love through our constant prayers for them.

And this is the greatest reason Purgatory is relevant and important to each of us:

they need our prayers!

Because if the souls enduring the cleansing fire are our brothers and sisters

we must love them enough to pray for them

–to assist them during their purification:

when one member of the body of Christ suffers in any way,

we all suffer and we must respond.

You loved your mother or sister or son or friend when they were with us on earth.

And I’m sure you prayed for them, especially if they were sick,

because you knew that you were so limited in how you could help them,

and the best you could do to help them, was to ask Amlighty God to help them.

Now that they’re dead you still love them,

so you still have to pray for them, to help them in their suffering.

You might so, Oh no, Father, my parents are in heaven.

That kind of thinking might make you feel good,

but if they’re in Purgatory it doesn’t make them feel good.

My mother was the most perfect person I ever knew, and I think she’s in heaven.

On the other hand, my father wasn’t the most perfect person I ever knew,

as he would be the first to tell you.

He was a great, loving, courageous and holy man,

but he lived a very hard life

that led him to be imperfect in some obvious ways.

And he knew that, and counted on Purgatory.

And I know and understand that if he’s there

he is happier than he ever was on earth

as he is finally becoming the perfect man he always longed to be.

I hope he’s in heaven with my mother,

but I pray for them both every day,

because I dread the thought of them suffering in Purgatory

even one moment longer than necessary

simply because I was too selfish to simply pray for them,

to help them on their way to heaven.

If we love them, we can’t just forget about them: we have to pray for them.

Which is why the Church dedicates this entire month of November

as a month for praying for the Poor Souls, the Holy Souls, in Purgatory.

Especially at Holy Mass, and by offering Masses for them.

We do this because the Mass is the greatest prayer we could offer for the dead,

since it’s simultaneously the sacrificial prayer of Christ on his Cross,

and the prayer of the Resurrected and Ascended Christ

at the right hand of the Father.

And to this perfect prayer Christ unites and perfects the prayers of each of us, and His entire Church.

____

It’s very easy to be afraid of dying and to avoid thinking about it.

But for a Christian, death should not be the source of fear, but the object of hope.

Because we know that even as Jesus warns us that we must:

“stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour”

when death will come,

He also reminds us that in facing death we have no reason to

“grieve like the rest, who have no hope.”

The promise of the perfect life of heaven is the source of our hope,

and the promise of Purgatory keeps that hope alive

in imperfect Christians like you and me.

V. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.

R. And let the perpetual light shine upon them.

May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God,

rest in peace. Amen.