TEXT: Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 8, 2026
November 8, 2026 Father De Celles Homily
32nd Sunday Ordinary Time
November 8, 2026
Homily by Fr. John De Celles
St. Raymond of Peñafort Catholic Church
Springfield, VA
We 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, saying,
“Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour!”
We have to think about death, and we have to think about it as it really is.
St. Paul tells us in today’s 2nd 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.
Last Sunday, 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
—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 so far as
rejecting the whole concept of Purgatory as out of date.
But we can’t do that because it is a dogma found right in Scripture itself.
For example, the second book of the Maccabees tells us that
two centuries before Jesus’ birth, Jewish soldiers prayed for the dead,
“Beseeching that the sin they had committed
might be wholly blotted out.”
It concludes, “To pray for the dead…was a holy and pious [thing].”
Other people 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 Scripture doesn’t just say the “good” go to heaven.
In the book of Revelation St. John’s tells us,
“[N]othing imperfect will enter [heaven].”
Let’s think about this.
Let’s take two people—Pope Benedict XVI
and a common ordinary sinner like, say, me.
The spiritual differences between him and I are like day and night.
When Pope Benedict died, he was extremely ready to enter heaven.
But if I were to die today, that wouldn’t be the case.
I’m not the worst sinner in the world, but I am nowhere near perfect.
So, it would seem that I’m in big trouble if I die today,
because according to St. John, “Nothing imperfect 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 imperfect can enter heaven,
somehow between my imperfect life on earth
and my entrance into 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.
God could simply say that anyone
not perfectly living out His will on earth has to go to Hell.
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 torture and despair.
To be clear, there is pain in Purgatory.
That is also the consistent teaching of the Church.
But there is nothing to be frightened of
if we understand what the pain of Purgatory is.
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.
This kind of change is hard.
Like an athlete getting himself into shape,
the practice and exercising are painful.
Or you can look at it like trying to cure a deadly illness, like cancer:
The treatment can be terribly uncomfortable, even terribly painful.
The pain of Purgatory also involves the pain of deprivation.
In other words, in Purgatory the souls are so keenly aware
that they’re so close 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
show us how these souls also experience intense spiritual joy.
An athlete experiences joy in rigorous exercise because it makes him stronger, faster, and more ready to win the contest.
And the cancer patient rejoices that the painful treatment is working,
that they are being cured, and 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 strengthened 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, with 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.”
___
Now, you will often here of Purgatory as a punishment.
And it is.
Remember, one of the purposes of punishment is to reform the person,
which is part of that whole idea of change and perfection.
But punishment is also a matter of justice.
We know the common saying about people in prison,
“Paying their debt to society.”
And we hear the Good Thief on the cross say to Jesus,
“We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.”
When we sin, we deserve punishment;
we owe a debt to the Lord and to society.
But there are two kinds of punishment: temporary and eternal.
If you commit a misdemeanor, you pay a fine or spend a few days in jail,
but if you commit a heinous felony, like murder,
you might be put to death.
In the same way, with mortal sins, there is the punishment, in justice,
of eternal death.
Christ can forgive mortal sin, and so remit eternal death,
but still some punishment, temporary or temporal, is still due,
in justice.
So, Purgatory can be understood as a matter of justice.
Think of it this way.
Let’s say that in the millisecond before Adolf Hitler died,
he somehow repented.
In His mercy, God could forgive him,
but would it be just
for Hitler to enter into Paradise without “paying for his sins”?
I mean, suppose your great grandmother died at the same time as Hitler, and they both stood before God.
Would it be just for God to say,
“Okay Gramma, you were really good, but not quite perfect,
so let’s work on that for three days in Purgatory,”
and then turn to Adolf and say,
“You were horrible, the most imperfect of creatures,
but you get three days too”?
In God’s boundless mercy, He might not send a repentant Adolf to Hell,
but in God’s infinite justice,
Adolf would have a long and very painful time in Purgatory.
So, purgatory involves punishment.
But it’s a deserved punishment, and the holy souls are happy to accept it because they know they deserve it.
You know how that is.
We all want justice, even for ourselves, and when we receive it, we are content.
Especially when we see the purifying effects that lead us
to the perfection of heaven.
So, purgatory, rather than something to fear or ignore,
is a tremendous source of justice, 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, 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 first pains of loss subside, often the reality overcomes them
that their mother or father or spouse or child
wasn’t really as perfect as the eulogies said.
Purgatory is a perspective on God’s love that gives them (and us) hope.
And it makes it possible to do something to help our departed loved ones get to heaven,
by giving our love through our constant prayers for them.
This is the greatest reason Purgatory is important to each of us:
They need our prayers!
Because if the souls enduring the cleansing pains
are our brothers and sisters,
we must love them enough to pray for them,
to assist them during their purification.
You loved your mother or sister 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 limited in how you could help them.
The best you could do to help them
was to ask Almighty God to help them.
Now that they’re dead you still love them.
and you still have to pray for them, to help them in their suffering.
You might say, “Oh no, Father, my parents are in heaven.”
That kind of thinking might make you feel good,
but if they are 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,
but I pray for her and my father 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 someone, we can’t just forget about them.
We have to pray for them.
This is why the Church dedicates this entire month of November
to praying for the Poor Souls, the Holy Souls, in Purgatory.
Especially at Holy Mass and by offering Masses for them.
The Mass is the greatest prayer we could offer for them,
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.
To this perfect prayer, Christ unites and perfects
the prayers of each of us, and those of 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.
We know that even as Jesus warns us,
“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.