Thirty First Week in Ordinary Time
April 2, 2025 Column Father De Celles
VOTE LIKE A CATHOLIC. This Tuesday, November 5, Americans go to the polls to elect our President, Senators and Representatives. Sadly, many voters, including many Catholics, will vote for candidates who embrace abortion, “same-sex marriage,” the transgender agenda, the undermining of religious liberty, and freedom of speech. Many others will not vote at all. But as the Church teaches that not only must Catholics vote, they must vote like Catholics, placing priority on what Pope Benedict XVI called the most “fundamental values…These values are not negotiable”: 1) respect for human life, from conception to natural death, 2) protecting the family and marriage between a man and a woman, 3) the freedom to educate one’s children and 4) religious freedom.
Prayer and Adoration for the Election. I encourage all of you to pray for God’s will to prevail in the election, and remind you we will have Adoration and Exposition in the church all day Election Day (this Tuesday), beginning immediately after the 8:30am Mass and ending at 7pm. I also ask you all to pray the Rosary today, tomorrow and Tuesday.
Important to remember. We trust to Jesus and pray, in the next few days, and the days to come.
Remember the words of Our Lord:
“Father…not my will but your will be done.” (Luke 22:42)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” (Matthew 5: 43-47).
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27).
And also the words of St. Paul: “I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all men; for kings and all that are in high place; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; who wills that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
NOVEMBER: PRAYING FOR THE DEAD. Yesterday (Saturday) we celebrated All Souls Day. But as we go forward in November we remember this whole month is set aside by the Church as a month to pray for the dead who are in Purgatory being prepared for their entrance into Heaven. So I encourage you to pray and offer Masses for our beloved dead this month, and for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, especially the “most abandoned,” the souls who no one else remembers to pray for.
Unfortunately, nowadays even the mention of Purgatory often triggers reactions of disbelief or even ridicule—even among Catholics. Yet this dogma goes back to the Old Testament, as 2 Maccabees 12:39-46 makes very clear:
“But under the tunic of each of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. …Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas …then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection in mind; 44 for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. …Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be absolved from their sin.”
Some see Purgatory as a place of horrible torture, or even a part of Hell, and the thought that their deceased loved ones could be there seems disrespectful, or even unbearable: they want to think of them as being happy in Heaven.
But remember, St. John tells us in Rev. 21:27 that “nothing imperfect shall enter into” Heaven. The thing is, who do you know that is perfect? Almost all of us have at least some venial sin we cling to, or have some inordinate attachment to earthly things. Does that mean that all of us imperfect people will not enter Heaven, and so go to Hell? Not at all. In His great love and mercy, the Lord takes all of us who die with any imperfections on our souls (but having, before dying, properly repented of any mortal—“deadly”—sins) and He perfects, or purifies, us. Another word for purification is “purgation,” so this time/place/state of purification is called “Purgatory.”
It is true that Purgatory is a place of suffering, hence it is referred to as the “Church Suffering.” One way to understand this suffering is in the light of the suffering that comes with any change. For example, when we try to get into better physical shape, or when we try to learn a new subject, it’s difficult, “painful” (“no pain, no gain”). But this pain is not something we should shun—in fact, the pain becomes a source of joy, as we begin to recognize it as a sign of change to a better state.
So, is it a surprise that the change from imperfect to perfect will be painful? Or that in spite of their suffering, St. Catherine of Genoa, after receiving a vision of Purgatory from Our Lord, wrote: “I believe no happiness can be …compared with that of a soul in Purgatory except that of the saints in Paradise.” The souls in Purgatory suffer, but they rejoice as it brings them closer to Heaven.
Even so, we must pray for the Souls in Purgatory—because they do suffer. Just as we try to help those we love on Earth by praying for them, we should continue to pray for them after death to help them on their way to perfection. Even if we hope or think they’re already in heaven, we still owe them whatever help, in prayer, we can give them in death. Most especially the Church encourages us to offer Masses for dead, the greatest prayer we can possibly offer for the “Holy Souls.”
“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them. And may the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace. Amen”
“Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Fidelium animae, per misericordiam Dei, requiescant in pace. Amen.”
Oremus pro invicem. Fr. De Celles