My dear parishioners, because earth, heaven and purgatory are united by Our Lord in the communion of saints, we are obliged not to forget the souls of those who died in his peace. At the time of death, many souls still groan under the weight of serious sins not confessed, those transgressions for which atonement was never made. Simply expressed, the mercy of Jesus is priestly absolution of sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The mercy of Jesus, moreover, is the corporal and spiritual works of mercy offered as atonement for sins. God’s justice is proven by its fairness: “He who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” [Mt 10:38] Hence, no soul is dispensed from the saving work of reconciliation and atonement. As earth is a “place”, heaven itself is a place, the former distinguished as terrestrial, the latter revealed as celestial, that is to say supernatural and transcendent. Like heaven, purgatory is a place not subject to the laws God imposes on temporal creation. More than a place, however, purgatory is a state of spiritual purification. Our Lord’s micro-parable of the accuser and the judge [Mt 5:25] offers an important insight. Purgatory helps a soul (person) reconcile serious sins that were not settled on the way to one’s personal judgment before God the just judge. “But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged.” [1Cor 11:31] To be clear, for a soul that did not confess mortal sin(s) before death, God provides no celestial remedy. Such a person has condemned himself to eternal separation from God. The Church entrusts to her living members a sacred obligation to unite themselves to the holy souls in purgatory by works of prayer, penance, service and devotion. The purpose of these “good works” is to assist souls in purgatory in completing spiritual purification and therefore hastening their entrance into God’s eternity and perfect union with him. Scripture is very clear. Nothing unclean shall enter into heaven. [cf Rev. 21:27] We assist the purification of holy souls by the merits of our prayers, Masses, and good works offered for them in Christ. We do this so our beloved deceased will not be forgotten when they most need us, nor will their good works blotted out in the minds and hearts of their spiritual heirs. We know the dead who have fallen will rise again and that the prayer of the Church is vital for the fulfillment of this hope. Within our hope of the resurrection of the dead lies the incomparable realization of faith. When the angel blows the trumpet, and human time is no more, and purgatory has passed away with the former things, our Lord Jesus Christ will bid our mortal bodies to rise from the grave. He will transform them into the likeness of his own glorious body, and being found “pure in heart”, the elect will rest in the light of God’s beatific glory in perfect freedom. God wills that the sum of a human life, like a child’s spirited song or a surpassing symphony, transcend its beginning or end in mortal time. Ultimately, the story of the first or last saint in human history belongs to God. Our Lord Jesus is the intermediary, do you see, the one who intercedes between his eternal father and mere mortal beings, between time and eternity, between the living and the dead. For inasmuch as you lovingly intercede for holy souls, our Lord Jesus, the saints of God, the heavenly host, and someone you may never have known in this life will intercede for you. On the last day, may your mortal body arise from the still, solemn earth to be united whole and entire to your immortal soul and given to Christ. May your eternal home be found in the heart of God's glorious and unbounded love. Sincerely in the hearts of Jesus and Mary. Your pastor, Reverend Richard Barker. +++
My dear parishioners, because earth, heaven and purgatory are united by Our Lord in the communion of saints, we are obliged not to forget the souls of those who died in his peace. At the time of death, many souls still groan under the weight of serious sins not confessed, those transgressions for which atonement was never made. Simply expressed, the mercy of Jesus is priestly absolution of sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The mercy of Jesus, moreover, is the corporal and spiritual works of mercy offered as atonement for sins. God’s justice is proven by its fairness: “He who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” [Mt 10:38] Hence, no soul is dispensed from the saving work of reconciliation and atonement.