All Souls, Nunraw, 01 Nov. 07
Today we have the yearly commemoration of all the Faithful Departed. Their bodies lie buried but their souls live on.
The Church Suffering is part and parcel of yesterday’s feast of All Saints, the Church Triumphant. With ourselves, the Church Militant, we all form an extended family. We need each other and can help each other. The people in heaven don’t need our prayers but we should not take it for granted and stop praying for the dead.
Offering Mass for the Holy Souls in Purgatory is the most effective way we can help them to enter heaven a little more quickly.
Many mystics, even today, are continually aware of their presence. It seems that they like to hang around us, human beings, to receive any little help we can give them, even if only to sprinkle them with holy water. At times they also help our Guardian angel to keep us out of harm’s way.
It is a holy and wholesome act to offer sacrifice for the departed but it is also useful to pray to them for our own needs, as we do to the saints.
Veneration for the ancestors is deeply embedded in most cultures. In the monastery we toll the bell when a brother dies. In Bamenda we know immediately when a neighbour dies. The drums start up and the guns go off
intermittently for several days.
As we pray for our dear ones who have gone before us let us repent of our sins and so prepare for our own departure.
PS. My cousin, Liam, has introduced me to the beautiful hymn, 'They are waiting for our petitions'. It is most moving.On Friday, for the first time, I was present at my cousin Rita's Cremation. The parish priest was waiting at the door of the small well furnished chapel plus an organ. The atmosphere was quite homely and reverent. But there was no cross or other religious symbol as it is used by people of other faiths and atheists etc. The coffin was placed on the 'stage', oriented with the feet towards a shuttered opening in the centre of the back wall. The priest said the usual prayers that are said at the graveside ending up with the 'Our Father'. We stood up to sing the 'Hail, Queen of Heaven' and as we did so the curtains moved slowly to close the coffin from our view. We forgot to look up for the puff of smoke. The ashes would be taken by the family and placed in the family grave. I am told that cremations are now more common than burials. It is not as yet common in West Africa. It was a worthwhile experience. Picture: Our Lady Queen of Purgatory.
