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| Bishop Speaks | ||
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| November 15, 2007 Edition | ||
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The following column is taken from Bishop Robert C. Morlino's homily at the All Souls Day Mass on Friday, Nov. 2, at St. Patrick Church, Madison. A full video of the homily is available on the diocesan Web site at www.madisondiocese.org
Dear Friends,
November, for us as Catholics, takes its theme from the celebration of its second day, being as it is, the month of the Holy Souls. We speak in November first about the "best-case scenario" after the Lord calls us, which is Sainthood, which would mean, for some, going directly to heaven.
But, for most people, and certainly for myself, we have to be realistic, that if we're lucky, we get the "second-best-case scenario" and that is we go to Purgatory. And it really is a terrible thing for us to forget the souls in Purgatory, to forget to pray for them, to have the idea that almost everybody goes right to heaven because of the excess of God's Mercy. God is not wanting in Mercy, but God is also Just and if we owe temporal punishment due to sin, we have to be purified.
The great thing about this mystery which is Purgatory, this mystery of purification - however it happens - is that it really binds us together as the Church. It binds us together as the Church because, by our prayers, we here on earth, we can help the souls in Purgatory. By their prayers, the Saints in Heaven help the souls in Purgatory.
When we gather at the Eucharist, we're all together, the Angels and Saints in Heaven, the living on earth, and the souls in Purgatory. And at the Mass, this is as close as we can get to our loved ones who have died. And not only can we get close to them, but we can help them - as they can help us.
It is a marvelous mystery of God's Providence that the great Saints, by the Grace of God, were so abundantly gifted that they accumulated a treasury of holiness, a treasury of merit which still grows through the utterly unselfish sacrifices that saintly people in the world make today. And that treasury of holiness, that treasury of merits of the Saints, is something from which we can draw, something from which we can profit.
That's what indulgences are all about - the merits, the treasury of Holiness of the Saints, the superabundance of their sacrifices, is available to us here so that we can access that holiness and those merits through indulgences. And we can gain those indulgences for ourselves, but also ask that the Lord apply them to our brothers and sisters who are in Purgatory. We can do for our loved ones in Purgatory a big favor, and we shouldn't feel helpless to assist them.
This is the sign of God's Mercy, not that it completely overlooks Justice and the need for purification, but that we have a treasury of holiness and merit that we can access through indulgences, for our own good and for the good of our own brothers and sisters in Purgatory. So we shouldn't forget about those brothers and sisters and we shouldn't forget about the benefit of indulgences.
It is permissible, on rare occasions, for the bishop to give the blessing of the Holy Father, the Papal Blessing, and today at Mass I will do so, and that means that those of you who are here could gain a plenary indulgence in so far as you are free from affection for sin, you say an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be for the intentions of the Holy Father, and within eight days you go to the Sacrament of Penance and receive Holy Communion. Today you can receive a plenary indulgence right here, either for your own sake or for the sake of some sister or brother in Purgatory. And when we do this we're experiencing the communion of the Church.
So, as we remember the faithful departed, we remember what a wonderful joy it is to be Church, where people in Heaven - the Angels and Saints - people here on earth, and the holy souls in Purgatory cannot only be together in the Eucharist, but we can actually do a lot to help each other out. So, let's do that as we remember our loved ones who have died, especially on All Souls Day and in this month of November.
Thank you for reading this and God bless you and yours. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
Praised be Jesus Christ!