Today’s feast, “The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed” or “All Souls’ Day,” is so important that when it falls on a Sunday it takes the place of that Sunday’s prayers and readings. The Church clearly does not want us to forget those who have died and may need our prayerful help.  Though we are separated from them in space and time, we are connected to them in a deeper, spiritual way.  How is that?

If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that we may not be perfect when we die.  We may still have sinful habits.  And our sins have bad consequences that affect ourselves and our relationships.  We may not have been able to make amends or repair the damage our sinful choices have caused.  We may need to undergo further purification after we die.  Quoting from Leviticus 19: 2, St. Peter wrote, “as he who called you is holy, be holy in every aspect of your conduct, for it is written, ‘Be holy because I am holy’” (1 Peter 1: 15-16).  And the Letter to the Hebrews says, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (12: 14).

We should be grateful that even if we are not perfect when we die, God will make us perfectly holy after we die.  Traditionally we have called that process “Purgatory.”  It is not punishment but purgation or purification.

Comparing our lives to constructing a building with its foundation on Jesus, St. Paul wrote: “If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, the work of each will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage. But if someone’s work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3: 12-15).

How can we, the living, help those who have died as they undergo this process of purification?  In his second encyclical “On Christian Hope,” Pope Benedict XVI said that because “no man is an island,” our lives are connected.  He wrote:

So my prayer for another is not something extraneous to that person, something external, not even after death. In the interconnectedness of Being, my gratitude to the other—my prayer for him—can play a small part in his purification. And for that there is no need to convert earthly time into God’s time: in the communion of souls simple terrestrial time is superseded. It is never too late to touch the heart of another, nor is it ever in vain.

With that in mind, we remember today all the faithful departed.  And we will keep them especially in mind throughout the month of November.  Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord!