Praying for the Faithful Departed
The theological principlesof the work of helping the Faithful Departed
The Church does not part with the Faithful Departed. She keeps in touch with them, supports them with prayer, sacrifice and acts of mercy. This support as a work of helping the dead is present throughout the ecclesial and pastoral year. However, it comes alive in the month of November.
The work of helping the Faithful Departed is part of the great work of the Church's salvific mediation, whatever character is assigned to her, more prayerful (All Souls' Day) or more apostolic-formative (towards the eschatology of hope). It is therefore a value to be lived and to be taken up in the salvific ministry of the whole Church. In addition, it can become a special charism and task of a particular ecclesial community.
Let us therefore devote a little more attention to the theology of this work, let us note the theological meaning of the work of helping the dead. The very word "help" (suffragium, subsidium) narrows the meaning of the work to the instrumental and transient function needed until the Faithful Departed are released from purgatory.
First, this work belongs to the fundamental profession of the Christian faith as an essential component of this confession: "I believe... in the communion of saints" or, as the modern catechism states: "The communion of saints is the Church”. (CCC 946). It is not only a question of the act of faith or conscious recognition of this reality, but of a real and living unity with the dead, of a living communion and bond with them, which in the language of theology is called communio sanctorum or communio ecclesialis. Prayer for the dead grew out of praying with them for the grace of heaven and for the glory of God. In short, it is a mystery, a mysterium Ecclesiae, and not just a work of mercy and temporary help. In the relationship with the dead, ordinary humanism, that is, human, natural pity and support for them, cannot dominate; the motivation to maintain a bond with them must come from the supernatural ecclesial faith.
Professing faith in the "communion of saints" and interceding for the dead is an ancient and common practice in the Church. (cf. CCC 958, 2635). But to give this practice a charismatic character in the spirituality and mission of a particular religious community is a special case in the history of the Church. For the Dominican observants of the Congregation of St. Louis Bertrand (founded in 1671) were assigned the task of special prayer for the dead; they were to be called to spread pious practices for the deceased ("ad devotionem pro animabus defunctorum propagandam"), and in fact they propagated the prayer of the Rosary for theFaithful Departed. On the other hand, two female communities with the characteristic name of helpers of souls in Purgatory were created only in the nineteenth century, in France (1856) and Poland (1889).
Secondly, the work of helping All the Faithful Departed is a work of mercy. The obligation to do so, or the duty to do this work, belongs to a fundamental moral principle called the commandment to love God and neighbor. Concern for the eternal salvation of others does not come only from altruism or from a sense of ordinary human solidarity. This duty is justified by the supernatural love of God and man. Consequently, undertaking such a work and focusing one's attention on it, and even one's whole life in the category of a special vocation (charism), becomes the realization of basic and fundamental values.
Contemporary concern for cemeteries and signs of remembrance of the dead sometimes suggest that they are only about the cult of ancestors. Meanwhile, it is important to care for the eternal salvation of man. Helping the dead should have a soteriological purpose. What could be better, resulting from faith and love, than the salvation of relatives, loved ones, and every child of God? – Salvation is not a human gift, it does not come from the graciousness of man. Salvation is the grace of God earned in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, every Mass as a prayer, sacrifice and banquet is a very important means of helping and bonding with the dead. (cf. CCC 950). It must be at the center of the bond with the dead (ecclesial communion) and at the center of the various forms (means) of helping the dead, as long as they need this support (sacrifice, indulgences and prayer) at the stage of purification in the rays of God's saving love.
In the way of providing assistance to the deceased, traditional means should be respected, and new, contemporary ones should be sought. All of them have value and meaning, they are necessary and timely in the matter of man's salvation. Salvation is an essential goal of every pastoral ministry. In fact, there is only one pastoral ministry – pastoral ministry for life, for a dignified life in mortality and a glorious life in eternity.
A deep understanding of the mystery of the communion of saints and the commandment of love of neighbor in our hearts will create this special bond with the departed. The brotherly help shown to the deceased is a "special mercy" and "the highest manifestation of love" (insignior misericordia et summa caritas). All The departed in the Lord are also neighbors, and that is why love of neighbor should extend beyond mortality, into a truly ultimate, anagogical dimension, because "love never ceases" (1 Cor 13: 8).
The thought about death, paradise, purgatory, and hell, help us to use our time on earth wisely. This thought encourages us to consider death as a necessary step on our way to God. It stimulates us to accept and respect life always as a gift from God, from conception to the natural end. It is God who is the Lord of human life!
Until Tomorrow
fr. george