Fr. Michael Williams

The cold and dark month of November is a time when we especially remember to pray for the souls of those who have left their earthly dwelling place.

Most people when they leave this earth are not in a perfect state of grace, they’re not ready to enter into the Holy of Holies, where the Bible says nothing impure may enter.

The Doctrine of Purgatory, which finds it’s roots in the Old Testament Book of 2 Maccabees, where Judas Maccabeus prays for his fallen comrades on the Battlefield. He prays that they may be released from their sins and so partake in the Resurrection to come.

St. Paul, in the New testament, speaks of a purification after death; he calls it a cleansing by fire in Corinthians.

The doctrine of Purgatory is an illustration of the mercy of God. If there was just Heaven and Hell, many would be in trouble. But Purgatory is a grace of God that allows people to be purified after death, so as to be ready to reach their Heavenly homeland.

St Catherine of Genoa who had visions of Purgatory said sin was like rust on the soul, but the fire of God’s love removes the rust of sin, enabling the soul to be purified and ready to meet it’s maker. Indeed the souls in Purgatory long for this, but they also long to be purified so as to make it happen. The souls in Purgatory are guaranteed salvation- the vision of God- once the process of purification is complete.

In this month of November it is important to have Masses offered for the dead (and the living too!) in God’s Temple- the Church. We can should also offer prayers and little sacrifices to God for our departed loved ones. There is a beautiful prayer by St Gertrude, another mystic of the Church, which reminds us of the need to offer our prayers for the living and the dead, untied to the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, which has washed all sins away.

SAY ST. GERTRUDE PRAYER