Today marks the final day of Allhallowtide, as we celebrate those members of the Body of Christ who have gone from this life. We conclude our celebration of the communion of saints by giving prayers rather than receiving them.
Yesterday, on All Saints Day, we honored the Saints—all of those in heaven—for their example of faithfulness in every time and place. Today, we offer our prayers for all those who have died and have not yet reached heaven. (Visit our prayercard page to write a digital prayer card for All Souls day.)
All those who die in God’s grace and friendship, but who are still imperfect, receive salvation, but only after undergoing a purification. This purification—called in the Catholic tradition, purgatory—prepares them to achieve the perfect holiness and union with God that is heaven.
In his Commedia, Italian poet Dante Alegheri goes on a journey through hell, up through purgatory, to paradise. While Dante's Inferno (his journey through hell) is perhaps the most popularly well-known of the books of the Commedia, the two following poems, Purgatorio and Paradiso are both some of the most theologically profound poetry ever penned and two of the great artistic literary meditations on God's love and divine mercy. In Canto XXIII of the Purgatorio, on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory where the gluttonous are being cleansed of their sin, Dante encounters his friend Forese, who speaks to Dante of the purifying action of Purgatory. The love of God compels them to journey around and around the mountain constantly. Their purification is painful, but:
as we go round this space, our pain’s renewed—
I speak of pain but I should speak of solace,
for we are guided to those trees by that same wish
Which led the Christ rejoicing to say "Eli,"
When with his veins he liberated us.”
(lines 70-75, Mandelbaum/Longfellow translations)
What purifies them is not the wrath of God; their pain does not come from divine anger. Rather, these souls are experiencing the pain of love—the salvific love of God that led Christ to offer himself up, in love, on the cross. Purgatory is a beautiful illustration of this image of divine love: love that will not rest until each of us is entirely made new in Christ.
As attested to by the practice of offering Eucharistic liturgy at martyria, one of the oldest Christian traditions of our faith is to pray for the dead—we’ve always offered prayers and the Mass for those who, like Forese, are in the crucible of purification for the final happiness of heaven. Fittingly, Cedar Grove cemetery on campus is the oldest ministry of the University—Father Sorin established it soon after arriving here in the winter of 1842-43.
All Saints Day and All Souls Day and the small triduum of Allhallowtide remind us that we are part of a family that is wider and deeper than our physical world. This family of faith is a reality by which we are connected with all of the faithful who have tried to walk in the way of Christ through the ages. This is our community of faith. In Christ, we all form one mystical body.
Let us take a moment today to offer a prayer for those who have died but who have not yet reached the full glory of paradise, who still, like us, only taste its beauty and pain as it purifies our hearts on our pilgrimage to our final, heavenly end. Let us remember all of those from the Notre Dame family who have died, and all the faithful departed.
On the feast of All Souls’ Day, let us pray for the souls in Purgatory and all the faithful departed, especially those from the Notre Dame family and our own families.