7 November, Antonio Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

How We Can Help the Faithful Departed

1. We have a natural obligation to help the faithful departed, for they are our fellow-men. Are we capable of watching another human being in agony without feeling pity for him? If there is some way in which we can help him, moreover, ought we not to do so? The holy souls are in agony, however; they are on fire with the love of God, yet cannot be united to Him. We have a means of helping them through our prayers and good works.

There is a further obligation on us arising from our religion. They have been redeemed, like ourselves, by the blood of Christ, and God has told us that the same degree of mercy will one day be shown to us which we have shown to others. The time will come when we also shall find ourselves in Purgatory and shall be in need of prayers. If we remember the dead now, they will be in a position one day to do the same for us. Blessed are the merciful, Jesus says, for they will obtain mercy.

When we appear before the judgment seat of God in order to account for the way in which we have spent our lives, He will count as done to Himself whatever we have done to the poor, hungry, and ill-clad. Only if we have been merciful towards them will He receive us into the kingdom of Heaven. Otherwise He will send us away, accursed for all eternity. Now, the souls in Purgatory are more unfortunate than those who are poor, hungry, and homeless in this world. They hunger for God, they are full of regret for the sins which they have committed, and they languish far from the eternal home for which they belong.

Finally, we have a duty in justice to help these souls. Some of them are our parents, brothers, sisters, friends, and benefactors. Perhaps they are suffering now because they loved us too much, because they wished to make money for us, or because they were led astray by our bad example. It is not only charity, therefore, but justice which obliges us to pray for them.

2. There are many ways in which we can come to the assistance of the faithful departed. (a) We can help them by prayer. This is the simplest way and one which is possible for everybody. When we pray for our dead we feel that we are close to them, and are consoled in our sorrow. Moreover, we can be sure of gaining a great deal in return, for the prayers which they offer on our behalf are very pleasing to God. (b) We can offer Holy Mass for them. When we do this, it is not only we who pray, but Jesus joins with us and offers Himself as a victim of reparation on behalf of the suffering souls. The Mass has an infinite value, and one Mass alone would be enough to empty Purgatory. But the application of its infinite merits are always limited in accordance with the hidden designs of God. It is certain, however, that there is no more effective means of helping the faithful departed. (c) We can offer our good works on their behalf. Every good action has power to satisfy God for some of the debts which we or others have contracted in His regard. Among the good works which we can offer for the souls in Purgatory are Holy Communion, voluntary mortifications, meek acceptance of the unavoidable sorrows of life, acts of patience and of compassion, spiritual and corporal works of mercy, indulgences, and almsgiving.

3. In short, there arc innumerable means at our disposal of helping to release the holy souls and of establishing them without delay as our intercessors in Heaven. These good works arc advantageous to us as well as to them. In Holy Communion we draw closer to God, by almsgiving we grow more detached from worldly possessions, and by penance and mortification we restrain our wayward appetites and passions. At the same time, we know that we arc helping those for whom we offer the merits of our deeds, for we are enabling them to be purified as soon as possible of their imperfections and so to enter into the infinite joy of the Beatific Vision of Almighty God.