Even after we die, call to stewardship goes on

	Stewardship: A Way of Life logo

Can a dead person be a good steward?

This month, the church of the Green Bay Diocese asks us to focus more strongly on the idea of stewardship. On Nov. 10, Stewardship Sunday, each parish will explore what being a steward of Christ means.

It's appropriate that we explore stewardship during the month of All Souls, a time when we remember those who have gone before us through death. Those whom we know have used God's gifts especially well in this earthly life -- have been good stewards -- we call saints. Their feast is celebrated on All Saints Day, Nov. 1.

The feast of All Souls (Nov. 2) follows immediately after All Saints and remembers all the faithful departed -- those who are saints in heaven, as well as those who are undergoing some final preparation, what we often call purgation.

These souls are assured of heaven, but still need to be perfected in some way that will bring them to full and complete union with God through Christ. For this, they need our prayers. We do not completely understand how this purgation takes place, but the tradition of praying for the dead as they continue their final journey is very old in the church. In fact, one of the oldest teachings on it can be found in Jewish Scriptures, in the Second Book of Maccabees, written around the second century B.C. In it, Judas Maccabeus collects money to send to Jerusalem to offer expiatory sacrifice for his dead soldiers. As the author notes, "it would be foolish to pray for them in death" if there were no hope of them being redeemed. (2 Mc 12:42-49).

This reading, along with New Testament writings such as Jesus' teaching about a final judgment (see Mt 25:31-46), helped teachers of the early church (Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine) develop the concept of what was called purgatory. Some people have refered to souls in purgatory as the Church Suffering, just as we on earth are part of the Church Militant and the saints belong to the Church Triumphant.

So praying for the dead already had a long history before the sixth century Benedictines set aside Pentecost as a day to pray for the dead of their community. St. Odilo of Cluny (part of France), around the year 1030, extended this practice to all the abbeys of his order, but changed the day to Nov. 2, since it followed All Saints Day. The feast spread across Europe and was adopted by the entire church around the 13th century.

However, while we understand that the souls of the faithful departed need our prayers, we do not always understand that these souls also pray for us. The Second Vatican Council reminded us of this truth in its document on the church:

"All of us, however, in varying degrees and in different ways share in the same charity towards God and our neighbors... All, indeed, who are of Christ and who have his Spirit form one Church and in Christ cleave together (Eph 4:16). So it is that the union of the wayfarers with those who sleep in the peace of Christ is in no way interrupted, but on the contrary, according to the constant faith of the Church, this union is reinforced by the exchange of spiritual goods" (Lumen Gentium, no. 49).

We on earth and those who have died "exchange spiritual goods" -- we pray for each other. In this way, we care for each other and bring each other into closer union -- just as good stewards care for those who are placed in their charges so all can be safely returned to the Lord.

So praying for a dead mother or grandfather is a sign of good stewardship. But that grandfather or mother, in turn, continues to be just as good a steward for us -- just as they were in life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that, as we pray for the dead, "our prayer for them is capable not only of helping them but also of making their intercession for us effective" (no. 958). In this way, all of us -- living and living still -- are united with each other in spiritual communion -- a communion that the church calls "the communion of saints."