Help in sweeping away life's old leaves

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

Autumn is definitely a season of ending - and preparation.

Every year, I find myself outside, raking up those leaves that shaded my house and drive in summer. They've lost their green color and dried out. When I was a child, my city allowed leaf burning, so November meant the smell of smoky evenings, damp leaf piles and overturned flower beds prepared for winter's hush.

During November, we reflect on those who have died and offer prayers for "all souls" who may need our assistance. They, like composted leaves and flower bulbs, have been buried in the earth, waiting for the spring of resurrection. Perhaps that is why the church chose November as the month of All Souls.

Of course, when we pray for the dead, we think about souls in purgatory. (The saints in heaven do not need our helpful prayers.) Again, as a child, I was told that purgatory was a place of cleansing fire, perhaps a little like the wistful scents of burning leaves.

There was even a prayer that began for the "dear suffering souls, who long to be delivered." And we traditionally called those in purgatory, "the church suffering."

Yet how do souls in purgatory suffer? After all, as St. Thomas Aquinas said, the worst day in purgatory is better than the best day here on earth.

It didn't seem to the child in me that any suffering could be better than good times here. And yet it is, for those assured of heaven.

"All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death, they undergo purification" the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us (No. 1030) of the souls in purgatory.

While certain of heaven, these souls need something more that will bring them into complete union with God. They need more preparation. And for this, they need our help, our prayers.

We do not completely understand how this preparation takes place, but the tradition of praying for the dead is very old. In fact, one of its oldest teachings is found in Jewish Scriptures, in the Second Maccabees, written around the second century BC. Judas Maccabeus collects money to offer sacrifices for his dead soldiers "that they might be freed from this sin" (2 Mc 12:49). As the biblical author notes, Judas' prayers for his fallen companions would have been "useless and foolish" had he not expected "the dead to rise again."

So praying for the dead, expecting them to be preparing for heaven, already had a long history before sixth century Benedictines used 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. All Souls Day spread across Europe and was adopted by the entire church around the 13th century.

Most of us don't live perfect lives, and probably will not receive the grace to escape all need for purification before we see God "face to face." However, how that purification happens is unknown. And where it will happen is even less known.

In 1999, Pope John Paul II gave a series of Angelus talks about "the last things" - heaven, hell and purgatory. He explained that being ready for heaven is "a matter of loving God with all one's being, with purity of heart and the witness of deeds. ... those who do not possess this integrity must undergo purification."

The Holy Father explained that such purification - what we call purgatory - does not necessarily mean a place or time frame. Rather, he said, it is "a condition of existence."

What is most important about purgatory is its reality.

Like autumn at summer's end, purgatory is a time for cleaning up, for repentance and preparing for rebirth. Through God's grace, those in purgatory sweep away the leaves of their lives and burn into nothingness all that would not befit the glory of heaven. Perhaps that's why Lent - coming at the end of winter - starts with ashes, like remnants of fallen leaves needing to be blown aside for Easter.

So if souls in purgatory are assured of heaven and receive from God the means to clean up whatever keeps them from perfect union with God, why do they need our prayers?

Because we all share in the work of salvation - through the communion of saints, which includes the saints in heaven, the souls in purgatory and us on earth. All of us help each other along the way. The Fathers of Vatican II called it a union "reinforced by the exchange of spiritual goods" (Lumen Gentium, no. 49). Our prayers - spiritual goods - can hasten the purification of the souls of the deceased; just as the prayers of those in heaven help us on earth.

Think of praying for the dead as sharing your leaf blower with your neighbor. Even though your yard may be clean now, winter is coming. And your neighbor may just have a new snow blower. The preparations of both of you will certainly make getting to spring a lot easier for everyone.