![]()
Hello Laura,
It never ceases to amaze me how well researched your answers are. I don't know how you found the web page from the Archbishop of Manilla, which cites Canon Law on this subject, but bravo! At least now I understand the pastor's perspective better -- although common sense should tell him those two canons are rather insensitive to those who are grieving.
I'll attempt to answer your other questions now.
LAURA: What about someone who has no-one to pray for them. Are they never going to get to heaven? Is it going to be a longer stay in purgatory because no-one on earth remembers them? (I don't think so).
MIKE: "Think" is the operative word here. We would like to believe that someone who has no one to pray for him or her still makes it into heaven, and indeed maybe the prayers that person offered while living on earth will be enough. What if the person never prayed while on earth? I would like to think God would be just to a person with a good heart -- whether that person was religious or not. But we don't KNOW.
The Fatima Prayer, which the Blessed Virgin Mary asked the faithful to include at the end of each decade of a rosary states "Bring all souls into Heaven especially those most in need of thy mercy." Implicit in that statement is that we are praying for souls who don't have anyone to pray for them; other prayers use that exact wording "who have no one to pray for them." If God is all-loving, then He would reach out with love to every soul, and we would not have to pray for any of them. But we don't KNOW what happens after death.
Our former pastor said "Purgatory" is a momentary awareness of sins and cleansing so souls can come into Heaven --- time is not the right dimension to think of purgatory. It is not "length of time" but rather "intensity of cleansing" that becomes the issue.
Because I want the best for my parents, I pray for their souls and will do so every single day (without exception) that I am on earth. That prayer unites me with them, and in part it helps reassure me that "it is not all over" and life goes on. In a general way, I also pray at times for "all the souls in purgatory," which may be a small number or a large number, which just don't know.
LAURA: But this brings up, to my mind, the bigger question: What is the purpose of Mass Intentions? If the deceased really don't need the prayers, and if those living are not even reminded of the deceased at the occasion of an Intention--then what is the whole purpose?
MIKE: Your question has me rethinking the whole issue. Somehow, I believed say a mass intention for a deceased person was a powerful form of prayer. If I pray for that soul at home, it gets 10 points. If a mass is said for that person's soul, it gets 300 points --- just making up numbers to illustrate relative importance.
But now I am thinking when a group of 9 or 10 of us gather after mass and say the rosary, and if I get one of the intentions for that group to be my parents' souls, then maybe the five decades of the rosary mean more to the soul than a "mass intention," especially one that is not announced and may not even be remembered by the priest.
Mass intentions used to be free in our church for 40 years. Then they began charging $10 for them about 10 to 12 years ago. I'm beginning to feel somewhat duped into believing "a good son" would request mass intentions, when in fact as soon as money enters the picture, it seems to be less about general concern for the grieving and the departed souls, and more about financially supporting the local ministers.
Thank goodness the rosary group is still free, of course, and anyone can mention special intentions that come and go on any given Friday when we meet after the noon mass. Thanks for your reply message. You have given me some food for thought over the Christmas holidays.
|
THIS SITE:
(1) DISCUSSION BOARD HOME
(2) HENRI NOUWEN SOCIETY MEDITATIONS
(3) POST A COMMENT by e-mail
|
