Masses for the Dead
By Mike Lambrecht
If you’ve been paying attention during Mass, you’ve probably heard Father read the name or names of individuals for whom the Mass is being offered. There is a longstanding tradition in the Church to have Masses said for our deceased loved ones. The main reason for this is to intercede for them in case they are in purgatory so that they might enter heaven. When we die, we are judged immediately by God (the particular judgment).
This judgment has three possible outcomes. The first, and best, outcome is that we go straight to heaven to enjoy the beatific vision. This would be the case if we have no unforgiven mortal sins staining our souls, have no attachment to sin, and are not due any punishment because of our past sins. An example would be an individual who dies right after receiving the Sacrament of Baptism.
The second possibility is that we enter purgatory. “Purgatory is the state of those who die in God’s friendship, assured of their eternal salvation, but who still have need of purification to enter into the happiness of heaven.”1 In other words, purgatory is for those who die without any unforgiven mortal sins on their souls but who still need to be purified. This purification might be necessary because of their attachment to sin or because of punishment that is still due to them because of past sins they have committed. Once in purgatory, a soul will eventually reach heaven. However, we must be careful that we don’t aim too low, so to speak.
In explaining the punishment due to sin, Father Vincent Serpa, O.P. , likes to use the analogy of a child who spills a pitcher of orange juice in his mother’s kitchen. The child immediately apologizes and is forgiven but the fact remains that there is still a mess that needs to be cleaned up. Purgatory helps us to clean up the messes that we have created in our life. Scripture tells us, “But nothing unclean shall enter it”2 when referring to heaven. As such, we know that we must be perfectly pure in order to enter into the beatific vision of heaven. Since most of us are not completely unattached to sin, the most likely outcome of our particular judgment is to enter purgatory so long as we do not have any unforgiven mortal sin.
A third, and much worse, possibility would be to suffer eternal separation from God. This we call Hell and occurs when we die with the stain of an unforgiven mortal sin on our soul.
The Church has always taught that it is very important to pray for the dead:
From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God.3
These prayers can help deliver the souls in purgatory from their state and usher them into heaven. The Church again teaches us that:
Fully conscious of this communion of the whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the
pilgrim Church from the very first ages of the Christian religion has cultivated with great piety the memory of the dead, and ‘because it is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins’, also offers suffrages for them.4
Since we cannot know the state of our loved ones’ souls, it is wise to err on the side of caution and to have memorial Masses said for them. If they are already in heaven, no harm is done. If they are not, then just maybe the intercession of those at Mass may be enough to aid them in their final purification before entering heaven. There are still many Masses at St. Therese that are in need of intercessions, especially weekday Masses. If you would like to sign up for one or more Masses please call the parish office as soon as possible to do so. When having a memorial Mass said for a loved one, it is customary to give the priest a small gesture of gratitude (a stipend of $10.00), for saying the Mass. Weekend Masses fill up quick and usually far in advance. A memorial Mass may be said for an individual or individuals. If no one has asked Father to say a Mass for someone in particular, then he may choose any intercession he would like for that Mass.
1 Compendium to the Catechism of the Catholic Church para. 210
2 Revelation 21:27
3 Catechism of the Catholic Church para. 1032
3 Lumen Gentium (The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church) para. 50