Last week we celebrated All Saints Day, where we recognise all of the saints who have gone before us, which includes family and friends and long lost ancestors that are now with God in Heaven, as well as those official saints that the church has canonized. The very next day we celebrated All Souls Day, where we pray for people that have passed away, that they may rest in heaven with God. The Catholic Church teaches the concept of purgatory, a temporary state of being where the dead are purified as they enter heaven, if they need to be purified. We do not know what it would be like to be in purgatory but I think it may resemble what was described by St John of the Cross’s great spiritual work: The Dark Night of the Soul. Many saints, including Mother Teresa experienced something similar. They know they are getting close to God but they feel further away. Mother Teresa experienced 50 years of feeling that she was not close to God, and yet it would seem that she was very close to God for all of that time. Maybe purgatory feels like that. I don’t know. But I do not think the afterlife is something to dread. God’s love for us is more than we can possibly imagine with our tiny brains - and the proof of that is in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. 

Prayer:

Jesus, help us to recognise how mighty is your love for us and that your compassion and mercy is beyond our understanding. We pray for all those who have passed on to the next life: Our family members, our friends, our workmates, and all those who have died in tragic circumstances, including the recent deaths in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza.

May we, like Mary Magdalene, bear witness to your life, your death and your resurrection by the way we live our lives and the way we love others.

Mary Magdalene,

Pray for us

Amen