Benedictus Deus

It has been some time since I harped on praying for the dead. Of course the occasion for this is the celebration of All Souls day yesterday. As I have written before, praying for the dead has become almost totally neglected today. I can’t imagine that in the entire history of the Church that there have been fewer prayers offered for the faithfully departed than there are today, even though we have so many more living! There are many reasons for this, but perhaps the most notable is the rise of the “everybody goes to heaven” mentality and a general disbelief in Hell. Recently a coworker of mine passed away and in the obituary it stated the time and place for the “Mass of Resurrection.” What is that!?

Anyway, the one thought that always comes back to me is how many poor souls are there in purgatory with NO ONE praying for them? It’s got to be a lot. But on top of that here is something else I have been wondering about. Priests today have a tendency to soft serve people in the confessional. They don’t want to scare anyone off so they give light penances. So if your penance is too light are you going to do extra time in Purgatory? According to Jacobus de Voragine you sure will. In the Golden Legend entry for All Souls he says that those whose penance is inadequate for their sins will make up for it with much greater suffering in Purgatory.

Now think of all of those souls who went through life getting one Hail Mary and a Glory Be everytime time they went to confession! So its a double whammy in modern times. No one is praying for the Poor Souls, and many of them probably have more to make up for than they would have in former times.

In short, the Church Suffering needs our prayers, fasting, and alms giving on their behalf more than ever. And if by chance any priest sees this: please, stiffen up the penance a little bit. Three Hail Marys for a years worth of sins isn’t doing anyone any favors.