All Souls Day

St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney
Is 25:6-9; Rom 5:5-11; Mt 11:25-30

+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
2 Nov 2008

Each year on the first and second of November the Church reminds us of the reality of life after death with the feast of All Saints, those already in heaven and the feast of All Souls, the faithful departed.

All Christians should be people of hope, as St. Paul explained to his Roman congregation, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  This hope brings with it everyday consequences, not usually miraculous, but real and significant none the less.  No matter how difficult our situation, in faith we believe that our good God will balance things out in eternity.  God's forgiveness is real to all those who genuinely repent and confess their sins to God, but the aftermath of sins has to be dealt with just as unrepentant sinners have to be judged in the Divine light.  Hell is a reality, evil is a deep mystery and we do not know how many are in hell.  But the New Testament is clear that there is judgement, the separation of the good from the evil, the sheep from the goats.

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah knew of the joys of heaven when tears will be wiped away, the mourning veil will be removed, shame abolished and a banquet of rich food prepared for the good.  The image of a happy meal among friends, perhaps a wedding banquet is a favourite symbol of the happiness of heaven.

A significant minority of people find it hard to believe in God.  Every individual is different but we know the pure in heart will see God.  And today it is not difficult to be blinded by pleasure and possessions, perhaps even by power.  Those who are deeply attached to the glamour of this world, which becomes unambiguously their first priority, also find it hard to believe in the reality of life after death.  Initially I was surprised by this, thinking that enthusiastic lovers of a good time would easily believe in the good times of heaven.  It doesn’t work like this.  Their treasures are in this life, usually impersonal, and often their heart is locked into this narrow material world too.  Often they are allergic, even hostile, to the notion that they must answer to God for their life’s actions.

Some believe in heaven, but do not believe a good God would punish people forever in hell.  Fewer people today, even among Catholics, understand the notion of purgatory, despite the fact that a process of purification after death seems as logical to me as the existence of heaven.  Who would claim to be fit for God's presence?

Today Catholics celebrate All Souls Day when we pray for the dead who have not quite made it to heaven, but will certainly arrive.  These are the souls in purgatory.  Yesterday we remembered the saints who made it on All Saints Day.

Luther and King Henry VIII abolished purgatory and Protestants today still do not accept this doctrine.  They explain, quite correctly, that the word purgatory is not found in the New Testament and that as we are saved by Christ and not by our good works, believers go straight to heaven.

Is death the end of every personal existence so that the injustices of this life are not balanced out in eternity, while the saints and the criminals and the rest of us are equally as dead as dodos; gone as completely as any dead insect or animal?  Such a belief is incompatible with the existence of a good Creator God.  God is just.

All Christians believe in life after death despite the silence of the dead because this is what Jesus taught, and it is logical.

Catholics have always prayed for their dead so that they may be at peace, believing that their prayers and offerings can help speed up the process of purification.  It is a beautiful and traditional practice taken over from the late pre-Christian Jews.  Originally Jewish understandings about life after death were unclear and undeveloped and even in the time of Jesus, Pharisees and Sadducees disagreed over the resurrection of the body.

In the second book of Maccabees, written late in the pre-Christian era, Judas Maccabaeus urged his followers to pray for those who had died in battle "that they might be released from their sins".

Less explicit are two New Testament references in Matthew (c12) and 1 Corinthians (c3), while more explicitly we find frequent references among the theologians of the early Church, such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen and other Eastern writers such as Cyril and John Chrysostom.

Western writers, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, developed a systematic theory of purification through suffering after death so that souls could cope with God’s radical goodness.

Many theologians believe we shall only be able to enjoy God’s presence in heaven with the capacities that we developed while on earth.

Obviously this raises the possibility that the capacity to love has been so radically damaged during the life-time of some sinners, that they refuse to ask God’s forgiveness and are unable to exist in His presence.  Such people are said to be in hell.

Catholics believe in God’s individual judgement at death, followed by grades of reward and punishment.  This seems reasonable to me, even when we concede that no one is worthy of Christ’s salvation.  I hope not to be punished as if I was Hitler and don’t expect to be rewarded like St. Francis of Assisi.

Today's provocative gospel from Matthew reminds us that belief in God and the afterlife is one of those few challenges where it does not help to be learned or clever; indeed, according to Christ it is a disadvantage.  Cleverness and much education can make it more difficult to be humble and accept simple truths e.g. that God loves us, and will judge us for reward or punishment at the end of life.

Heaven is a happy mystery of love and justice.  Purgatory is like suddenly coming out of darkness, while our eyes slowly learn to cope with the light.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.