All Souls Day • It can be hard for Catholics living in America to understand prayers for the dead. Here are three reasons why we pray for the dead: 1) We can only enter Heaven if we are full of love and free of sin. Purgatory is Heaven’s Welcome Mat: Wipe your souls before you enter! 2) Prayers remind us that we are still in communion with the dead, especially as members of the Body of Christ. We pray for them and they pray for us. 3) The Resurrection of the Dead is coming. We pray that we will meet each other at the great “party in the sky”.

I talk about my grandmother’s death at age 79, Andy Barta’s death at age 35, and Job Thomas dying before he was born. All three of these deaths look different when we see them in terms of purification, communion, and the resurrection of the dead. Let's keep walking towards eternity — and keep your souls clean! (2 Nov 2018)

Going Deeper: Visit a cemetery and offer prayers for the dead.

Photo Credit

Credit for the joke goes to parishioner Jim Shallow.