Tuesday Conference

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Theology e-weekly

To make humanity united in worshipping God

On Praying for the Dead

Our Heavenly Patron

Dear Father,
Tuesday Conference r each es its 24th issue On
praying for the dead, as we are in the month of rememberingNovember. We pray for all those who have lost their lives in the
recent terrorist attacks in France. This terrifying act of violence
has to be condemned and humanity stand united in this crisis.
Religions shall not be a play thing in the hands of
fundamentalists, as our Good Lord commanded Your pearls
shall not be thrown to the swines; this shall be our concern as
religious leaders. Tuesday Conference dedicates this issue to the
good memory of those who lost their lives and we join in the pain
of their families...
Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons
were purified by their father's sacrifice [Job 1:5], why would
we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some
consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died
and to offer our prayers for them. - St. John Chrysostom

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Let us weep
for them,
let us assist
them to the

extent of
our ability.

Death is the great unknown, the destroyer, the

invincible foe whose untimely appearance, for many,
signals only the cessation of life.

Introduction
The Body of Christ consists of the Church Militant and
the Church Triumphant, the former comprising the living and
the latter, the departed both alive in Christ. The Church
Militant is the fighting Church, battling Satan and his fallen
angels right on earth. The Church Triumphant has finished the
race as its members have entered their eternal rest.

But how,
and in what
way? By
praying for
them and by
entreating
others to
pray for
them, by
constantly
giving

alms .
- St. John
Chrysostom

We have the assurance that those who depart from this

life in faith will remain with Christ (Philippians 1:23). We pray
for them, the same way, we pray for the living. Resurrection
has demolished the barriers between the living and the dead.
And we pray the same prayer for the living and the dead: Lord,
have mercy! The departed need forgiveness of sin and a place
of rest in the bosom of Christ; so we make petitions to God for
these.
Death to the Christian is the funeral of all his sorrows
and evils, and the resurrection of all his joys. Faith
builds a bridge across the gulf of death.

3 States of the Church:

On earth (Church Militant), who died
and are being purified (Church Suffering) and
who are in glory with God (Church
Triumphant). (CCC 954)

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Truly I
tell you,
you will
never get
our until
you have
paid the
last
penny.
Mt 5:26

History
There is evidence from the early Church leaders of praying
for the dead Tertullian mentions praying for the dead not as a
concession to sentiment, but as a duty. St. Augustine, at the end
of the ninth book of his Confessions prays for his deceased
mother, Monica. Praying for the dead became part of the
Eucharistic prayer liturgy in the early church also, often with the
names of the deceased included in the Eucharist prayer.

Any

Christian
who
died
was
remembered in prayer,
and services took place
on the third, seventh,
ninth, thirtieth, and
fortieth day after death.
For martyrs, annual remembrances of their death were
celebrated and called birthdays, the day the person was born
into heavenly life with Christ. Soon churches drew up lists of
martyrs, believing that prayer for martyrs was of great benefit
to those for whom it is offered (Cyril of Jerusalem). Origen said
praying for the dead attested to the living unity of Christians in
heaven and on earththe communion of saints.

Purgatory
The theology of Purgatory developed over the
course of time. Over history, the Church refers
to scripture, tradition and practice to discern its
role. Through this process, Purgatory has come
to be defined as the state of those who die in
Gods friendship, but are need of purification;
so as to achieve the necessary to enter the joy of
heaven. The Church holds it is possible for
people to assist those who have gone before us
by way of prayer and works of charity.

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Scriptural Evidences
While there is no Scriptural evidence for the Christian practice of praying for
the dead in support for the doctrine. Theology has commonly referred to 2 Macc
12:38-46 which speaks of prayer for those who have fallen in battle. Three NT texts
have been commonly cited: Mt5:26, 12:32 and 1Cor 3:11-15, while doctrine may not
be taught directly in these texts some support may be found in them.

2 Macc 12:43-45 - When Judas and his men came to take away the bodies of
their fallen brethren for burial, they found under the coats of the slain so
betaking themselves to prayer, they be sought God, that the sin which had been
committed be forgotten... they offered sacrifice for the sins of the dead.

2 Tim 1:16-18 - May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus,
because he often refreshed me ... He searched hard for me until he found me. May
the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day!

1 Cor 12:26 - If one member

suffers in the body of Christ which is
the church, all members suffer with
that member.

1 Thes 4:13-15 - We do not want

you to be uninformed you may not
grieve as who have no faith God will
bring with him those who have died.

The Days of the Dead

The entire month of November
is devoted to the Poor Souls in
Purgatory, and Rosaries for the dead
are offered during this time. The
month-long devotion to the Souls in
Purgatory begins with the three
consecutive "Days of the Dead".

All Hallows' Eve: 31 October, on which

we unofficially recall the realities of Hell
and how to avoid it;
All Saints Day or All Hallows' Day: 1
Nov, on which we officially honor God's
Saints of the Church Triumphant;
All Souls Day: 2 Nov, on which
we officially commemorate all the faithful
departed of the Church Suffering.

Arguments from Tradition

Page - 05

The traditional evidence in favour of prayers for the dead, which has been
preserved:
- in monumental inscriptions,
- in the ancient liturgies,
- in Christian literature .
1. Monumental inscriptions
In the Roman Catacombs range in date from the 1st century to the early
part of the 5th and though the majority are undated. These are prayers,
called acclamatory, in which there is the simple expression of a wish for some
benefit to the deceased, without any formal address to God.
2. Ancient liturgies
All without exception Nestorian and Monophysite, Catholic, those
in Syriac, Armenian, and Coptic as well as those in Greek and Latin contain
the commemoration of the faithful departed in the Mass.
A typical example from the Syriac Liturgy of St. James: "we commemorate
all the faithful dead who have died We ask... Christ our God, who took
their souls and spirits to Himself, that by His many compassions make them
worthy of the pardon of their faults and the remission of their sins".
3. Early Christian literature
Turning finally to early literary sources, we find evidence in
the apocryphal "Acta Joannis", composed about A.D. 160-170, that at that time
anniversaries of the dead were commemorated by the application of the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass. To quote another instance, St. Cyprian writes
to Cornelius that their mutual prayers and good offices ought to be continued
after either should be called away by death .
Tradition of the Funeral Mass
arose when St. Augustines mother was
dying and she told her sons, Lay this
body anywhere and do not let the care
of it be a trouble to you... only this I
ask: that you remember me at the
Lords altar, wherever you are.

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By the
prayers , the
salvific

sacrifice, and
by the alms
there is no
doubt that
the dead
are aided,
that the Lord
might deal
more
mercifully
with them
than their
sins would
deserve.
- St.
Augustine

The Church Fathers on Purgatory and

Prayers for the Dead
The Acts of Paul and Thecla
"And after the exhibition, Tryphaena again received Thecla.
For her daughter Falconilla had died, and said to her in a dream:
'Mother, you shall have this stranger Thecla in my place, in order
that she may pray concerning me, and that I may be transferred
to the place of the righteous'."
Apostolic Constitutions
"Let us pray for our
brethren that are at rest in
Christ, that God, who has
received his soul, may forgive
him every sin, ...and give him his
lot in the land of the pious that
are sent into the bosom of
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob."
Tertullian of Carthage
"A woman, after the death of her husband....prays for his
soul and asks that he may, while waiting, find rest; and that he
may share in the first resurrection. And each year, on the
anniversary of his death, she offers the sacrifice."

St. Epiphanius of Salamis

"Useful too is the prayer fashioned on their behalf of the
deceased, even if it does not force back the whole of guilty
charges laid to them."

The Holy Magisterium

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Council of Trent, 1545: "Purgatory exists souls detained are helped by the
suffrages of the faithful by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar".
Council of Florence, 1439: "We define... if the truly penitent die in
the love of God, before they have made satisfaction... their souls are purified... For
relief they are benefitted by the suffrages of the faithful in this life."
In recent times it is presupposed in the Second Vatican Council, LG 51. It has been
reaffirmed by Pope Paul VI in his Credo of the People of God (1968) and by the
CDF in the Letter on Certain Questions Concerning Eschatology(1979).
The term communion of saints, refers
also to the communion of holy persons in Christ
who died for all, so that what each one does or
suffers in and for Christ bears fruit for all (961).
All who die in Gods friendship, but still
imperfectly purified but after death they undergo
purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary
to enter the joy of heaven (1030).

Catholic Prayers for the Dead

We pray for the dead every time when we eat; if we pray the After Meal
Blessing, a prayer every Catholic should know by heart:
We give Thee thanks for all Thy benefits, O Almighty God, Who livest and
reignest forever. And may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of
God, rest in peace. Amen.
The Penitential Psalms- 6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, 142 -are also prayed for the
dead, especially the 129th Psalm, known as De Profundis (Out of the Depths).
Another prayer Catholics should be familiar with is that of St. Gertrude the
Great (A.D. 1256-1301/2), who was told by Our Lord in a private revelation.
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most
Precious Blood Of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in
union with the Masses said throughout the world
today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory, for
sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal
Church, those in my own home and within my
own family. Amen.
Published from Vincentian Vidyabhavan, Aluva