November is an extraordinary example of that great balance. Indeed, the combination of Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving, and our November remembrance of the Holy Souls in Purgatory is the ideal combination of honor, gratitude, and reparation.
By Fr. Dan Cambra, MIC
This is a divisive time for our country and the world. We are coming to the end of a seemingly endless electoral cycle where, tragically, the promotion of abortion has been at the forefront. And war continues to rage, in Ukraine and the Middle East.
We fervently pray for peace and those in harm’s way, including the soldiers in the cause of freedom. And we pray for enlightenment: the healing of divisions in our country and the promotion of life at all stages, from the moment of conception until natural death.
November is the month of remembrance, especially for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. And that brings to mind our Marian Founder, St. Stanislaus Papczyński (1631-1701).
Souls in jeopardy
We recall that one of the founding charisms of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception is to pray for the souls of the dying, and for those suffering purgatorial fire. The reason for that is St. Stanislaus lived and ministered in a time of war, disease, and sudden death for many of his neighbors. He even served as a confessor to the king Jan Sobieski, the heroic commander who raised the siege of Vienna, saving Christendom from the Islamic invasion of his day.
As a result, St. Stanislaus saw that many people died without the last Sacraments, and he worried their souls were in jeopardy of, at a minimum, the fires of Purgatory. He wanted to hasten along the process of sanctification after death that the Divine Mercy provides us through Purgatory.
Here we see Catholic wisdom in action. Here we see a realistic view of human nature. Saint Stanislaus knew that there is heroism in military service, but also spiritual danger. Hence, priests have served as military chaplains for a very long time in Church history. The Church, in her pastoral care for the salvation of souls, sends out shepherds with armies, determined to save what souls she can, even as people are placed in some of the most difficult, most challenging, most tempting situations.
Forgive to receive
After all, we are told we must forgive in order to receive forgiveness (see Mt 6:14-15). We are told we must love our enemies as God has loved us (see Mt 5:43-45), even when we were His enemies (see Rom 5:8). We are told that we must be merciful as God is merciful (see Lk 6:36), and perfect as God is perfect (see Mt 5:48).
That means that Christian soldiers are faced with the high challenge of physically fighting their enemies, the enemies of their families, friends, and homelands, all while refusing to give in to sinful hatred, or to any of the other passions war can so easily stir up in any of us.
How much greater does that make the heroic sacrifices of our volunteers who fight to defend our freedom! How much more heroic, then, are our family members, friends, and neighbors who serve! How vital it is to have priests for them, and give them access to all the Sacraments. And how vital it is to pray for our veterans.
They courageously face danger, not only for their bodies, but also their souls through their military service. What a tremendous responsibility! How much gratitude do we owe them?
Holy Veterans
Let us ask the intercession of St. Martin of Tours (ca. 316-ca. 397), a military veteran and Benedictine abbot from the first millennium, on whose feast day (Nov. 11) the modern world celebrates Veterans Day. Saint Martin was a wonder-worker in his lifetime and after his death, a famously holy monk and bishop, and one of the great saints of France. He will be a mighty intercessor for our veterans!
Let us also ask the intercession for our veterans from other famous and holy veterans like: St. George (third century), the dragon-slayer and military man; St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), the great founder of the Jesuit order and a master of discernment (and a patron saint of the Marian Congregation) ; St. Joan of Arc (ca. 1412-1431), the mystic locutionist and defender of France; and many, many others. Let us ask them to defend our brave soldiers, sailors, and aviators with their powerful intercession from dangers of body, mind, and soul.
We owe our veterans a debt of gratitude that only God’s grace can repay.
Giving thanks
As we celebrate All Souls’ Day on Nov. 2, and Thanksgiving later this month, let us thank God for the freedom and safety won for us by the heroic sacrifices of so many military service members, law enforcement, and first responders. Let us thank God for His blessings upon our nation, and ask for His help with the needs of our country, especially in this time of war, disease, natural disasters, and uncertainty. Let us consider having Masses said for our country and for those in harm’s way in her service, and for those veterans who are in Purgatory.
After all, we are to honor our forebears, those who’ve lived before us. And even as we honor them, we are also to offer reparation for their sins. Catholic realism offers us a balanced view of the past, unlike the extremes so common in our country.
There are those who wish to condemn the past, to reject it wholesale as irretrievably oppressive, sinful, or unjust. That’s wrong. The world is not totally depraved; our ancestors did truly do great good and have historic achievements. There is good in the past, and we owe a debt of gratitude to those who came before for those achievements and gifts we take for granted, such as our language, our culture, our country, our infrastructure, our religion, and much, much more.
Refusing to honor our ancestors is to break the commandment to honor father and mother, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains (#2199).
On the other hand, there are those who wish to canonize the past, to tell a fictional history of a lost golden age when all was right with the world. That’s wrong, as well; we aren’t to whitewash sin, evil, or oppression. I regret to remind you that ever since the fall of the devil and the original sin of our first parents Adam and Eve, there has only been one perfect society. That was the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, at home alone. All the rest of human history has been marked by sin and concupiscence, including the history of Israel and of the Church.
This is why the Church teaches us the importance of prayer for the dying and dead, as well as offering suffrages and reparation for the sins of those who came before us
Reparations and Suffrages
November is an extraordinary example of that great balance. Indeed, the combination of Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving, and our November remembrance of the Holy Souls in Purgatory is the ideal combination of honor, gratitude, and reparation.
So honor and give thanks for those who’ve come before us this month. Offer reparations and suffrages to make up for the sins of those who’ve gone on to Purgatory before us this month, especially taking advantage of the Mass on All Souls’ Day, Nov. 2, to pray for the departed.
Also: A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful who,
- on any and each day from November 1 to 8, devoutly visit a cemetery and pray, if only mentally, for the departed;
- on All Souls’ Day, Nov. 2 (or, according to the judgment of the ordinary, on the Sunday preceding or following it, or on the solemnity of All Saints), devoutly visit a church or an oratory and recite an Our Father and the Creed.
A partial indulgence, applicable only to the souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful who,
- devoutly visit a cemetery and pray for the dead;
- devoutly recite lauds or vespers from the Office of the Dead or the prayer Requiem aeternam (Eternal rest) (Manual of Indulgences, 29, pg. 99).
Go; help souls to Heaven! Give thanks, and make reparation.
Father Dan Cambra, MIC, is director of the Holy Souls Sodality.
Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash.
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