‘This Mass Is Offered for the Repose of the Soul of-’

Michie

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The ritual phrase above is so common that many Catholics probably don’t even bother to think about what it is saying. I’d even venture to suggest that no small number of people in the pews couldn’t explain what it’s saying, at least not beyond “we’re praying for X.” And while that’s true, there’s more to the story that an earlier generation of Catholics might have articulated but many today, I fear, just can’t.

Why do we pray for X?

We pray for X because he’s dead and so can’t help himself. Now that doesn’t mean that the dead just lie there, utterly passive. We invoke the saints in heaven and ask for their prayers. They’re dead. Yet we’re confident they can help us.

So why are we praying for X?

Because he can’t help himself.

Older theologians might have written something like “in the mystery of God’s economy of salvation, the deceased are able to assist others by their prayers but not themselves.” That explanation, however, seems to reduce God to some arbitrary rule maker who “forces” people to be charitable towards others by preventing them from helping themselves. The problem is: that’s just not true.

We can help others because it’s a form of charity – in the full theological sense, not merely giving to some good cause. But to change ourselves requires us fully to be ourselves and, after death, we are not completely ourselves. Human beings are bodily and spiritual beings. My soul may be in Purgatory, but my body is in St. Gertrude’s Cemetery.

That is why “we believe in the resurrection of the body,” not just “the eternal life of the soul.” The whole person – my body and soul – made me good or bad. The whole person – my body and soul – must share together my eternal destiny.

Continued below.