Archbishop Comensoli: praying for the faithful departed
28 October 2024
Melbourne Catholic
As we enter into November, the month of remembrance, and continue journeying through this Year of Prayer, Archbishop Peter A Comensoli offers some thoughts on the profound consolation and experience of communion to be found in the practice of praying for the faithful departed.
Reminding us that our ultimate destiny or goal in life is ‘to live eternally with the Lord’, Archbishop Comensoli describes the Church’s practice of praying for the deceased as ‘an act of hope’.
We pray for the deceased because of our love of them and our hope for them,’ he says. ‘We pray for the deceased because our pilgrimage to God has not ended, and they need strengthening for their journey ahead. We pray for the deceased because their communion with us brings hope and healing to us.’
Acknowledging that there is ‘no right or wrong way of holding our deceased family, friends and the needy in prayer’, Archbishop Comensoli suggests some ways for us to enter into this ancient practice, including offering a Mass, praying the Rosary with our loved one in mind, or praying a ‘very simple prayer for the faithful departed’ that has a long history in the Catholic tradition:
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.
May the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.
‘Remembering our sisters and brothers in faith’, he concludes, ‘is remembering in hope our destiny in God.’
Transcript:
Hello friends.
Our destiny, our goal in life, is to live eternally with the Lord.
God did not create us that our lives would just simply end when we die in the world. We are made to enter into the home of the Heavenly Father for eternal life.
So our life is built on hope. Hope is our destiny—a destiny in life that reaches to its fullness.
Praying for deceased family, friends and those in need is a sign that we believe in this destiny of hope. Praying for the deceased is an act of hope.
Beginning with All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, November is a special season of prayer for those who have gone before us, as we say, marked with the sign of faith.
Both feasts commemorate the communion of the holy ones: those in heaven and those anticipating heaven.
We pray for the deceased because of our love of them and our hope for them. We pray for the deceased because our pilgrimage to God has not ended, and they need strengthening for their journey ahead. We pray for the deceased because their communion with us brings hope and healing to us.
There's no right or wrong way of holding our deceased family, friends and the needy in prayer. We can do so by offering a Mass for them, or perhaps praying the Rosary with them in mind, or simply putting our hope in words of remembrance.
One very simple prayer for the faithful departed has a long history in our Catholic tradition. It goes like this:
‘Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.
May the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.’
Friends, remembering our sisters and brothers in faith is remembering in hope our destiny in God.
