The Faithful Departed

Praying for our friends and relations who have died

Now, just as we pray for those who have left home to go, perhaps, to some country across the seas, so we must always remember to pray for our friends and relations who have died.  We say that they are dead, but we know that really they are still alive in that world which lies on the other side of death.  They need our prayers just as much as they did when they were here, for the quicker progress they make, the sooner they will get to Heaven.

What happens when we pray for anyone, whether they are alive on earth or alive in Purgatory, is that we call down God’s strengthening power upon their souls.  You may think, wouldn’t God help them even if I didn’t pray for them?  And one of the things that can be hard for us to grasp is this: that God likes to work with us human beings in bringing about good.  Indeed, he expects us to play our full part in working with him to help other people, and one of the ways we do this is by praying for them.

So God, in his great goodness, gives us the privilege and responsibility of helping to look after our friends and relations as they prepare for the joy of Heaven.  And we should make sure we remember to pray for people who have died who have no one to pray for them.

In Tennyson’s poem on the death of King Arthur, the dying king says to his knight, Sir Bedivere (2):

“I have lived my life, and that which I have done
May He within Himself make pure!  But thou,
If thou shouldst never see my face again,
Pray for my soul.  More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of.  Wherefore, let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
For what are men better than sheep and goats…
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God”

It is a good plan to remember our departed relations and friends every day in our evening prayers. We can thank God for them and then pray for them in our own words, perhaps by saying something like: “Heavenly Father, I pray for (names).  Please may your will be done in them – give them peace and healing and bring them to the joys of Heaven”.

Requiem Mass

The greatest and most powerful act of prayer we can make for them is a Requiem Mass, that is, a Eucharist specially offered for the repose of the souls of the Faithful Departed, for the word Requiem means rest or repose.  But of course, we can and do pray for them at any and every Eucharist.  For at the Eucharist Jesus brings us before the Throne of Heaven, and in his own Person offers our prayers to his Father. 

All Souls' Day

The Faithful Departed is the name we give to people who are in Purgatory, and the day when we remember them all is All Souls’ Day, November 2nd.  We should also remember our own particular departed relations and friends on the day each of them died.  We call this their Year’s Mind, because we have them specially in mind at that time.

The Faithful Departed in Purgatory belong to the Church Expectant or the Church Waiting, that is, waiting to go to Heaven; just as we belong to the Church Militant or the Church Fighting.  But of course we all belong to the Church of God.