Memento Mori – a reminder in November

November invites us to pause and remember: the dead are not forgotten, and death is not the end.

The Church begins this month with the Solemnity of All Saints (All Saints’ Day) and the Commemoration of All Souls (All Souls’ Day), uniting the living and the dead in one great communion of faith and love.

In praying for the faithful departed, we affirm the unbroken bond between the living and the dead.

We know that physical death is not the end of life. It marks a transition point at which souls continue into a new phase. Our prayers and good works can be offered for those who are enduring purification in Purgatory, those who will one day enjoy complete and everlasting joy with our loving God.

The Church emphasises: “It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins” (2 Macc 12:46).

Praying for our loved ones who have died is a source of comfort for the living. It is the only and the best way we can continue to ‘look after’ our departed relatives and friends.

It also helps to remind us that we, too, will one day die, Memento Mori, and that we must deliberately and constantly seek to align our lives with the will of Almighty God.

The teaching of the Church on death is in complete contrast to the belief of those who see death as the final stage of life. That may be due to a genuine but spiritually ill-informed and misguided concept perhaps traced to influences of ‘alternative’ ideologies.

In other cases, it may help those who deny the existence of the Eternal Judge to justify living in such a way that earthly gratification is all that matters. In their minds, greed and avarice, cruelty and injustice and disrespect for the environment have no spiritual or everlasting consequences.

In a global society that sees a lust for power and wealth either disguised as political shrewdness or personal ambition, we must never close our eyes to the unbearable suffering and inevitable destruction that ensue.

On a more personal level, we must guard against the temptation to place temporal gains before the promise of the heavenly Kingdom.

As the Church on Earth, the Church Militant connects through prayer with the Church Penitent in Purgatory, as we train our eyes on becoming members of the Church Triumphant in Heaven.

It is imperative that we remind ourselves, not only in the Month of the Holy Souls but daily, of the teachings of the Church on life and death. It is so easy to disregard the tenets of our faith or to only remember them when we need God’s help.

It is equally vital that we teach our children, for it is our duty and responsibility to lay the foundation for the eternal well-being of their souls.