'STAND FAST IN THE FAITH'

New Zealand Tablet, 19 September 1912, Page 3

'STAND FAST IN THE FAITH'

(A Weekly Instruction specially written for the N’.Z. Tablet by Ghimel.’) PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD (I.) Catholic Doctrine.- fullest expression of the Church’s teaching on this point ’s to be found in a profession of faith subscribed by the Greeks at the General. Councils held respectively at Lyons in 1274 and Florence in 1439. ‘ [We define] likewise that if the truly penitent die in the love of God, before they have made satisfaction by worthy fruits of penance for their sins of commission and omission, their souls are purified by purgatorial pains after death; and that for relief from those pains they, are benefited by the suffrages of the faithful in this life,, that is, by Masses, prayers, and almsgiving, and by the other offices of piety usually performed by the faithful for one another according to the practice of the Church.’ The great Council of Trent (1545-1563) contented itself with repeating ‘ that Purgatory exists, and that the souls detained therein are helped by the suffrages of the faithful, but especially by the acceptable Sacrifice of the Altar’ (Session xxv.). This belief is, of course, intimately bound up with our belief in Purgatory and the doctrine of the Communion of Saints. And here, as always, the Church, in her teaching, meets and ennobles the deepest aspirations of the human heart. Men at all times have instinctively felt that ‘ those we love truly never die,’ and in the heavy hours of sorrow have craved for an assurance that the dead are even still their dead, and have tried to pierce the veil in order to live once more with and, if possible, help those whom God has called to rest. And now the Church comes to tell us in her solemn language that the power of death does not loosen the bonds that have knit hearts together on earth, that God, in His mercy, allows us to follow the souls.of our friends beyond the grave, and that the prayers of the living avail to aid the souls of the dead.’ Are we wrong in seeing in this consoling belief another proof of the divinity of the Catholic Church? \

Proofs from Sacred Scripture. The clearest passage in Scriptureand in our opinion the passage is remarkably clearin favor of prayers for the dead is to be found in the second book of Machabees (xii. 40-46). A number of Jews had fallen fighting in the cause of God in the battle against Gorgias, but when their brethren at the command of Judas Machabeus came to bury the dead, they were horrified to find ‘ under the coats of the slain some of the donaries of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbiddeth to the Jews: so that all plainly saw, that for this cause they were slain. Then they all blessed the just judgment of the Lord, Who had discovered the things that were hidden. And so betaking themselves to prayers, they besought Him, that the sin which had been committed might be forgotten. But the most valiant Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forasmuch as they saw before their eyes what had happened, because of ,the sins of those that were slain. And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection (for if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead), and because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.’ Two things are noteworthy about this passage. In the first place, it furnishes us with evidence of the fact that at least two centuries before the time of our Lord the Jews, God’s chosen people, believed in praying for the dead and were accustomed to have sacrifices offered publicly in the Temple for that purpose. We say, * at least two centuries before the time of our Lord,’

but there is good ground for thinking that the practice is of a much older date, for .‘the act of Judas and his men in praying for their deceased - comrades is represented as if it were a matter of course; nor is there anything to suggest that the procuring of sacrifices for the dead was a novel or exceptional thing’ (Oath. Encyl. iv., 654). In the second place, the inspired writer himself not only tells the story of this pious deed, but expressly approves of what was done, and even, in the last sentence, recommends the practice on all occasions. This approval and recommendation by an inspired writer of the practice, of praying for the .dead should be taken into consideration when there is question of our Lord’s attitude in regard to it. Christ was familiar with the practice of the Jews; He knew that His Jewish followers would keep up the custom, unless He warned them not to do so. Yet we never hear of a word of condemnation of the belief and practice, though He had no hesitation in condemning many other things. Would ; —could Hehave acted thus, if He thought the custom worthy of reproof, if He did not wish it to continue in the Christian Church ? St. Paul, in his

first letter to Timothy, seems to supply us with an instance of prayer for the soul of a departed friend. A certain Onesiphorus’ had been very kind to the Apostle: ‘He hath often refreshed me and hath not been ashamed of my chain [of captivity], but when he was come to Rome, he carefully sought me and found me . . . and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou very well, knowest ’ (i., 1618). This good friend is now, so it seems, dead; for St. Paul prays ‘ The Lord give mercy to the house of Onesiphorus’ (v. 16), as if the family stood in need of consolation at a time of sorrow; and later on (iv., 19) he asks Timothy to convey his greetings to the household of Onesiphorus,’ without making any mention of the man himself. Now on behalf of this friend who had but recently died St. Paul offers up this simple, but most expressive prayer: ‘ The Lord grant unto him to find mercy of the Lord in that day [of judgment] ’ (i., 18).