Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Yesterday we celebrated the Feast of All Saints,
all of those holy men and women who have preceded us into the glory of heaven,
those who have fully cooperated with God's grace in this life,
fulfilling His will in all things and in all places.
And so they have become saints worthy of God and worthy of eternal beatitude.
Instead, today we celebrate those who had their shortcomings in this life,
have committed venial sins and had not made sufficient,
sufficient reparation, or those who had committed mortal sins
and had them forgiven, but nonetheless had not made up
for the temporal punishment due to their sins in this life.
This is a very important point to remember,
that with every sin there comes two things.
That is, there comes the guilt for that sin,
and there comes also the just punishment for that sin.
Now, when we commit a sin, a venial sin,
the guilt is relatively easily forgiven.
St. Thomas Aquinas says that venial sins can be forgiven
by simply praying in our Father and beating our chest.
Forgive us our trespasses.
And that's enough to have our venial sins forgiven.
But now our mortal sins are different.
God has established that the ordinary means,
for obtaining the forgiveness of mortal sins,
is in the sacrament of reconciliation, the sacrament of penance.
But nevertheless, even though guilt is forgiven,
by beating our chest in the hour of Father for venial sins,
and by receiving sacramental absolution for mortal sins,
there is still temporal punishment to be paid,
because God is just.
And as our Lord said,
we need to pay up to the last cent.
Now, we can pay back our sins in this world,
above all, by acts of charity,
by living lives full of love for God and love for neighbor.
Because the scripture also says that charity covers a multitude of sins,
and God is generous.
If we sincerely convert and repent of our sins,
do all that we can,
to live in God's grace,
cooperate with His grace,
fulfill our daily duties as best as we can,
for the love of God,
then we can become saints as God wants us to be.
You know, the plan of God for our lives
isn't that we live our Christian lives,
and because we're weak, we fall into sin,
and eventually we all go to purgatory,
and we'll be cleansed there,
and then go on to heaven.
That isn't the plan of God.
The plan of God for each and every one of us
is to become saints,
to be celebrated in yesterday's feast,
and not in today's commemoration.
And this is possible for each and every one of us,
if we're generous with God.
The gospel that I just read
reminds us that judgment has been given to our Lord,
and that when we reach our last day,
when we reach our last day,
when we pass forth from this world into eternity,
we will stand before the judge.
And the saints tell us that His judgment is rigorous.
And what will He judge us on?
He will judge us on our works.
There's one passage by St. Paul
from his letter to the Corinthians
that is typically used to establish,
give a scriptural foundation for this doctrine on purgatory.
And it talks about judgment,
and how our Lord is going to judge us on our works.
It says,
For other foundation no man can lay,
but that which is laid,
which is Christ Jesus.
Now if any man build upon this foundation
gold, silver, precious stones,
wood, hay, stubble,
that is we who have been baptized,
incorporated into the mystical body of Christ,
that spiritual edifice
of which Christ is the foundation,
we are supposed to build upon it
on that foundation with our works.
And our works are either gold,
silver, precious stones,
wood, hay, or stubble.
Every man's work shall be manifest,
for the day of the Lord shall declare it.
The day of the Lord, of course,
refers to the day of judgment.
Because it shall be revealed,
and it shall be written in fire.
And the fire shall try every man's work
of what sort it is.
Now the fire is going to test our works,
whether they be gold, silver, precious stones.
Those are the ones done with a pure intention,
out of love for God,
or out of authentic love for neighbor.
Then there are the works of wood, hay, and stubble,
those which can be burned by this fire.
Those which don't have the value
of the gold, silver, precious stones.
Those that were done with an imperfect love for God,
an imperfect love for neighbor,
and a disordered love for ourselves.
Instead of being done with that pure intention,
with an impure intention.
Perhaps to make ourselves look good
in front of the eyes of others,
perhaps to avoid some humiliation on our part.
If any man's work abide,
the gold, silver, precious stones,
which he hath built thereupon,
he shall receive a reward for those.
But for the others,
if any man's work burn,
he shall suffer loss.
But he himself shall be saved.
That is, for those imperfect works,
we won't be condemned to hell.
We'll be saved, yet so as by fire.
Saved as by fire.
That is, we still need to be purified
of those imperfect works.
We need to be made like a gold, silver,
and the precious stones.
As the book of Revelation says,
nothing unclean will enter heaven.
I remember Brother Francis Mary,
who was at New Bedford,
you remember him.
He was giving a talk to some students,
and he asked each and every one of them,
he said,
who in here wants to become a saint?
You know, there were a few hands
that were raised,
but the great majority of them,
you know, didn't raise their hands.
And then Brother Francis asked,
who here wants to go to heaven?
Everybody raised their hands.
Of course,
everybody wants to go to heaven.
And that is a real,
you know, it explains to us
something about our human nature.
We all want to go to heaven
and enjoy the eternal reward,
but a few of us want to do the work
that it requires to get there.
Few of us want to put the effort
that it takes to become a saint.
And this is a great mistake.
Because either we purify ourselves
in this world with merit,
increasing our eternal beatitude in heaven,
and giving greater glory to God,
or we purify ourselves after this life
with no merit,
without giving greater glory to God.
And so this day,
we remember our brothers and sisters
who did not completely cooperate
with God's grace,
and who have to pay their due
before entering heaven.
And we, fortunately,
can help them.
And I remember our Lord says that
we are to love our neighbor
as we love ourselves.
Now, if we were in purgatory,
wouldn't we want the prayers,
sacrifices,
and masses of the faithful
to help us out?
So let's be generous
with our brothers and sisters
who have gone before us.
Offer up, especially today,
our rosaries,
some small sacrifice,
and especially uniting ourselves
with the sacrifice of the Holy Mass
for these poor suffering souls
who are waiting to enter
the glory of heaven.
In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Shalom.