ETERNAL REST. SPIRITUAL SOLIDARITY OF CHRISTIANS

In spiritual communion

The Church is boundlessly bigger than we can see! It extends to regions that are now inaccessible to us, which we cannot experience, yet we know with certainty of faith that they are part of it.

There is only one Body of Christ, which is the Church. But the members of this Body are present in different states: some in glory, enjoying eternal joy with the Lord whom they loved and served in life; others, having completed their earthly journey in friendship with God, still awaiting their purification, not as a punishment imposed from without, but as a requirement of love in order to enjoy God's holiness; and finally, all of us, pilgrims, walking along the roads of life, advancing towards the Lord.

The unity of the ecclesial body is such that the one and the same divine life, grace, circulates freely among all the members who remain in the space of this communion. This is the root of all other communion, concord and mutual affection.

The fact that we are dealing with spiritual realities should not lighten their real significance, as if they were something on the fringes of reality. 'Spiritual' is equivalent to ‘supremely real’, an expression of an immaterial reality and, therefore, invisible to the senses. The goods of grace, then, -- unlike in the monetary economy -- can act in solidarity for the benefit of others, without thereby impoverishing their owners. This is why we can enjoy the intercession of the Virgin and the Saints as of now, and are called at the same time to be generous in prayer for the dead. This is where the prayer ‘Eternal Rest’ finds its place.

The charity of prayer

If solidarity in basic necessities is welcome, how much more welcome will be solidarity in spiritual reality, which is the only thing the deceased faithful still need in need of purification! It is no coincidence that praying to God for the living and the dead is a work of spiritual mercy, a genuine act of charity.

In this regard, purgatory should not be understood as ‘punishment’ inflicted by God, which would be ill-suited to his readiness to forgive. Paradoxically, the need for purgatory can only be understood on the basis of God's merciful love. To contemplate the Face of God, to see Him ‘face to face’ (1 Cor 13:12), is in fact the end of all human desire; this requires a total love, indispensable to access the intimacy of such a communion. In the case - quite common, in the habitual conviction of the Church - that such a degree of love has not been reached in life, an additional exercise of charity will be needed, which is carried out in the manner of purification. Here, then, is purgatory: a grandiose attestation of mercy, contrived by divine benevolence so that even those ‘timid in love’ may enjoy the happiness that is God.

Souls in purgatory love God irresistibly, even though they are still deprived of his vision: this is precisely what their punishment, the “purifying fire” of purgatory, consists of. Nevertheless, they experience the desire for such purification, felt as necessary and, therefore, fully accepted.

The practice of suffrages -- of which Eternal Rest is perhaps the most common expression -- allows us to take part in this work of purification, by virtue of that solidarity in spiritual realities that is reciprocal in the Church: from heaven to earth (intercession) and from earth to heaven (suffrage). In this way, we can “give” to our deceased brothers and sisters what they as individuals lack, but the Church as a whole already possesses and can therefore also share it with them.

How grateful they must be to those who, being able on earth to freely share their deeds, prayers and merits, direct them precisely to shorten their purification by partaking of it! Having come before God, they will not fail to intercede for their ‘benefactors’! Frequent recitation of ‘The Eternal Rest’ is a simple and effective way to practise the charity of suffrage: it is meritorious to recite it for our dearly departed friends and loved ones. It is also an act of faith when we learn of the death of a person, an agonizing news, or when we pass in front of a cemetery... the charity of an Eternal Rest is denied to no one!

‘May perpetual light shine upon them, may they rest in peace’

Praying ‘Eternal Rest’, we implore light and rest for the dead: rest (requiem) after earthly vicissitudes and afflictions, light to cross the threshold of death that is dark to us. To go into other imaginative details would be risky, and ‘The Eternal Rest’ wisely keeps silent. Besides, when God has been asked to admit our dead to enjoy the light of his countenance, what more should be added? Is He not our light and our peace, our everything?

If we could see reality as our departed now understand it, we would probably smile at some of the worries that now seem imposing and would begin to worry seriously about other things that we now consider marginal.

Let us listen to what our dear departed ones whisper to us: If you saw things as I see them ... If you knew the value of small, hidden sacrifices, which at the end of life give unspeakable consolation! If you knew the value in the sight of God, of perseverance in charity, fidelity to the commitments of life undertaken, silent endurance ... If you could understand the preciousness of intercessory prayer and suffrage, how much would you be consoled and comforter!

Fr. Marco Panero, SDB