We have hope for the dead, but let's not leapfrog grief.
It is all souls day when we pray for all those who are not yet saints. Fr. Steve notes that the black vestments that he wears today have a certain sobriety to them, which accords with our grief for our loved ones who have died. Today’s Gospel is the raising of Lazarus. Jesus is the Lord of the living and the dead. In many funerals people believe the dead go straightaway to heaven. This is not automatically the case and our dead may be undergoing purification in purgatory. We have hope for the dead in purgatory, but they cannot help themselves and rely on our prayers to reach heaven.
(An article covering the appropriateness of black vestments for funerals can be found HERE)
