The celebration of All Souls Day was on a Thursday this year, the same day Shepherd’s Corner is on radio and television.

Naturally, during the chat room segment of the programme, the callers were interested in dialogue about the related issues of the article in the Creed which states that Christ “descended into hell,” purgatory and the tradition of praying for the dead. 

I had intended to use my column to offer catechesis on these issues in the beginning of November, but circumstances prevented me from doing so until this week.

The Creed

Most people find the article in the Creed, “he descended into hell” quite confusing. Actually, it is rather clear once the meaning is explained. The Catechism of the Catholic Church considers the meaning of “he descended into hell” in paragraphs 631-635.

The Catechism opens the explanation of the article in the Creed with a reference to Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. In verse 8, Paul, speaking of the diversity of grace, quotes Psalm 68: 19: “when he ascended on high he took a host of captives and gave gifts to men.” In verses 9-10 of Chapter 4, Paul uses the text of the psalm and applies it to the Ascension of Christ and to the granting of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Paul distinguishes two specific moments:

1) Christ’s descent into the region of death. This is important because it was from real death that Jesus was raised and brought forth life for others;

2) His return to the Father. This point has long-term significance. In the letter to the Hebrews, we learn that Jesus the High Priest intercedes for us with the Father from the heavenly sanctuary and will continue to do so until he returns in glory.

In the apostolic preaching, the emphasis was on the fact that similar to all people Jesus experienced death and his soul joined all the other souls in the realm of the dead. However, there was one difference: Jesus descended there as Saviour. (CCC, 632)

The terminology of Scripture

Once the reader understands the terminology of Scripture, the confusion about the Creed statement begins to disappear. Scripture calls the abode of the dead “hell” because the people who are there are deprived of the vision of God.

Hell is called Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek. It is where the dead await their redeemer e.g. the poor man Lazarus who was received into Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16: 22-26). It is the just who had gone before him, that Christ delivered when he descended into hell.

Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation. (CCC, N. 633)
The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to completion. This is the last phase of Jesus’ messianic mission: “The Gospel was preached even to the dead.” (1 Peter 4: 6)

The descent into hell confirms that Christ died for all without exception. The Catechism quotes a Holy Saturday homily from patristic sources: “God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began.”

Purgatory

Purgatory is good news! Purgatory means that those who have died in God’s grace and friendship are assured of salvation. Yet they need purification due to either the presence of venial sin or the need to remove the temporal punishment due to sin before they can enter the joy of heaven.

The teaching of the Church on Purgatory - the tradition- was confirmed (not begun) at the Ecumenical Councils at Lyons (1274), Florence (1439), Trent (1545) and the II Vatican Council (1964). It was also confirmed in the Credo of the People of God issued by Pope Paul VI in 1968.

A reasonable question is: Why so many official statements? The answer on one level is that the teaching was not accepted by some theologians who then began what we now know as other Christian traditions.

On another level there was need to clarify how the teaching was to be understood. The legislation also had the purpose of correcting abuses regarding the implementation of the teaching among the people. 

Praying for the Dead

Praying for the dead is an important pastoral practice because, for obvious reasons, the dead cannot pray for themselves. There are two reasons for praying for the dead.

The first is the presence of venial sin at the time of death and the second reason is the presence of temporal punishment due to sin that has already been forgiven e.g. in the Sacrament of Penance. The forgiveness of mortal sin eliminates eternal punishment but not the temporal punishment due to sin.

While theologians have moved away from “proof test theology”, the famous text from Second Maccabees 12: 38-46 is always presented to support the teaching on purgatory. First Corinthians 3: 12-15 speaks of the fire of the day (a reference to the second coming). The person will be saved but only by passing through the fire. The implications of Matthew 12: 32 and Luke 16: 19-31 also provide a biblical context for the teaching.

Historically, the understanding of purgatory in the Western Church (Latin Rite) stressed satisfaction and expiation for sin. The Eastern Church (Oriental Rite) emphasised purification.

Conclusion

The three issues that have been considered in summary fashion in this column are interrelated and have implications for how the Church remembers and intercedes for the dead.

The Church prays for all the dead in the Eucharistic sacrifice, celebrates Masses for individuals who have died and recommends prayer for the dead e.g. the Rosary along with almsgiving, indulgences and works of penance for the dead. (CCC, N. 1032)  

I offer the following questions for reflection to test whether the teaching of the Church has found a practical place in our hearts:
 1) Do we pray consistently for the dead?
2) Do we understand why we should?
3) Do we live our Christian lives with an awareness that we must purify ourselves with the help of God to become worthy of the vision of God?
4) Do we understand that the temporal punishment due to sin can build in our lives as a result of repeated sin?
5) Do we understand that the purification process can be accomplished, or at least begun, in this life by doing for ourselves what we should be doing for the souls in purgatory?