Psalm 5, Verse 8
But I, through the abundance
of your mercy*,
will enter into your house. I will bow down toward your holy sanctuary out of fear of you.
Psalm five is a
lament contrasting the security of the house of God with the danger of the
company of evildoers. The psalmist therefore prays that God will hear and grant
the protection and joy of the Temple. We as Catholics have more than a temple,
we have our Lord present to us in the tabernacle. His mercy is never ending.
A widow,
desperate because her husband had committed suicide by throwing himself into a
river, came to Ars and met the Curé upon leaving the church. He bent toward her
and told her, “He is saved.” As she made a gesture of incredulity, the saint
repeated emphatically, “I tell you that he is saved. He is in Purgatory, and
you must pray for him. Between the parapet of the bridge and the water he had
time to make an act of repentance. It is the Blessed Virgin who obtained this
grace for him. Remember the shrine to Mary in your room? Sometimes your
husband, although irreligious, united himself to your prayer. That merited
repentance and the supreme pardon for him.” Before leaving, she confided to M.
Guillaumet, superior of the College of St. Dizier, a witness to the scene, “I
was in a dreadful state of despair, imagining the tragic end of my husband. He
was an unbeliever, and I lived only for the thought of leading him back to God.
Then he drowned himself by a voluntary suicide! I could only believe he was
damned! Oh! never to see him again! Yet you heard what the Curé of Ars told me
repeatedly: ‘He is saved!’ I shall see him again in Heaven after all!” See the
delicacy of Jesus and of the Blessed Virgin! A person did some good which he
had forgotten, but they had not forgotten, and at the right moment they made
use of it, if I may put it that way. Jesus makes use of everything to save us.
How astonished we will be in Heaven when we see that! Some make Him a judge who
strikes men down and seeks revenge, whereas in fact He seeks to save us by all
possible means.
Nothing is
irreparable for Jesus and for Mary[2]
According to the
New York Times, suicide rates are at their highest level
in 30 years. I have rarely come across a person these days who
has not been touched by a friend or a family member who has committed suicide. How
are we as Catholics to deal with these tragedies? Many of us wonder where
the soul of our loved one ends up. Is there hope for our loved ones
who took their own lives?
Lessons from the Catechism
The Catechism
of the Catholic Church states;
·
Suicide
contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and
perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It
likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of
solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue
to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God. ccc 2281
But the
Catechism goes on to say;
·
…Grave
psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or
torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.
ccc 2282
·
We should
not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives.
By ways known to him alone, God can provide salutary repentance. The
church prays for persons who have taken their own lives. ccc 2283
This means
there is hope. If God can provide salutary repentance, then there is
definitely hope.
Suicide Hits Home
I
was 17 when my friend Patrick took his own life. I was devastated.
I wondered about his soul since I knew suicide was a grave matter. It
wasn’t long after his death that I began to dream about him. My mother
told me if I was dreaming about him that he was probably in purgatory and I
needed to pray for him. I have had dreams of him on and off into
adulthood. As an adult I got very serious about praying for him.
Additionally,
earlier this year my friends and my community were touched by four suicides
of people of varying ages. It was no coincidence then that I had
come across Divine Mercy
101 with Father Chris Alar. As I sat and pondered these
suicides, feeling helpless and worried for souls, I remembered that Fr. Alar
had said (paraphrasing),
if you say a Divine Mercy Chaplet today for someone who has died in the
past, the graces from your prayer today, because God is outside of time, are
taken to your loved one at the time of their judgement. In other words,
God could for see that you would say the prayer for the loved one and then
apply that grace for them when they die.
Our
God is that merciful. Unfathomable mercy. Pray the chaplet, our prayers do have
power.
Gregorian Masses
It
was around this time that my cousin had also introduced me to Gregorian Masses.
This is a series of 30 Masses that is said for a soul in purgatory. Tradition
tells us that Pope St. Gregory the Great offered these Masses for the soul of
one of his monks that visited him from purgatory. When Pope Gregory had
finished the Masses, the monk appeared to thank him for releasing him.
The Masses are offered for one deceased soul (not multiple people) for 30
consecutive days. Now, please understand, we offer a stipend for a Mass. These
stipends are to take care of the Priest who says the Mass, and in poorer
countries, in particular, this means a lot. Plus, the stipend is
also a sacrificial offering made by us. Canon 946 tells us how the
stipend is for the good of the Church. Typically in today’s day and age,
a Mass stipend is about $10,
although I have found some for $5 a Mass.
So Gregorian Masses aren’t always in the realm of what someone can
afford, but they are very efficacious if you are able to, especially in a case
of suicide. If 30 Masses isn’t a possibility, then one Mass is also a good
thing. The Mass is heaven on earth, and our prayers help souls in
purgatory. So, if you are suffering the loss of someone to suicide, do not
despair. Our God is a God of Mercy. Pray a Divine Mercy Chaplet for
them and perhaps have Gregorian Masses said for them, or a single Mass.
Our prayers mean something, and you may be able to help your loved one get to
heaven.
For the price of a chocolate bar
you could save a soul or…. Maybe you could do both?
Bitter Chocolate with Almonds Day
This intriguingly specific Day celebrates
a particular combination of flavors – dark, bitter chocolate and toasted
almonds. This is one of the oldest recipes involving chocolate known in the
English-speaking world, featuring as the only chocolate dish in an 18th-century
cookbook. This festivity exists mainly as an idea circulated on the internet.
It is sponsored by the National Confections Association, and celebrated and
encouraged by organizations such as food.com, a site which aims to encourage
cooking and the appreciation of food by holding various different food days. Both
the tannins in dark chocolate and the various fatty acids in almonds have many
health benefits, various studies have shown. Bitter Chocolate with Almonds Day
encourages a delicious and nourishing dessert, which contributes to health and
long life. Celebrate by dipping blanched almonds in the best dark chocolate you
can find, and serving to your friends with a glass of red wine!
Daily Devotions
*Mercy: used to translate the Hebrew word, hesed. This term
speaks to a relationship between persons. It is manifested in concrete actions
to persons with some need or desire. The one who offers hesed has the ability
to respond to that need of the other person. Other possible ways to translate hesed
include “steadfast love” and “loving kindness.”
[2]https://www.catholicstand.com/suicide-divine-mercy-gregorian-masses/
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