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Commending loved ones to God

By Father Dennis Meinen
View from the scooter

Have you ever prayed the Litany of the Saints with your pastor at the bedside of someone you love who is dying? As we called on each Saint to be present to us in sacredness of this vigil we remembered Masses where Eucharistic Prayer 1 (The Roman Canon) was prayed. One line is a plea to the Saints invoked to give all of us present their constant help and protection, their prayers and merits.

At Holy Spirit we remembered all the residents who had died in the year since the last All Soul's Day. I prayed another one of the most beautiful prayers of the Church. It is a prayer heard only by few. It is prayed by the priest most often in a hospital room or at the bedside of a person who is dying here or in their home. It is one of the Church’s prayers of Commendation for the Dying. “I commend you to Almighty God and entrust you to your Creator. May you return to God who formed you from the dust of the earth. May holy Mary, the angels, and all the Saints come to meet you as you go forth from this life. May Christ, who died for you, admit you into His Garden of Paradise. May Christ, the true Shepherd acknowledge you as one of His flock. May He forgive all your sins, and set you among those He has chosen. May you see your Redeemer face to face, and enjoy the vision of God forever."

On November 1 and November 2 many Catholics remembered those who have gone before us in death. On November 1 we remembered all Saints, not just those who have been officially canonized by the Church, but family members, relatives and friends we know who have died and feel that they are in Heaven. But notice that on All Soul’s Day we did more than just remember them. We commended them to God. That means that we told God our loved ones were worthy of His kindness and mercy and we asked God to pay them special notice and accept our recommendation for His ultimate Gift of Salvation.

It is only human to feel great sadness when a loved one dies, but we are asked to remember that when a loved one dies, if they were faithful to God, the Ten Commandments and their Catholic Faith, we should see that day as a day of great joy. We also must remember that the Catholic Church does teach about purgatory. No one knows what purgatory really is. But we should see it as God’s final act of mercy and healing in our lives. At our death we shall see God and see all that God is. We will also see all that we have been and should have been. I think of purgatory as a moment of pain and regret but also a moment of joy and peace knowing that sometime we will arrive at the Kingdom.

So on Nov. 2 we commended all the dead to God. We prayed, as in the Commendation for the Dying, that the Saints will meet our friends in heaven, that Christ will acknowledge them and that they will be allowed to see our redeemer face to face. We pray that God will exercise his final act of mercy in order that they will soon live in Paradise.