Posted on 09/01/2009 12:38:25 PM PDT by markomalley
Each of us who believe in the justice and mercy of God are called, as an act of charity, to pray for the repose of the soul of the deceased. However, there are some rubrics of decorum that should — at the very least — have been respected over this past weekend. I speak, of course, of the grandiose funeral ceremonies, particularly the Catholic funeral Mass, for Senator Edward M. Kennedy. The entire travesty, from the television cameras to spectacle itself, goes beyond anything I have witnessed in my more than 65 years of life. In fact, while we all thought the appearance of President Barack Obama at the University of Notre Dame was a scandal, the very idea that he offered a eulogy in a basilica, while the real presence of Christ was in the tabernacle, is perhaps the most dastardly thing I have ever seen. America witnessed this nation's most avid supporter of abortion on demand, standing in a Catholic basilica, during the Mass, speaking of a fellow pro-abort in glowing terms! That alone is such an insult to Christ that words simply cannot express my sorrow. Yet a greater source of sadness is that the Cardinal Sean O'Malley, of the Archdiocese of Boston, looked on as though insulting Christ Himself were an everyday occurrence. Oh yes, there will be those who will excoriate me for saying such a thing, but please, let's get to the heart of the matter, shall we? I am a practicing Catholic. I understand the laws of the Church as they relate to funerals, public figures who persist in supporting grave moral evils while calling themselves Catholic and the proper type of funeral for someone who did not publicly repent of such actions. As the Reverend Thomas Euteneuer explained in his reflections on the Kennedy funeral prior to the event,
Father is right. Not a single one of us knows the state of Senator Kennedy's soul at his death, but his public record is sufficient to clarify for one and all the myriad reasons why such a Mass, presided over by a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, was a total, absolute insult to Christ the Lord. A learned gentleman, who has written at length about problems in the Catholic Church over these past 40-plus years, told me that the funeral Mass was the "inversion of all things Catholic." It is a perfect example of what many describe as bowing to human respect rather than abiding by the laws of God and serving Him first without counting the cost. Clearly, Saint John Vianney was correct when he said, "Do you know what the devil's first temptation is to the person who wants to serve God with dedication? It is human respect!" Senator Kennedy devoted a great deal of his public life to assuring the deaths of millions of human beings — members of the human family who happened to reside in their mother's wombs. He repeatedly defied Catholic teaching, arrogantly receiving the body and blood of Christ when he knew as certainly as he knew his name that aborting a child is an act of murder and a grievous crime defined in precisely those terms by the Catholic Church. And the hierarchy looked on. By presiding at the funeral Mass and subsequent burial service, prelates of the Roman Catholic Church created much more than a scandal. Now millions of Americans are totally confused about what it means to be Catholic. The words that were uttered by these prelates prove that they did, in fact, ignore the dead babies in order to give glowing words of praise to the man who sanctioned their killing. Cardinal O'Malley said of Kennedy, "Senator Kennedy was often a champion for the poor, the less fortunate and those seeking a better life. Across Massachusetts and the nation, his legacy will be carried on through the lives of those he served." Cardinal O'Malley, what about the millions of preborn babies — the lives he failed to serve and, in fact, helped to condemn to death? What about them? At the grave site at Arlington National Cemetery, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, "lauded Kennedy, making mention that he was known as the 'Lion of the Senate' for his zeal in championing the causes of people whose needs and rights have often been overlooked by some." Cardinal McCarrick, what about the millions of babies whose human rights, equal rights and civil rights were denied by the senator from Massachusetts? Why didn't you have a word for them? It seems to me that the words of these prelates smacked of as much hypocrisy as the events they permitted. Spitting on Christ Himself at His crucifixion could not have been any more disdainful than what we witnessed Saturday. As I have read the reactions of Catholics responding to what I had to say, I have, at times, been exposed to some pretty hefty insults. There was the person who wrote, "You are the best example of a right-wing extremist I know. You are, in my mind, very much like the terrorists and a dangerous nut job." I responded by explaining that while some prefer to ignore the events and therefore succumb to the evil that resulted, I cannot. The ramifications of such ignominy are not slight. We are sickened by it and cannot remain silent. We reject the gospel of so-called tolerance and we refuse to accept the state of denial that many Catholics are living in at this moment in history. Another wrote me, "Whatever Senator Kennedy's flaws and sins, it is not your place to judge the status of his grace. The Lord says remove the log from your own eye before you see the twig in another's. In reality, I believe, it is you who [are] spitting on his casket." Truly, nobody has made a subjective judgment about the state of the senator's soul; only God can do that and He already has. What we have called attention to is his public record, which speaks for itself and which the cardinals should have spoken to as well. Perhaps the most troubling letter is the one my friend, Peter Comaskey of Idaho, sent me. He wrote it as a letter to the editor of his local paper. It says, in part,
This letter begs for a response from those who will probably remain silent. The hierarchy has a habit of doing that when tough questions are asked. I know that from experience. But the fact is, what this man has written encapsulates what I heard from many, many people, including members of my own family. His angst is not a singular expression made by a single human being who loves Christ and His Church. Many, many Catholics feel the same. I pray that the suffering this debacle has caused faithful Catholics turns into a renewal of commitment to Christ, His Church, His real presence in the Eucharist and His little ones. Finally, in response to the Saturday disgraces, I do not hesitate to quote Pope Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger), who, in his 1997 book, Salt of the Earth: Christianity and the Catholic Church at the End of the Millennium, wrote of the state of the Church, including the "lowering of moral standards even among men of the Church":
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Is he still dead?
And I didn’t watch even one second of it.
I did and I’m not sure why. The eulogy at the funeral mass kind of pissed me off - nothing but excuses for his behavior. Way to go Catholic Church!
obama spoke after the mass, when traditionally anyone can get up and speak of their dead relative or friend....and anyone who dies with some measure of an active faith life in the Catholic church gets a funeral mass....Jesus walked among sinners in his lifetime.....he came FOR them in fact. that is the least of my problems with teddy....my problems is the multitude of sinners following the man’s example.....the leading Catholic in this country and the leading promoter of abortion. that is what I find so sad, what has the church done to denounce this type of lay leadership? not much.
my problem.......rme
Hmmm, this brings up an interesting religious discussion posed by this question:
“Do you believe that praying for someone after they have died does any good?”
I do not. I believe that our actions and attitudes in this life determine our after life. Not the prayers and supplications of others on our behalf. As such, I do not believe that praying for Kennedy or praying against Kennedy will change one blot of ink in the book of life.
What say you?
“Do you believe that praying for someone after they have died does any good?”
I do and I always pray for the soul of my departed family members.
As a Protestant I am in total agreement with you and extremely proud of and grateful for your post!
God hears prayers, and is not bound by time and space.
Not trying to be obtuse here but I really do want to know. How do you support this position? Is there some church teaching or scripture that you can point me to?
To me, this falls into an area of personal choice as I cant find a commandment or scripture to support praying for the dead. Not that I think it is bad or anything.
Just curious
Taxcontrol,
I agree with you that after death, your chance at repentance is officially over, and no amount of prayers can help. Our prayers need to be offered up on behalf of our own miserable, sinful selves and towards others still living.
I was though, appalled that the prayers of the faithful seemed to push Kennedy's political agenda. Any Mass should not be politicized.
Well, along with you, I believe that a person's ultimate destination is determined by their acceptance of God's mercy or rejection of God's mercy prior to their death. If he has rejected God and walked away prior to death, then all the intercessory prayer in the world will help that person, as he has sealed his own fate.
Likewise, if a person is in perfect friendship with God and has truly and fully put on the nature of Christ, where he is unsoiled by the world (*and note: that is not to say that such a person has never sinned, but that he has developed an utter detachment from his natural sin nature at the time of his death, through the graces made available by Christ*), he is likewise not in need of intercessory prayer, as he is already in the presence of God.
However, as the apostle Paul said:
1Cr 3:9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. 10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw-- 13 each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
For those of us who built our building with wood, hay, and straw, I do believe that intercessory prayer will have some effect. I honestly can't say how it works, but I have confidence that it does.
As was written about the Maccabeen revolt of the second century BC (where the Jewish festival of Hanukkah was established):
38 Then Judas assembled his army and went to the city of Adullam. As the seventh day was coming on, they purified themselves according to the custom, and they kept the sabbath there. 39 On the next day, as by that time it had become necessary, Judas and his men went to take up the bodies of the fallen and to bring them back to lie with their kinsmen in the sepulchres of their fathers. 40 Then under the tunic of every one of the dead they found sacred tokens of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. And it became clear to all that this was why these men had fallen. 41 So they all blessed the ways of the Lord, the righteous Judge, who reveals the things that are hidden; 42 and they turned to prayer, beseeching that the sin which had been committed might be wholly blotted out. And the noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen. 43 He also took up a collection, man by man, to the amount of two thousand drachmas of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorably, taking account of the resurrection. 44 For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. 45 But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.
Does it work that God knows that these prayers will be offered in the future and works to make straight the paths of the one whose building has hay, straw, and wood at some point prior to their deaths? Or is there something that happens to make the burning away of that hay, straw, and wood easier and quicker prior to those peoples' meeting the Lord, I don't know.
But, regardless, I am confident that it works.
My Catholic teaching came to me before Vatican II. At that time the Baltimore Catechism was used. We were taught that to attain Paradise we had to be in a state of grace (no mortal sins unforgiven). We were also taught that even if we died with no mortal sins on our soul, we might not get to Paradise immediately, that our soul may have to spend some time in Purgatory. Therefore, since no one knew if a soul went to Purgatory or how long it would stay there, we should pray for the repose of the souls of the dead, that they would see God in the shortest time. This sort of went to the background after Vatican II, but it never went away.
This is what I see in the Holy Scriptures!
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
“To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconcilation.(2 Corinthians 5:19)
“For He (God) hath made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
“And when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that they might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, then a heir of God through Christ.” (Galatians 4:3-7)
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. for there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (1 Timothy 2:3-6)
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement:” (Hebrews 9:27)
“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31)
I have been struggling with this for some time. I am not a judge, but a mortal soul looking for salvation.
I agree with your teachings and find it difficult to rationalize what the Church was doing.
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