The sacrificial portion of the Eucharistic Prayer now being completed, the Priest returns to more prayers of petition and intercession, such as we saw in the Te Igitur, the Memento for the Living, and the Communicantes. We noted before the Consecration, a great focus on the Church upon earth, as well as a recalling to mind of the Saints in Heaven who are present with us at the Liturgy, where Heaven and earth come together.
Holy Church would be negligent, however, if She did not remember the third state members of the Church might enjoy, the Holy Souls in Purgatory. It is true, they can no longer merit on their own from attendance at the Mass, yet the Mass may be offered for their benefit, and we may even go so far as to suggest they receive the greatest of consolations from it, even when it is not applied to their souls. For it seems foolish to suggest they are present at it through the Communion of Saints and the Liturgy, yet without awareness of it. While we cannot know how they experience the Mass, we do know the Church has always held they have a connection to it. In the early Church, prayers were offered for the dead, especially the Mass, and this is where our prayer comes from.
While it took an especially long time for this prayer to find its permanent place in the Canon, since about the fourth century it occupied various places, but was deemed an important component. This makes sense in light of what we observed with the Memento for the Living and the Communicantes, where we wish to remind ourselves not only of those for whom the Sacrifice is offered, but of the union of the spiritual and physical realms.
The prayer itself is one of the simpler ones in the Canon; in fact it enjoys perhaps the least embellishment of all the separate prayers. The Priest or a Concelebrant, having resumed the orans posture, for he is again making intercession for souls, says:
"Remember also, Lord, your servants N. and N.,
who have gone before us with the sign of faith
and rest in the sleep of peace.
After this half, the Priest pauses as at the Memento for the Living, joins his hands and either in an inaudible voice or mentally he recites the names of those others for whom he wishes to pray. But let us now examine this first half of the prayer. First, let us note the separation that exists here unlike with the naming of the living. The names of one or perhaps even three or four souls may be mentioned audibly at the beginning of the prayer, but the rest should be reserved for the private portion of the Priest's prayer.
The same basic concepts apply here as they did at remembrance of the living; those who have some special connection to the intention of the Mass, or those for whom the Mass is offered if they are already deceased are to be mentioned here aloud, if it is deemed appropriate. One may even go so far as to say those specially joined to the community, such as a bishop or pastor who has died, or the benefactors of the church building, could be mentioned here as well.
Once again, though, it is not appropriate to here mention those who died outside of union with the Church. Holy Church has no knowledge of the state of their soul, and She will not hesitate to offer Her prayers for their happy repose, but as this is the Great Prayer of the Church, only those who are part of the Church may appropriately be mentioned here. Additionally, the very format of the prayer does not allow mention of those, at the very least, who died without Baptism of water, for it is said that those mentioned by name died, "with the sign of faith," namely the cross which was imprinted upon them at Baptism with Chrism, and which they may have been sealed with in Confirmation, and finally which they might also have been signed with one final time in the Anointing of the Sick, if they were able to receive that great Sacrament before death.
Let us also note, however, that the mentioning of a name also does not guarantee the soul is in Purgatory or Heaven. It is possible they condemned themselves to Hell, but as they presumably died within the good graces of the Church, the Church shall err on the side of benefit and pray for them. Otherwise, no one could be mentioned.
Of course, any soul may be mentioned in the silent recitation, for as alluded to, Holy Mother Church wishes all children to enjoy, "the sleep of peace," which St. Paul talks about (1 Thessalonians 4). The Church never refers in Her official prayers to these souls as "dead," but always as asleep or departed. This was the idea of the early Christians, to combat the ideas of the Pagans who saw death as the release from suffering of the body or the end of existence. Those souls in Heaven are now united to Christ forever in eternal life, and they will be reunited to their bodies at the end of time for enjoyment of physical life!
The souls of the Faithful Departed, however, do not enjoy that great privilege yet, and so Holy Church, though She cannot give them the remission of the punishment due to their sins, by Her prayers and indulgences She can merit on their behalf to free them from their torments.
At this pause of the Priest, then, let us remember all those departed souls for whom we wish to pray. There should be no soul excepted from our prayers, no matter how poor of a relationship we had with them while they were upon this earth, for their enjoyment of Heaven through our prayers will be to our eternal bliss and benefit! We should pray especially for our parents and ancestors, for all of our benefactors, and for all those who were in authority over us, or who were entrusted to our care.
Formerly, the same practice was performed here by the Deacon as at the Memento of the Living, where he would read off the names of the Faithful Departed on the Diptychs, for whom the entire community purposed to pray, but as this would easily become too long quickly, this practice was discontinued early on in favor of the current practice.
Once this silence is concluded, the Priest takes up the prayer again with hands extended and says:
"Grant them, O Lord, we pray,
and all who sleep in Christ,
a place of refreshment, light and peace.
The recommendation of the souls of the departed being complete, the Priest now makes the intercession of their souls. And how beautiful it is! Holy Church wishes they have refreshment, that is rest from their sufferings, for unlike us on earth who have periods of consolation, or the souls in Heaven who will never again know suffering, they have no rest from their suffering. They are in torment, of which their only consolation is that it is to end and they will assuredly enjoy eternal beatitude.
But how far away this seems for them! While they are assured of their salvation, many theologians speculate they have no knowledge of how quickly their suffering is in relation to eternity, and thus the torments for them are nigh unbearable. Yet bear them they must for their purification. The Church, however, as a loving Mother, sorrows to see them suffer so, and offers the Mass to bring them consolation and entrance into eternal light.
And that is the next thing prayed for, i.e. that the Faithful Departed may enjoy the Beatific Vision, under the context of "light." This relates to the great line of St. Paul, "Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood (1 Corinthians 13:12)." Once they attain the Lumen Gloriae, the Light of Glory, they, and hopefully us one day, shall see through the "eyes" of God, and thus shall understand all Mysteries to the extent they are capable!
And finally, Holy Church prays they may have peace, the peace which God alone can give, for He satisfies all our desires. Once the Beatific Vision is attained, there is no fear of losing It. Indeed, the heart shall love perfectly and shall have joy and rest in the attainment of the Ultimate Good!
As a final thought, though, we should not overlook the mention of, "and all who sleep in Christ." While the Church does not mention any souls who were presumably not in union with Her at the time of their death in the Canon, She makes no judgment as to the fact that there are likely innumerable souls who, purely by the mercy of God and no fault of their own, also share in the purifying fires of Purgatory. And it is for these, as well as all deceased members of the community who were not named or thought of, that She purposes to pray. There is no soul in Purgatory the Church does not wish to benefit from this Great Sacrifice.
At the Priest's discretion, he may then conclude the prayer with:
"Through Christ our Lord. Amen."
If he does so, he joins his hands as he says so. As we have already numerous times explained this conclusion and posture, we shall forgo doing so again.
All historical information taken from:
Rev. Joseph A. Jungmann, S.J. The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development. Volume
2. Part IV: The Memento of the Dead, 237-248.
Translated by Rev. Francis A. Brunner, C.SS.R. (Christian Classics:
Notre Dame, Indiana, 1951).
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