Fr. Ferdinando Colombo: Pray to God for the Living and the Dead
Actualizing the works of mercy through the eyes of Fr. Ferdinando Colombo
Praying to God. Pope Francis’ message for the celebration of the 2016 World Day of Peace opens with three very significant statements: “God is not indifferent! God cares about humanity, God does not abandon it!”.
God is the wise architect of my life. I cannot make my plans, act accordingly, and then expect God to come and be a laborer in the construction.
We do the construction together, in “collaboration”. We must become aware of the reversal of perspective that Christianity operates with respect to pagan prayer: the pagan prays to conquer the gods, to capture their favor, to get them on his side.
For the Christian it is the opposite: I don’t have to convince God, because he is already on my side, on the side of my good. It is I who needs to convince myself and put myself on God’s side; I do not pray to convert God, but to convert others, and myself with them.
For the living
The work of mercy that we are exploring refers in particular to intercessory prayer, prayer for others. Interceding means “taking a step between”, “interposing”, placing oneself between two parties to try to build a bridge, a communication between them.
“Walking in the middle”, ready to help both sides. In intercession we take upon ourselves the burdens of those for whom we pray: it is a prayer that refers to God’s plan and allows us to participate in his work of salvation.
Taking an image from the book of Job, we can say that the intercessor is the one who places one hand on God and one on man, on the shoulder of God and on the shoulder of man, becoming himself a bridge between the one and the other. ‘other: “There is no arbiter between us who can lay his hand on us” (Job 9:33).
Every Christian is called to intercede and to have a special role to play towards all humanity: those who follow Jesus share the responsibility for the salvation of the entire world. Therefore the presence of many intercessors is a means to create a community that corresponds to God’s plan and promote the work of reconciliation between individuals, peoples, cultures and religions and between man and his God.
This great river of intercession immerses itself in the ocean of Christ’s intercession.
Jesus intercessor
Let us think of his position on the cross, when his being between heaven and earth, with his arms outstretched to bring all men to God, becomes a narration of the final outcome of the intercession: the giving of his life for sinners by the one who it is holy, the “dying for” the unjust by the one who is just. Jesus’ prayer on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23.34) summarizes an entire life spent before God for others and shows a Jesus who himself became an intercession with his life and his death. The Risen One continues to intercede for all men from above, Saint Paul writes to the Romans: “he is risen, he is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us!” (Rom 8:34).
For the dead
The Church has always invited us to pray for the deceased, in particular by offering the Eucharistic celebration for them: it is the best spiritual help that we can give to their souls, particularly to the most abandoned ones.
In Lumen Gentium we read that the Church: “since the earliest times of the Christian religion has cultivated the memory of the deceased with great piety” (LG 50). By praying for the dead, the Church fits into God’s plan of salvation which has as its goal the Kingdom, the final resurrection, eternal life.
At the basis of this prayer there is therefore a bond of solidarity in mutual love: we pray for the dead because we love them. And they too continue to love us, with an even greater love than they had for us during their earthly life, because they are no longer limited by the fragility of human nature; now they love with the same power as the love of God.
In prayer we experience communion with them, as we ask them to accompany us from heaven and to speak about us to God; we also express the belief that love is stronger than death. Because physical death cannot dissolve the bonds of love and charity, which unite us all in one body.
When we pray for the deceased, it is enough for us to know that their love for God continues to grow and that they need our support, as we do theirs. (Andrea Brandolini Collegiate Church of San Giovanni in Persiceto 17 January 2016 Catechesis for adults)
Prayer of Pope Francis
God of infinite mercy, we entrust ourselves to your immense goodness
how many have left this world for eternity, where you await the whole of humanity,
redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, your Son, who died as a ransom for our sins.
Do not look, Lord, at the many poverty, miseries and human weaknesses, when we appear before your tribunal,
to be judged for happiness or condemnation. Turn your merciful gaze upon us,
that comes from the tenderness of your heart,
and help us walk on the path to complete purification.
Let none of your children be lost in the eternal fires of hell, where there can be no more repentance.
We entrust to you Lord the souls of our loved ones,
of people who died without sacramental comfort,
or they had no opportunity to repent even at the end of their lives.
No one has to fear meeting you,
after the earthly pilgrimage,
in the hope of being welcomed into the arms of your infinite mercy.
Sister corporal death, find us vigilant in prayer
and loaded with every good done during our short or long existence. Lord, nothing separates us from You on this earth,
but may everything and everyone support us in the ardent desire to rest peacefully and eternally in You.
Amen.
(Angelus -2 November 2014)
Online version of the book by clicking on “The Work of Mercy – Fr. Ferdinando Colombo – browsable”
Photo
- “Le Opere di Misericordia“, fr. Ferdinando Colombo