The modern secular mind is afraid of death and spends its life running away from it in endless entertainments. Christians should not be so afraid.
For those with the time on their hands, James Boswell’s Life of Dr Samuel Johnson, about that remarkable figure of 18th century English life and letters, is a wonderful journey in biography that takes the reader to the heart of Georgian society. The extensive record of conversation and correspondence between Johnson and Boswell also reveals the comparative emptiness of our own electronic age of constant talk without actually saying anything worthwhile. To read Boswell’s biography of his friend is to see how mediocre is a world is addicted to the twitter feed and SMS.
One of the famous exchanges recorded by Boswell highlights the contrast between a society today and then, when religious faith was regarded as an entirely natural subject of conversation:
Boswell: “What do you think, Sir, of purgatory, as believed by the Roman Catholicks?”
Johnson: “Why, Sir, it is a very harmless doctrine. They are of the opinion that the generality of mankind are neither so obstinately wicked as to deserve everlasting punishment, nor so good as to merit being admitted into the society of blessed spirits; and therefore that God is graciously pleased to allow a middle state, where they may be purified by certain degrees of suffering. You see, Sir, there is nothing unreasonable in this.”
Boswell: “But then, Sir, their Masses for the dead?”
Johnson: “Why, Sir, if it be at once established that there are souls in purgatory, it is as proper to pray for them, as for our brethren of mankind who are yet in this life.”
Whatever the shortcomings of Georgian society, at least people conversed extensively with each other and, when not in close proximity, took the time to write letters. In an increasingly globalised 21st century there are undoubted benefits to text messaging and email but the obvious criticism is that like so much of our technical achievements we lapse into allowing the illiterate shorthand they represent to become substitutes for real relationships with each other. People are meant to be with each other.
In this month of November, Catholics traditionally pray more, or in special ways, for the dead. Generally, this was regarded as one of those clear marks of distinction between Catholics and Protestants, who tended to believe a decisive personal choice of Christ as Saviour was sufficient for salvation; Catholics saw no contradiction between the judgement that comes with death and praying for those who had died, essentially for the same reasons supposed by Dr Johnson.
One of the great advantages of the Christian faith is that where it is taken seriously it is offers real belonging, a relationship to each other rather than the radical isolation spread by contemporary culture. Catholicism is, as much as anything else, tribal because the Church recognises we are all meant to be in communion – with each other and with God.
This is why November can be such a wonderful time of the year for we Roman Catholicks. Not only are we connected tribally with the saints in heaven, we take time to connect or reconnect with those journeying to heaven under the purgatorial state of existence. These days are focused on death and can often be tinged with deep sadness, but really, they are all about life brimming over.
At the risk of earning the ire of the clergy of the archdiocese of Perth and elsewhere, The Record officially urges all its readers to deluge their parish priests and chaplains with requests throughout November to remember in the prayers of the Mass their dead friends and family, especially those who hurt them. There is no being Catholic without forgiveness or asking to be forgiven.
Undoubtedly, priests remind their congregations this opportunity exists; but many baptised do not, habitually, remember often enough to take advantage of what our priests have to offer. But pestering clergy to pray for dead members of the tribe is not good enough unless we too join our own prayers to theirs. Catholics seem to have an inbuilt tendency to leave it all to others.
For we of the southern hemisphere it is good that November comes in spring. It helps us to remember that death is really about life returning. We assume those who have died are the ones who are dead. But we are the ones living a life that can so often be one continual act of self-delusion or a series of nightmarish moments and events.
This month, and the wonderful holy days of All Saints and All Souls just passed, offer us the chance to be connected with the rest of the tribe who are undoubtedly yearning for our prayer on their behalf. Two thousand years ago our ancestors in faith scrawled their prayers for the dead as graffiti on the walls of the catacombs in Rome. St Monica, in the fourth century, asked her son Augustine to remember her soul in his masses.
The modern secular mind is afraid of death and spends its life running away from it in endless entertainments. Christians should not be so afraid of death. We know that when it comes we will see not only God but, once again, those we have loved in this life. We know that those who have died are not really dead at all.