We Pray for Our Beloved Dead
As the Church contemplates, celebrates and commemorates our beloved dead in the month of November, I would like to highlight the way we, the living, join in praying for the dead and in union with the saints every time we celebrate the Holy Eucharist.
Perhaps the most obvious way we do this is in the great Eucharistic Prayer. Consider the fifth-century Roman Canon, also known as the First Eucharistic Prayer in our current Sacramentary. In the traditional teaching of the Church, we referred to the Church on earth as the “Church militant,” the saints in heaven as the “Church triumphant,” and those in purgatory as the “Church suffering.” In the Roman Canon, we pray for all three. In the early part of the Roman Canon, the priest says, “Remember, Lord, your people, especially those for whom we now pray, N. and N.” The rubric in the prayer indicates that this prayer is a commemoration of the living and the priest may pause at this point in the prayer to remember specific people (and it might be presumed that all gathered with the priest may silently do the same).
Later in the prayer, the priest says, “Remember, Lord, those who have died and have gone before us marked with the sign of faith, especially those for whom we now pray, N. and N.” Again the rubric invites silence so that the priest (and assembly) may commend the dead to the Lord. Finally, the prayer prayed by the priest mentions by name a wide range of saints whom he asks to be in union with us, as we offer God this great prayer of thanksgiving which brings to us the miracle of our Eucharistic Lord in consecrated bread and wine.
In this great Eucharistic Prayer we see an example of the People of God, in an earlier age called the Church Militant, praying for the Church Suffering and in union with the Church Triumphant. All constitute the Communion of Saints and are especially important for us to remember in the month of November.
Together we pray for all who have died: “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.”
Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge