We, Catholics, believe that there is such a thing as purgatory. It is a place or a state of being in which the souls are purified before they enter heaven. We easily fall into temptations due to our human weakness and, thus, we sin.

Today, we are more concerned about praying for our beloved dead than debating about the existence of purgatory. We go to church and offer Mass for them, even if they died a long time ago. We also go to the cemeteries to visit their tombs. We do not presume that their souls are already in heaven. That is why we constantly pray for them—just in case. That is the only way we can help them. They cannot help themselves anymore, according to a tradition.

When God takes away our lives, will there be people praying for us, helping us to get to heaven? Let us improve and widen our relationships. We cannot afford to die miserably, with no one praying for the repose of our souls.

If we are righteous, our souls are in the hand of God (Wis 3:1). Though the world may see us as nerds and stupid, or even fools, because of our faith in Jesus, we will still live in peace. We, who are struggling to be just and holy, should not pay attention to them.

The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace. For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself. In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble; they shall judge nations and rule over peoples, and the Lord shall be their King forever. Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love: because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with his elect.

Brothers and sisters: Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.

For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection. We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin. For a dead person has been absolved from sin. If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.

Jesus said to the crowds: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”