It is a Holy Thought to Pray for the Dead
From a sermon by Saint Gregory Nazianzen, bishop (c. 330-389)
It is a Holy Thought to Pray for the Dead
Narrated by Frank Dugan, Huntington Beach, California
What is man that you are mindful of him? What is this new mystery surrounding me? I am both small and great, both lowly and exalted, mortal and immortal, earthly and heavenly. I am to be buried with Christ and to rise again with him, to become a coheir with him, a son of God, and indeed God himself.
This is what the great mystery means for us; this is why God became man and became poor for our sake: it was to raise up our flesh, to recover the divine image, to re-create mankind, so that all of us might become one in Christ who perfectly became in us everything that he is himself. So we are no longer to be male and female, barbarian and Scythian, slave and free – distinctions deriving from the flesh – but are to bear within ourselves only the seal of God, by whom and for whom we were created. We are to be so formed and molded by him that we are recognized as belonging to his one family.
If only we could be what we hope to be, by the great kindness of our generous God! He asks so little and gives so much, in this life and in the next, to those who love him sincerely. In a spirit of hope and out of love for him, let us then bear and endure all things and give thanks for everything that befalls us, since even reason can often recognize these things as weapons to win salvation. And meanwhile let us comment to God our own souls and the souls of those who, being more ready for it, have reached the place of rest before us although they walked the same road as we do.
Lord and Creator of all, and especially of your creature man, you are the God and Father and ruler of your children; you are the Lord of life and death, you are the guardian and benefactor of our souls. You fashion and transform all things in their due season through your creative Word, as you know to be best in your deep wisdom and providence. Receive now those who have gone ahead of us in our journey from this life.
And receive us too at the proper time, when you have guided us in our bodily life as long as may be for our profit. Receive us prepared indeed by fear of you, but not troubled, not shrinking back on that day of death or uprooted by force like those who are lovers of the world and the flesh. Instead, may we set out eagerly for that everlasting and blessed life which is Christ Jesus our Lord. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings
Saint Gregory (c. 330-389) was born of Christian parents at Nazianzus, Cappadocia in 330 and studied rhetoric at Caesarea, Palestine, and then for ten years at Athens. Gregory joined St. Basil at Pontus on the Iris River to live a solitary life. He was ordained in 362 was named bishop of the Arian territory of Sasima, an area torn by civil strife. He was invited to Constantinople by Basil to help revitalize the Church in the East and combat the heresy of Arianism. There his eloquent preaching at the Church of Anastasia brought floods of converts but also torrents of abuse and persecution from the Arians. He was named archbishop of Constantinople. He later retired to private life and lived in great austerity. He died at Nazianzus on January 25, 389. A Doctor of the Church, Gregory is often surnamed “the Theologian” for his eloquent defense of orthodoxy and the decrees he helped form at the Council of Nicaea, notably his celebrated sermons on the Trinity and his Five Theological Orations delivered at St. Anastasia in Constantinople. Together with St. Basil compiled a selection of writings by Origen.