A classic Dominican joke defines the “Good Life” as living as a Jesuit, dining as a Franciscan, and dying as a Dominican. Whatever the truth of the first two parts, the third is certainly true: one wants to die a Dominican, because Dominicans pray with remarkable intensity for their dead.
Even a single year of living as a Dominican makes this abundantly clear: we have a special prayer and procession before Evening Prayer every Monday in honor of deceased Dominicans. We take three days each year to pray intensely all day for deceased brethren, deceased relatives, and deceased benefactors of the order. We offer Mass and Holy Communion every Monday for the deceased. Each night, after Compline, we chant the Salve Regina and process, with lighted candles, in a treasured tradition, to the image of Our Lady in the chapel. This time of prayer is offered for the dying.
What has hit me so hard this year is the realization that, in addition to all these prayers, we also end every hour of the Divine Office and every grace before meals with the aspiration, “May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.” Like a heartbeat, this aspiration punctuates a Dominican’s day.
The month of November has traditionally been devoted to prayer for the dead. It is a beautiful Catholic custom, particularly on Nov. 2, but also any time throughout the month, to visit a cemetery and pray the Rosary.
The month of November has traditionally been devoted to prayer for the dead. It is a beautiful Catholic custom, particularly on Nov. 2, but also any time throughout the month, to visit a cemetery and pray the Rosary.
Our culture tends to compartmentalize death. Few people have the intimate experiences, once common, of keeping watch with a dying person, of washing and dressing a body. And yet, it is at our own risk and to our own detriment that we are shielded or simply separated from death.
Memento mori used to be a common phrase: Remember death. Why should we remember death? Because whatever our successes or failures of today, our joys or sadnesses, our health or sickness, our fame, power, popularity — it will all pass away. This is not macabre; it is freeing! Remembering this allows us to face the vicissitudes of life with equanimity. It encourages us to place our trust in God: “Let nothing disturb you,” wrote St. Teresa of Avila, “nothing affright you. All things are passing; God never changes.”
Walking through a cemetery is a salutary exercise. It teaches us what is truly of value, and it reminds us to pray for the dead. The dead are not visible to us, but they are very much alive. By our prayers, we can help those in purgatory immensely, and, upon reaching heaven, these persons pray fervently for those whose prayers assisted them to reach this ecstasy. The Holy Souls are loyal friends to us on earth. Remember them this month, and throughout the year, with devotion — and teach others to do so. Then you will not have to die a Dominican to receive the benefit of faithful prayers for your departed soul!
Sr. Maria Veritas Marks is a member of the Ann Arbor-based Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.
