SEVER A LIFE NIGHT ON PURGATORY

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Briana Lyons
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1 GOAL SEVER A LIFE NIGHT ON PURGATORY LIFE NIGHT OVERVIEW The goal of Sever is to help the teens recognize the need for purification before entering heaven and to explain the practices of penance, almsgiving, and indulgences as part of that process. KEY CONCEPTS Heaven is total and perfect union with God which leaves no room for the disordered attachment to created things caused by sin. In purgatory, one is assured of heaven but first must go through a process of purification to be conformed to Christ. Those in purgatory are aided in the process of sanctification by the rest of the body of Christ through penance, almsgiving, and indulgences. KEY TERMS: Purgatory Sanctification Temporal Punishment SCRIPTURE: 2 Maccabees 12:46 Mark 9:43 1 Corinthians 3:15 Revelation 21:27 CATECHISM: ABOUT THIS LIFE NIGHT This Life Night begins with a race that requires teens to complete tasks to detach from one another. The Proclaim teaches about the purpose of purgatory and offers tools to help sever unhealthy attachments to sin. The Break is a time of reflection followed by an opportunity to sign Mass intention cards for recently deceased members of the parish community. The Send is a guided Way of the Cross meditation for the souls in purgatory. ENVIRONMENT Keep the heaven scene from Hell-bound set up in the main meeting space. Make the entrance to the main meeting space noticeably narrower while still being able to pass through. As teens get ready to enter, make them step off to the side or in a separate room to empty their pockets and leave their jackets and purses. Be sure to include cell phones. Label this area extra baggage. MEDIA SUGGESTIONS Life Teen: The Trouble Line (Life Support: May 2016) Ascension Presents: What You Should Know About Purgatory (youtube.com) Hillsong Young & Free: In Your Eyes (Acoustic) - Hillsong Young & Free (youtube.com) SOCIAL MEDIA HASHTAGS: #LT_Sever AS YOU GET STARTED... For an alternate environment, consider blocking the entry way to the main meeting space with a ribbon. Have the teens wait outside and begin the Life Night with a ceremonial ribbon cutting. 44 LIFE NIGHT SERIES: DEAD; 45

2 For a Send without physical Stations of the Cross, consider creating a slideshow of images for each station to project in the main meeting space. For an extended application of the Proclaim, consider planning a trip for the youth to visit a local cemetery between November 1 and November 8. A plenary indulgence is available for the souls in purgatory when one devoutly visits and prays during these dates. If time allows, plan to clean untended grave sites. HISPANIC INCULTURATION By Stephanie Espinoza Contributors: Juan Aznaran, Angie Marino Important Notes for Pastoral Care When praying traditional prayers like the Our Father, Hail Mary, or Glory Be, consider that Hispanic/Latino teens have probably learned them in Spanish and not in English. It is a good practice to project the prayers or provide a printed copy. For this Send, give each teen the Way of the Cross for the Souls in Purgatory handout found on the May 2018 Life Teen USB and online at lifeteen.com under Life Support: May 2018, which already includes the text of the prayers for the teens to follow. Cultural Insights Consider enhancing the environment for this Life Night by creating an altar de muertos, or altar for the dead, to be a focal point for the Life Night and, in particular, for the Send. Place the Mass intention cards for the recently deceased on the altar and position the altar in a prominent place in the meeting space. Have the Core Team bring in photos of their loved ones who have passed away. Add a crucifix, flowers, and candles to complete the altar (for more details about Día de los Muertos or what makes an altar de muertos, see the Life Teen blog post Celebrating Death: the Tradition of Día de los Muertos found online at lifeteen.com). If possible, keep this piece in your main meeting space throughout the year as a reminder of our responsibility to pray for the dead. GATHER LIFE NIGHT: SEVER Welcome and Opening Prayer (5 min) Gather teens in the main meeting space. As teens enter, have them immediately get into small groups. Welcome them to the Life Night, introduce any teens or Core Members attending for the first time, and begin in prayer. Race to Detachment (15 min) Give each small group yarn and instruct them to sit in a circle and tie their hand to the hand of the person to the right. Once done, the small group should be completely attached without any breaks. The groups are then given tasks for each person to complete. As each task is completed by every person in the group, the group can choose one person s string to be cut off by a Core Member. Those who become detached can offer help to those who are not, but each person must complete the task. As the group becomes more detached, it should get progressively easier for them to complete each task. The first group to finish wins. Use the following or create tasks more suitable for your youth group: Tie a piece of ribbon into a bow Walk through a hula hoop Take a selfie with everyone in it (just one for the whole group) Toss a water balloon or tennis ball to someone in the group without dropping it Seal an envelope Drink a cup of water Sharpen a pencil Do the Macarena 46 LIFE NIGHT SERIES: DEAD; 47

3 Transition into the Proclaim using the following: As we go through life, it is easy to become attached to what we have, our own plans, and especially sin that is habitual. We will learn during this Life Night that we cannot enter heaven with disordered attachments. We have to sever them in order to love the way God loves. As our Gather game demonstrated, we experience a greater freedom and ease in life the more we sever the disordered attachments that hold us back. PROCLAIM Sever Teaching (15 min) The Proclaim Outline and Proclaim Details can be found on pages 50 to 57. BREAK Individual Reflection (10 min) Pass out the Attached Reflection handout found on the May 2018 Life Teen USB and online at lifeteen.com under Life Support: May Allow the teens time to spread out in the room, read through the questions, and reflect on their answers. Consider playing reflective music in the background. Mass Intention Cards (10 min) Previous to the Life Night, gather enough Mass intention cards for the people in your parish who have recently passed away. You can get this list and the cards from the parish secretary. Let him or her know that you will schedule dates and provide a donation for the Masses after the Life Night. Explain to the teens that offering a Mass for someone who has passed away is a powerful way to pray for his or her soul. Consider taking up a collection within the youth group at the next Life Night as a donation for the Masses being offered. Between now and then, encourage the teens to practice almsgiving by making a small sacrifice for these souls by not buying a coffee or snack. The money saved can be brought to youth group and given to the youth minister as their donation. SEND The Way of the Cross for the Souls in Purgatory (20 min) Gather the teens at your parish s Stations of the Cross. Pass out the Way of the Cross for the Souls in Purgatory handout found on the May 2018 Life Teen USB and online at lifeteen.com under Life Support: May Transition into prayer using the following: The Way of the Cross is a prayer that allows us to walk through Jesus suffering as He makes His way with the cross on which He will be crucified. The process of purification in purgatory is taught to be one of suffering, also. We have an incredible privilege and ability to offer prayers and sacrifices that aid in this process. At this time, we are going to unite our prayer in the Way of the Cross to the needs of the souls in purgatory. Delegate the readings to different Core Members and teens. Then, lead the teens through the prayer by walking to each station or encouraging them to turn to each station from their pew. Notes: 48 LIFE NIGHT SERIES: DEAD; 49

4 SEVER PROCLAIM OUTLINE Souls in purgatory suffer, but it is a hopeful and joyful suffering. It is a suffering different than that of hell and more like the pain we experience when working out or going through a growth spurt. KEY TERMS Purgatory: A state of final purification after death and before entrance into heaven for those who died in God s friendship but were imperfectly purified. Sanctification: The process of being made holy. Temporal Punishment: A penalty imposed on us, either on Earth or in purgatory, by which we satisfy the temporal debt we owe to God for our sins. TEACHING POINTS LINGERING EFFECTS Forgiveness is separate from consequences. The initial consequence of sin is that we turn away from God or completely sever our relationship with Him. Through Reconciliation, we receive His total forgiveness and mercy. There is a second consequence to sin called temporal punishment, which is an unhealthy attachment to created things. It is a punishment we inflict on ourselves because the thing we become attached to can never satisfy us. To enter heaven, we have to rid ourselves of all unhealthy attachments. We cannot fully love God if other things come before Him. NO PAIN, NO GAIN We get rid of disordered attachments by purifying our hearts through a process of sanctification. When a person dies in God s friendship but still suffers from the effects of sin, he or she is sanctified through purgatory. At this point, a soul is guaranteed heaven but must wrestle with the wrongs he or she has done. GIVE ME PROOF In the Book of Maccabees, Judas, a righteous man, offers prayers for his soldiers who have died. While preparing to bring their bodies home, Judas and other soldiers discover they have practiced idolatry. From the beginning, the Church has implemented the same prayer of Judas for the holy souls who enter the cleansing fire of purgatory. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT We can aid the souls of those in purgatory and purify our own hearts through works of penance, almsgiving, and indulgences. Acts of penance and almsgiving are ancient practices in the Church that help us detach from material goods. Practicing acts of penance, such as fasting from certain foods, giving up time on social media, or sleeping without a pillow, help keep our natural instincts in their proper place. Almsgiving is a material sacrifice that reminds us that all we have is given by God and should be used to serve Him. An indulgence is the remission of the temporal punishment due to sins which have already been confessed and forgiven. A plenary indulgence offers us complete remission of temporal punishment. A partial indulgence offers partial remission for our sins. To receive an indulgence, we have to pray or do the prescribed action along with receiving the Eucharist, going to confession, and praying for the intentions of the pope. Ask the teens if they have ever received an indulgence and what prayer or practice they said or did to receive it. Give examples of indulgences. 50 LIFE NIGHT SERIES: DEAD; 51

5 As we frequent these practices, grace abundantly works in our hearts and those of the souls in purgatory for whom we offer it. Once released into heaven, these souls are great allies who can offer intercession for us that is constant and uninhibited by sin. Notes: 52 LIFE NIGHT SERIES: DEAD; 53

6 TEACHING LINGERING EFFECTS SEVER PROCLAIM DETAILS Have you noticed that when we do something wrong, we can say we are sorry and be forgiven, but there are usually still lingering consequences? If you throw a party at your house while your parents are away, you can say you are sorry and legitimately promise never to do it again, but you still have to clean up, replace broken things, and probably spend weeks being grounded to make up for it. Forgiveness is separate from consequences. Our souls face the same result when we sin. The initial consequence is that we turn away from God or completely sever our relationship with Him. As a remedy, we can go to Reconciliation and receive His total forgiveness and mercy; our relationship with Him is strengthened and restored. However, there is a second consequence to sin called temporal punishment, or an unhealthy attachment to created things. It is a punishment we inflict on ourselves because the created things that we become attached to can never satisfy us. We either suffer by spending time grasping at it with no fulfillment or from the pain of having to detach ourselves. CCC 1472 To enter heaven, we have to be rid of all unhealthy attachments. Unfortunately, we are not magically changed at death; if not dealt with now, we carry wounds, stains, and baggage with us when we die. Aside from it being impossible to have with us in heaven, we wouldn t want to bring it there anyway. Imagine having to show up at prom after spilling an entire plate of food on your lap or getting a giant grease mark on the front of your shirt after changing your car tire. Arriving that way is probably extremely undesirable. If you have the opportunity to change or clean the stain, would you not take it? An unhealthy attachment also means that we put it before healthy things. It creates disordered priorities. We cannot fully love God if other things come before Him. Are we okay with missing Mass on Sunday to make it to a football game? Do we often replace our time for prayer with social media binges? Are we so concerned with feeling important and confident that we make others feel unimportant and small? NO PAIN, NO GAIN We get rid of our disordered attachments by purifying our hearts. It s a process known as sanctification the atonement offered for our sin through Jesus suffering and death is applied to our souls. While we can purify our hearts in this life, a soul who has died without fully doing so finishes the process through a state called purgatory. Either way, the process of purification offers us great hope that we are never too far gone. God always forgives us when we seek Him, and with His grace, we can reorient our hearts completely toward Him again. Not only does He guide us back, but He gives us the opportunity to make right the things that we have done wrong. A soul in purgatory has died in God s friendship but still suffers from the effects of sin. At this point, heaven is a guarantee. First, though, the consequences of sin must be dealt with. Souls in purgatory do suffer, but it is suffering accompanied by hope and joy because they know that they will eventually be able to enter the joy of heaven. The suffering of purgatory is different than that of hell and more like the pain we experience when working out or going through a growth spurt. It is a spiritual suffering that results from realizing the love of God and our lack of love for Him during life on Earth. It is a process of being conformed to the image of Christ through the grace He won for us in His suffering, death, and Resurrection. CCC LIFE NIGHT SERIES: DEAD; 55

7 GIVE ME PROOF Some may argue that purgatory is not Scriptural and does not exist. Through study of the teaching, though, one can see that purgatory not only makes sense but is very Scriptural. In the Book of Maccabees, a righteous man named Judas, offers prayers for his soldiers who have died. While preparing to bring their bodies home, Judas and other soldiers discover tokens of idols beneath the clothes of the dead men. This means that they had committed the sin of idolatry. In response, Judas says, It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins. From the beginning, the Church has implemented the same prayer of Judas for the holy souls who enter the cleansing fire of purgatory. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT Maccabees 12:46, 1 Corinthians 3:15, 1 Peter 1:7 During our life, we can aid the souls in purgatory and purify our own hearts through works of penance, almsgiving, and indulgences. These are tried and true ways for us to detach from material goods and heal the wounds caused by sin. That being said, along with helping the souls in purgatory reach heaven, we can remove the consequences of sin now so that we do not have to suffer in purgatory later. We can be so conformed to Christ in this life that we go straight to heaven when we die. CCC 1032 Acts of penance and almsgiving are ancient practices in the Church that help us in several ways. We know that we all have important natural instincts like eating, sleeping, and procreating. If left unchecked, these desires quickly turn into gluttony, laziness, and lust. Practicing acts of penance, such as fasting from certain foods, giving up time on social media, or sleeping without a pillow, help discipline our bodies and keep our natural instincts in their proper place. In the same way, we need to have money to provide for ourselves, but it is really easy to become attached to it and the things it can buy. Almsgiving is a material sacrifice that reminds us that all we have is given by God and should be used to serve Him. Ultimately, both of these practices offer us freedom by severing unhealthy attachments. CCC 2043 Indulgences have a tough reputation in the history of the Church. An indulgence is the remission of the temporal punishment due to sins which have already been confessed and forgiven. In mercy, the Church offers many opportunities to receive an indulgence. CCC 1471 Ask the teens if they have ever received an indulgence and what prayer or practice they said or did to receive it. Some common examples are visits to a church on the day of its consecration, visits to a church or oratory on All Souls Day, and the renewal of baptismal promises. There are two types of indulgences: plenary and partial. A plenary indulgence offers us complete remission of temporal punishment. To receive a plenary indulgence, we have to pray or do the prescribed action along with receiving the Eucharist, going to confession, and praying for the intentions of the pope. A partial indulgence is offered when the above things are not present, and it does just what it sounds like it offers partial remission for our sins. As we frequent these practices, grace abundantly works in our hearts and can aid the souls in purgatory, if we offer it for them. Once released into heaven, these souls are great allies who offer intercession for us that is constant and uninhibited by sin. During this Life Night, we will have a couple of opportunities to aid these suffering souls. We encourage you to not only take advantage of this time of prayer, but make it a part of your everyday life. CCC LIFE NIGHT SERIES: DEAD; 57

8 Notes: SEVER: Purgatory CORE TEAM OVERVIEW GOAL: The goal of Sever is to help the teens recognize the need for purification before entering heaven and to explain the practices of indulgences and penance as part of that process. GATHER (20 MIN): Welcome and Opening Prayer: Race to Detachment: PROCLAIM (15 MIN): Sever Teaching: BREAK (20 MIN): Individual Reflection: Mass Intention Cards: SEND (20 MIN): The Way of the Cross for the Souls in Purgatory: Notes: 58 LIFE NIGHT SERIES: DEAD; 59

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