What does repose of the soul mean?

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tracie001

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Several times at Mass, I have heard the priest say please pray for the repose of the soul of _______. What does that mean?

Thanks,
Tracie
 
Thank you! That makes sense - guess I should have been able to figure that out! :o
 
I’m trying to be mean or jerky…but wouldn’t have been easier for you to look up the word “repose” in the dictionary or on dictionary.com. You would have gotten your answer a lot faster.

No meanness or glibness intended.
 
tracie001 said:
Several times at Mass, I have heard the priest say please pray for the repose of the soul of _______. What does that mean?

Thanks,
Tracie
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Hello, Tracie.

We pray for the repose of the souls of our loved ones (in my case, my mom and my grandparents) so that whatever purification they are enduring in purgatory may be lessened so that they will enter into the peace of God’s kingdom. In other words, we are praying for the souls in purgatory. We are offering expiation for them.

It does have its grounding in the Old Testament. Recall what Judas Maccabees did. He found amulets in the bodies of his soldiers. Immediately, he collected money from his compatriots and had a sacrificial offering made as expiation for the men, trusting in God’s mercy. In fact, the reading from this passage of 1st Maccabees is often read in Masses for the Dead and funeral Masses. There is also reference to purification of the souls of the just in the book of Wisdom/Sirach.
 
In the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox churches it is customary to say that a person “reposed” instead of died, or passed on/away.
 
Thank you for your replies!

And PacoG I just prefer coming here to get answers to my questions. And really I doubt it would have been much quicker to get my answer by looking it up. PPl are very quick to answer on here! 👍 Plus, I like the dialog.

Tracie
 
tracie001 said:
And PacoG I just prefer coming here to get answers to my questions. And really I doubt it would have been much quicker to get my answer by looking it up. PPl are very quick to answer on here! 👍 Plus, I like the dialog.
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Why do you think I prefaced my question with “I’m not trying to be mean or glib.”

I knew that would be the answer. 😃

I probably would have done the same thing too. 😃
 
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