Yesterday, we celebrated the Feast of All Saints, when we take time to rejoice in the great "cloud of witnesses" who have gone before, leaving us examples of living discipleship, often with great teachings and music. These saints are now in heaven, praying for us. So everyone's praying for everyone. We're all connected through and in the Body of Christ. Just as we ask for prayer from each other, we ask the saints to pray for us.
Another point that Fr. Mike references is that we should NOT EVER try to talk to the dead. That is a big no-no. Consider this:
1. We are called to trust implicitly in God's mercy and love. This means we don't try to know the future, we don't try to be sure dear old Grandpa is in heaven by asking him, we don't try to assess what it is like in the afterworld out of curiosity or any other motive by contacting the dead. We trust. In essence, our obsessions with knowing the future, knowing about the afterlife etc. is saying "Yeahhhh God, I know you love me, but I don't trust you that much. I gotta find out for myself." This breaks the first Commandment - having other gods, such as my own intellect, my own needs for control, or anything we put on a pedestal and worship (spend time with, elevate above God's love).
We were not created with faculties to know the future. We were created to live in the SACRAMENT OF THE NOW MOMENT. For it is in the now that God is, where we commune with God. Being enveloped by God's mercy, we have no need or desire to know the future, even when our circumstances are difficult.
NB: This isn't to say that we can't be curious, or wonder, or think about it. These are normal human activities driven by our God-given minds and personalities. But wondering and pondering is a far cry from conjuring the dead.
2. In opening ourselves up to the spirit world by attempting to conjure, communicate, or invoke any type of spirit, we could very easily be inviting in a demonic presence. We know Satan is very good at lying and can present himself as an "angel of light." So if you're trying to talk to dear old Grandpa using a Ouiji board or a medium, or you're trying to "commune with the faerie folk," you are running a great risk of contact with an evil presence. No bueno. God does not want this for you!
3. A more mundane concern is the vast number of con artists who will prey on someone's grief, need to control the future, fear (the opposite of trust in God's mercy), etc. and make their living at someone else's expense. No one has said that it is not possible to contact the spirit world, just that we shouldn't do it for the reasons stated above. But there are charlatans aplenty; it's all for show and for the money. Don't waste your money or your time.
Not only that, the normal grieving process can be stunted or prolonged unnaturally by allowing a con artist to drag out "messages" from "beyond" that go for a nice price. This is more than just emptying your wallet, it's damaging the natural emotional process that we need to go through.
So if you watch John Edward, don't.
If you go to see a medium to find out if Uncle Jimmy's cancer is gone for good, don't.
If you're invited to go on a "ghost hunt," don't. You don't know what you could be opening yourself up to, and you will probably just be wasting your valuable time. Pray for the dead, don't try to get them on camera to satisfy your curiosity.
Spend time feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, helping those like yourself who may be grief stricken or just bored with nothing better to do. Serve the living in the here and now, pray for them, and pray for our beloved dead.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.
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