Question

Dear Father Angelo,

I am writing to ask you two questions. I’ll try to be brief:

1) Can you advise me about a way to thank God and the Saints for the Graces they have bestowed on me? I had a “thanksgiving” Mass said, but I would like to do more. The Lord listened to me, certainly also through the intercession of the Saints. I would like to say a heartfelt “THANK YOU!” in a way that pleases Him.

2) I have heard that, many times, naturally conceived embryos may fail to nest in the uterus or that, in any case, it is unfortunately common for certain pregnancies to fail due to absolutely natural causes. Since the soul is infused at the moment of conception, can we think that in Heaven there are so many blessed souls of whom we do not even know that they have lived? Is their destiny entrusted to God’s mercy? Can we pray for them? I believe that they are blessed souls who intercede for us… or so I like to think.

What do you think?

Regards.

The priest’s answer 

Dear Son,

1. The first and main form of thanksgiving is the Holy Mass.

Eucharist in Greek means thanksgiving.

In it, we offer to God the Father, bestower of all grace, the thanks that Jesus Christ gave, and which have neverending value and merit.

Often, people have Masses celebrated in suffrage for the dead, and that’s a very good thing.

Some people have Masses celebrated to ask for graces, and this is also very nice.

Very few, on the other hand, remember to have Masses celebrated in special thanksgiving for the benefits and graces they have received.

2. In the Mass, apart from the thanks given by Jesus who “took bread and gave thanks”, there are many expressions of thanksgiving.

For example, in the Gloria in excelsis Deo we say: “We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks…”.

Almost all Prefaces begin with an invocation like this: “It is truly right and just to give you thanks and raise to you a hymn of glory and praise, O Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God, through Christ our Lord”.

There are also expressions such as “Thanks be to God” (Deo gratias) and the Amen.

3. The Amen was in common use as a greeting among Christians of the first centuries and also in the time of St.Augustine, who wrote: “What could be better than Deo gratias to greet each other along the way or in writing? We cannot say anything shorter, listen to nothing more joyful, understand nothing greater, do nothing more fruitful” (Ep.41,1).

According to him, monks greeted each other in this way (Enarr. In Ps., 132,6) and, in fact, this formulation is still used in certain monasteries to this day.

4. Outside of Mass, the Te Deum should be especially remembered.

It is the thanksgiving song par excellence, although it never directly mentions gratitude.

It is used above all in circumstances in which one wishes to thank God in a solemn way.

In many churches it became the distinctive chant that is sung for the end of the year festivities on December 31st.

5. As to your second question: what you said applies not only to aborted babies but also to many newborn and baptized dead babies.

None of them were aware of their own existence when they were in this world.

They found themselves in Heaven almost like Angels.

But now they are aware of having passed from this world without knowing it.

6. In the case of baptized children, we know that God’s grace has brought them directly to Heaven.

For the others, we trust that God – given his universal will to save (cf. 1 Tim 2:4) – will give them the chance of welcoming grace through a supernatural light at the moment of their passing from this world.

In this regard, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved (1 Tim 2:4), and Jesus’ tenderness toward children which caused him to say: “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,” (Mk 10,14) allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism” (CCC 1261).

And again: “With respect to children who have died without Baptism, the liturgy of the Church invites us to trust in God’s mercy and to pray for their salvation” (CCC 1283).

Therefore, it is good for these children that we pray for them, and also to rely on their intercession, as it is done with those who died after Baptism.

I wish you well, I remember you in prayer and I bless you.

Father Angelo

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