Among Catholics, the month of November is traditionally dedicated to praying for our deceased loved ones. At the Mass for the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day), for example, we pray:

Almighty and merciful God, by means of these sacrificial offerings wash away, we pray, in the Blood of Christ, the sins of your departed servants, for you purify unceasingly by your merciful forgiveness those you once cleansed in the waters of Baptism. Through Christ our Lord.

Another prayer from the Mass asks:

Grant we pray, O Lord, that your departed servants, for whom we have celebrated this paschal Sacrament, may pass over to a dwelling place of light and peace. Through Christ our Lord.

To our modern ears, these prayers may seem unnecessary. Can't we be confident that our departed loved ones are already "in a better place"? Why would we need to pray for the forgiveness of their sins and their entrance into Heaven? The Church, basing her teachings on Scripture and Tradition, insists that there is a purification after death for those of us who in life were not fully conformed to Jesus Christ (which is most of us):

Catechism of the Catholic Church 1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned...

The teaching on Purgatory is based in part on Scripture passages like 1 Corinthians 3:10-15:

According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But each one must be careful how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, the work of each will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire [itself] will test the quality of each one’s work. If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage. But if someone’s work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire.

St. Paul makes it clear that Jesus Christ is the one foundation of our salvation - It is only through faith in HIM that we can be delivered from our sins and enter into the glory of heaven. Yet, we build on this foundation with our own works: Some of these works - our acts of charity - are like "gold, silver, [or] precious stones," and some of our works - our sins - are like "wood, hay, or straw." On the Day of our judgment, each of us must stand before God, who "will test the quality of each one’s work." All of the sins and disordered attachments will be burned away, so that we can enter into eternity with hearts made pure. As St. Paul says, "the person will be saved, but only as through fire."

This purification, which we call "Purgatory," is a mystery, but Scripture and Tradition make it clear that we can assist those who have died in their purification from sin. In the Old Testament's Second Book of Maccabees, we read about Judas Maccabee, who came across some fellow Jews who had fallen in battle. As they prepared the fallen men for burial, they discovered that they had been wearing amulets, a superstition forbidden by Jewish law. Right away, he made arrangements for a sacrifice to be offered for them, to atone for their sin:

Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen. He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection in mind; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be absolved from their sin.

We would do well to learn from the example of Judas Maccabee and his companions. Instead of simply assuming that our loved ones have passed into the glory of heaven, shouldn't we pray for the forgiveness of their sins? As New Testament Christians, we ask for pardon not in light of sacrifices made in the Jewish Temple, but in light of the one, perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Even if our loved ones were very holy, let us take the time to pray for them, to offer indulgences for them, and to remember them at Mass. If you have any doubt that we should pray even for our holy loved ones after their death, consider these words that St. Augustine prayed for his own mother, St. (yes, saint!) Monica.

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.