Update / Month of the Holy Souls

My visit to my mother’s was very difficult for numerous reasons and I have been dealing with this situation. If you could keep my family in prayer, I would deeply appreciate it, and all our readers are kept in our prayers as well. Please know you can submit prayer requests and we will post them. A first name and city or state/country would be helpful.

I am slowed down also due to a sprained ankle, sustained in Rome on one of those spiral staircases! I thought it was getting better, but now is worse and I need physical therapy. In spite of all this, I have somehow been visiting cemeteries every day this week for the Holy Souls and it is an extraordinarily joyful thing. We still have a few more days.

It is the Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Please see the following very interesting and unique article from catholicism.org…

Month of the Holy Souls

All Saints Day

Wishing everyone a happy and blessed All Saints Day! However, I lament because the Holy Mass has been taken from me. I am traveling to visit my mother as she just turned 94 (prayer request), and there is no Mass available here because the obligation has been done away with this year. Because this is a rural area, there is not even a daily Mass. So the All Saints Day Mass has been taken from the devout due to the cafeteria Catholics who so fail to appreciate the Presence of Christ, they cannot bear to come to Mass 2 days in a row. If that is too tedious for them, they will not enjoy Heaven, where they will be in His Presence for all eternity! Such people probably wouldn’t come to Mass anyway on a holyday. Am I angry? Yes.

So my family and I will find a way to celebrate this great and joyful feast in our own way. We will recite the Litany of the Saints and read the missal.

The monthly dedication post will be a few days late, as I am away, also the monthly newsletter for subscribers. Thank you for your patience.

Don’t forget today begins the wonderful November Plenaries! See link below…

November Plenaries from the 1st to the 8th

November Plenaries, Part 2

Some Suggestions (what I do:)

I try to get as many plenaries as I can each year (I’ve only been doing this for a few years now)…in other words, I visit a lot of cemeteries! Visiting various cemeteries is an adventure unto itself. Sometimes, with all the hills, it feels like hiking. Many have interesting historic elements. I find it is always intriguing, educational and spiritually beneficial. Bringing young ones helps them to confront the reality of death, hopefully before experiencing the loss of a loved one. I lost my father suddenly from a heart attack, when I was barely 7 years old. Needless to say, this was a deeply traumatic first experience with death. We should not seek to shelter our children from death, as they will certainly deal with it eventually. When a neighbor passed, when my son was little, I brought him to the wake, so he could have that experience. He dealt very well with it. After all, death is a natural part of life and God gives us the grace to handle it with His help, however terrible it may be.

Each year, I make a plan for visiting cemeteries in my area, or where loved ones are buried….and I make a list of the next 8 people I would like to attempt to get into Heaven. I keep a running list of those I have already performed the plenary for. For those I feel especially indebted to, I may perform it more than once. I have a set of prayers that I say, in addition to the requirements.

Do not take these plenaries lightly, as it is without saying, a truly extraordinary thing that is being done. Of course, our own unworthiness to expiate punishment for sin and be the vehicle through which a soul enters the eternal bliss of the Beatific Vision, is foremost in our minds. But we trust in what Holy Church teaches. As we accept God’s mercy in Confession, we also accept His willingness to bring His children in Purgatory unto Himself, through our profoundly small efforts. So…one must enter into this spiritual effort with the utmost of piety, humility and unspeakable awe. This spirit should follow you from the moment you enter the cemetery, to the moment you leave…and even for the rest of the day. This first week of November is truly blessed and rare in our journey through the Liturgical Year. And it changes you.

November is the Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory-Part I

[Edited since posting.]

“May light eternal shine upon them, O Lord, with Thy saints forever, for Thou art kind. Grant them everlasting rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them, with Thy saints.”

The above text is from the “Communion” of the Tridentine Mass for All Souls Day. The rainbow photo was taken by my son at a lake in New Jersey on All Hallows Eve. The photo below it is from the All Souls Day Mass at one of the churches we attend on Long Island. You can see the beautiful and rare black vestments. Though this Mass is solemn, we are also joyful that upon its celebration, many souls likely ascend to Heaven from their stay in the fires of Purgatory…a place of refreshment, light, peace and unspeakable joy!

How can we honor and assist the Holy Souls this month? Here are a few suggestions:

1) A partial indulgence may be obtained by visiting a cemetery with mental prayer for the Holy Souls. There is a similar plenary, which has been extended by the Vatican-will discuss this in another post.

2) A partial indulgence may be obtained by recitation of the Office of the Dead.

3) A partial indulgence may be obtained by recitation of the De Profundis.

4) Remember the Holy Souls in daily family prayer, litanies, the Rosary, etc. Attend weekday Mass for the Holy Souls.

5) Perform a Holy Hour for the Holy Souls, either at home or organized at your church with pastoral permission (we will be posting one soon).

6) Obtain one of the plenary indulgences for the Year of Saint Joseph.

Wishing you blessings during this month of November…stay tuned for Part II…

November: Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory

November is dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. They are holy because they died in a state of grace, but still must be washed of all remnant of sin. They are in a state of suffering and need our prayers for alleviation and a speedy ascent to the Kingdom of Heaven. How much they desire and appreciate our prayers! Though All Souls Day is not a holy day of obligation, it’s still a wonderful idea to attend mass and offer for these souls, especially your loved ones. You can help make the image above, a reality.

We begin the month with All Saints Day. One thing that separates the saints from others, is their willingness to embrace possibility, rather than shrink from it. This takes great courage because the world continually discourages us from being all we can be. Holiness threatens those in power and their agenda. Right now, this is particularly true in the world.

November also gives us 3 Doctors of the Church and another notable theologian, Saint Gertrude the Great. She was a mystic, best known for the work, The Herald of Divine Love. Benedict XIV gave her the title “Great,” to distinguish her from another St. Gertrude (whom she knew personally) and probably because he thought she was great! She is the only woman saint to bear this title. It is appropriate her feast is in the month of November, since she was greatly dedicated to the souls in purgatory and is often invoked on their behalf.

By the end of this month, we will be in Advent! Let us prepare for our spiritual exercises of Advent and remember those of the Body of Christ, who remain suffering in the afterlife.

BTW, the TAN calendar states that Thanksgiving Day is a new feast. I have been unable to corroborate this in my research. If you have any info, please contact us above. Here are a few notable feasts this month:

1-ALL SAINTS DAY

2-All Souls Day

6-First Friday

7-First Saturday

10-Pope St. Leo the Great, Doctor, “Doctor of the Unity of the Church”

13-St. Francis Cabrini, 20th Century Saint

15-St. Albert the Great, Doctor, “The Universal Doctor”

16-St. Gertrude the Great

21-Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

22-CHRIST KING OF THE UNIVERSE / St. Cecilia, Patroness of Music

24-St. John of the Cross, Doctor, “Doctor of Mystical Theology”

29-First Sunday of ADVENT

30-St. Andrew, Apostle

This blog gives both old and new feasts

Image courtesy https://purgatorysouls.blogspot.com