“The just encounter God in death. He calls them to himself so as to share eternal life with them. No one, however, can be received into God’s friendship and intimacy without having been purified of the consequences of personal sin. … Hence derives the pious custom of suffrage for the souls of the faithful departed, which is an urgent supplication of God to have mercy on the souls of the dead, to purify them by the fire of His charity, and to bring them to His kingdom of light and life.” (Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, no. 251). This central place in our Faith given to prayer for the departed finds special expression in this month of November. The supreme act of intercession for the Holy Souls is the Holy Mass; the Rosary and other devotions are also important forms of prayer to this end. In this month we also recall that we can choose to apply indulgences to the Holy Souls; this is a particular expression of that act of faith, of hope, and of charity, in which prayer for the dead consists. For us at St Bernadette’s, we note a special focus of our November prayers in the form of our pious list (now located to your left as you enter through the main door of the church). May this month renew and strengthen in us the devout practice of prayer for the dead and unite us by faith and in love to all the holy souls who await the joy of paradise.
A meditation for the month of the Holy Souls
“… we renew the hope in eternal life, truly founded on Christ’s death and Resurrection. ‘I am risen and I am with you always’, the Lord tells us, and my hand supports you. Wherever you may fall, you will fall into my hands and I will be there even to the gates of death. Where no one can accompany you any longer and where you can take nothing with you, there I will wait for you to transform for you the darkness into light. Christian hope, however, is not solely individual, it is also always a hope for others. Our lives are profoundly linked, one to the other, and the good and the bad that each of us does always effects others too. Hence, the prayer of a pilgrim soul in the world can help another soul that is being purified after death. This is why the Church invites us … to pray for our beloved deceased and to pause at their tombs in the cemeteries. Mary, Star of Hope, renders our faith in eternal life stronger and more authentic, and supports our prayer of suffrage for our deceased brethren.” (Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus Address, 2nd November 2008)