Commemoration of All Souls

Today is a feast day!

The Day of the Dead, William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905)

Today we dedicate our prayers in suffrage for the souls in purgatory, still being purified of the remains of sin. Our ties with deceased relatives and friends do not end with their death. Priests can celebrate Mass three times on this day for their benefit, and all the faithful can gain special indulgences to expedite their entrance into heaven.

In Conversation with God, Vol. 7

Here is the translation of the beautiful, yet mournful music for the day which I heard at Pray As You Go a few years ago. It touched my heart and made me contemplate more deeply the mysteries of faith, life, and death.

Free the souls of all the faithful departed.
Free them from the pains of hell.
Free them from the deep pit.
Free them from the lion's mouth.
Make them pass from death to life.

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As I listen, I may want to pray too for the people I know who have died or perhaps to contemplate in these moments the ultimate hope that God offers me of freedom from all things that threaten and trouble me: the promise God makes me of eternal life.

This dovetailed with the reading from today that touched my heart most, surprisingly, to me, from Wisdom. Reading it line by line, I felt that ache of missing those I love, but the surety that God offers for the faithful departed.

Wis 3:1-9

The souls of the just are in the hand of God,
and no torment shall touch them.

They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;
and their passing away was thought an affliction
and their going forth from us, utter destruction.

But they are in peace.
For if before men, indeed, they be punished,
yet is their hope full of immortality;
chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,
because God tried them
and found them worthy of himself.

As gold in the furnace, he proved them,
and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.
In the time of their visitation they shall shine,
and shall dart about as sparks through stubble;
they shall judge nations and rule over peoples,
and the LORD shall be their King forever.

Those who trust in him shall understand truth,
and the faithful shall abide with him in love:
because grace and mercy are with his holy ones,
and his care is with his elect.

I think today of my beloved dead. I love them and I miss them. Certainly, I pray for them to be happy and joyful in Heaven. And I long to see God's face ... which is a surprising longing for me to be experiencing. But one which I accept gratefully.

• Our two unborn children 
• Dad
• GG
• Raymond
• Thelma
• Grandmama
• Deedah
• Tom's father
• Tom's mother
• Mrs. Ford
• Robin Ford
• Jeanmarie
• Sydney
• Matthew
  
• Ivar
  
• Dorsey
• Dorsey's mother
• Carole
• Heath
• Phyllis
• Alberta
• Aunt Laura
• Uncle Adolph
• Mark (Tom's cousin)
• Harry Steven
• Johnny Falcon
• Maggie Garcia
• Sarah Arnold
• Gregg Margarite
• Phyllis
• Jack
• Diane
• June
• Reisha
• Marshall
• Kathy
• Diana
• Diane and David Dozier
  
• Aunt Joan 
• Aunt CB
• Jenny Colvin
  
• Ted Walch
• John Michael Davis
• Aunt Beverly
• Annabelle Catterall
  
• Don Edinburgh

Rest Eternal Grant Them, Lord!
Take we up the touching burden of November plaints,
Pleading for the Holy Souls, God’s yet uncrowned Saints.
Still unpaid to our departed is the debt we owe;
Still unransomed, some are pining, sore oppressed with woe.
Friends we loved and vowed to cherish call us in their need:
Prove we now our love was real, true in word and deed.
“Rest eternal grant them, Lord!” full often let us pray—
“Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine!”

Here is a litany for the souls in Purgatory.

You can read more about All Souls' Day here. For those with any questions about Purgatory I posted this extremely basic explanation a while back.

Catholic Culture explains indulgences and practices that Catholics can do during the month of November for the Poor Souls in Purgatory.

Praying for Those Forgotten Souls in Purgatory ... No Matter Who They Are

I remember when Rose, a few years ago, suddenly had the realization in Mass (maybe during one of the Holy Week masses?) that Hitler and Stalin might have had sudden last minute realizations of the enormity of their sins ... and repented.

She was gripped with sorrow in case of that event and began praying for their souls.

This was a powerful moment for me because I'd always had a tender spot for those holy souls in Purgatory who had no one to pray for them. However, I'd always thought of them as someone much like the little match girl in Hans Christian Andersen's story. Huddled in a corner, everyone they knew was gone, and no one left to pray for them.

It hadn't occurred to me that those forgotten souls might be forgotten because it never would have occurred to anyone that someone so evil in life might have repented and now be in need of prayers while in Purgatory.

It dovetailed nicely though with one of my favorite images from Madeleine L'Engles meditations in one of her books (and I can't remember which one right now, but aren't we glad I wrote it down to remember?).

... There is an old legend that after his death Judas found himself at the bottom of a deep and slimy pit. For thousands of years he wept his repentance, and when the tears were finally spent he looked up and saw, way, way up, a tiny glimmer of light. After he had contemplated it for another thousand years or so, he began to try to climb up towards it. The walls of the pit were dank and slimy, and he kept slipping back down. Finally, after great effort, he neared the top, and then he slipped and fell all the way back down. It took him many years to recover, all the time weeping bitter tears of grief and repentance, and then he started to climb up again. After many more falls and efforts and failures he reached the top and dragged himself into an upper room with twelve people seated around a table. "We've been waiting for you, Judas," Jesus said. "We couldn't begin till you came."

Why do I bring all this up?

It came inexorably to mind when Frank at Why I Am Catholic began considering the fact that Vlad the Impaler was Catholic. You know him, right? Vlad Dracul III? Dracula? The real one.

As always Frank's cogitations are good ones. Go read. Think. And don't forget to pray for those forgotten souls. Whoever they are.