The month of November is traditionally dedicated to the Holy Souls. What do we know about them? Well, the very adjective the Church uses to describe them is significant: though not yet in Heaven, they are ‘Holy’.
"The Holy Souls are called Holy because they are on their way to Heaven, with no risk at all of failing to reach that goal. While they were still on earth as members of the Church Militant, they were already destined for the Beatific Vision, but like ourselves now, they were free not to answer such a wonderful calling.
-Fr. Armand de Malleray, "The Holy Souls in Purgatory: A meditation for the Month of the Holy Souls"
[Prayer of St. Gertrude the Great] This prayer was given to St. Gertrude the Great (1256-1302) by Our Lord,
who told St. Gertrude that 1000 souls will be released from Purgatory each time it is said. It was extended to include living sinners as well.
"Eternal Father, I offer Thee
the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus,
in union with the Masses said throughout the world today,
for all the holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere,
for sinners in the Universal Church, those in my own home
and within my own family. Amen."
Monday is the day of my first paper, Public Law.. It is also the anniversary of my Confirmation, and the feast of Bl. Helen of Hungary, and the dedication of St. John Lateran, the Pope's Cathedral!
There's going to be Faith on Tap that evening [Looking for Love in all the RIGHT Places] - sure hope I can make it!
The following day will be my Constitutional Law paper and the feast of Pope St. Leo the Great, patron of the college next door to mine; then I'll have Criminal Law on the feast of Pope St. Nicholas the Great; and finally Torts on the feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, patron against earthquakes, floods and a patron of lost causes!
And I shall be home on the feast of Christ the King.
We have loved them in life, let us not forget them in death. St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
Those who believe are never alone - neither in life nor in death. Pope Benedict XVI
Remember we are but travellers here. Bl. Mary MacKillop, 1866
