Month of November

All Souls

Sometimes All Souls Day falls on a Sunday and when it does, it takes precedence over the ordinary Sunday liturgy, important as that liturgy is. What this reflects is the Church’s continuing care for all the faithful, including those who have departed this life and still may not have reached their definitive destination of heaven.

On All Souls Day we join forces in prayer and in the offering of Mass as suffrages for these persons who may include  relatives and friends of ours. It is the Church’s firm belief that God’s mercy provides those who die repentant but still in need of purification and amendment with a further remedy. They enter a state which we commonly call purgatory. In this state they undergo a process of painful purification while at the same time they satisfy a demand of justice.

Personal sins are actions, words or consented thoughts and desires that offend against God’s love and either directly or indirectly harm others as well. What is more, they inevitably cause a person harm in their inner being or spiritual self. One may say that they deform the image of God in which we are created. Of course, this goes more often than not unnoticed, at least for some time. In fact, the person usually considers they have acted in their own interest, or that they have succeeded in enjoying some pleasure, or have avoided some difficulty or suffering. But by acting against God’s love, they have been diminished as far as the true measure of a human life is concerned. Scripture points out that even just or holy men and women have known sin in their lives. What keeps them just or holy is not the fact that they never sin, but that they react against their sins as often as they find they have committed them. They turn back to God with repentance. They try to make amends, even when this costs a good deal of effort. They are prepared to do penance in the form of prayer, voluntary self-denial or the patient bearing of some hardship. They trust in God’s forgiveness. They seek his help, his grace in avoiding similar offences in the future. This is what Job, whose trust in God is so clearly expressed in the first reading, eventually did. As a result, he returned to an even deeper sense of friendship with God than that from which he fell. A person who lives this way normally ends up sinning less and less, and moves towards personal holiness. However, if they do not, then sin takes its toll. If they die repentant but without making amends, then this must be done after death. This is    purgatory, which for us remains largely mysterious. However, one should not doubt that it exists and that, due to moral failings we neglect to overcome with God’s grace, anyone of us could find ourselves there. 

Getting back to where we started, All Souls Day gives us the opportunity to renew our prayer for those who have died, in case they are still in this state of purgation. The best way we know of praying for them is to offer Mass on their behalf. This kind of ‘suffrage’ bases itself directly on Christ’s redeeming Sacrifice on Calvary, while including something we add
ourselves – the sincere desire to see their time of separation from God and the other joys of heaven ended. Finally, let it be noted that if our suffrages are not needed for particular persons we have in mind, they will benefit others. Our charitable action, on the other hand, will represent a real benefit even for ourselves since sincere love for others brings us closer to Christ and makes up for our own sins. “Happy the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them.”

Mass Requests

To request a Mass to be offered for the Holy Souls at Saint Mary’s, please use the Mass Offering envelopes at the back of the church. Please indicate the name of the deceased person(s) for which the Mass will be offered and leave the stipend for the priest: either cash in the envelope or use the tap and go terminal and indicate the amount on the envelope. The stipend or offering is a small monetary gift that is customary to help support the priest and
church. The intention will be mentioned only when the family have arranged with the priest a date for the celebration and will be present at the Mass.