November: Month of All Souls

All Souls Day is a holy day set aside for honoring the dead. November is also the month of All Souls. Here are some ways to honor All Souls this November:

1) Please remember your deceased loved ones. These people will be prayed for at every Mass in November. You may use the envelope for All Souls mailed to you (not registered? become a member here), or obtain an envelope from the church tables near each church door.
 2) Add your deceased loved one’s names to the Book of Life at Pietà inside our church.
 3) Grab a custom candle to light in honor of your deceased loved ones. Details here.

According to Catholic belief, the soul of a person who dies can go to one of three places. The first is heaven, where a person who dies in a state of perfect grace and communion with God goes. The second is hell, where those who die in a state of mortal sin are naturally condemned by their choice. The intermediate option is purgatory, which is thought to be where most people, free of mortal sin, but still in a state of lesser (venial) sin, must go.

Purgatory is necessary so that souls can be cleansed and perfected before they enter into heaven. There is scriptural basis for this belief. The primary reference is in 2 Maccabees, 12:26 and 12:32. "Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out... Thus made atonement for the dead that they might be free from sin."

Consistent with these teachings and traditions, Catholics believe that through the prayers of the faithful on Earth, the dead are cleansed of their sins so they may enter into heaven.

All Souls Day is celebrated in much of the western world on November 2. All Souls Day is not a holy day of obligation. It should not be confused with All Saints' Day, which is a holy day of obligation.

“…it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from sin.” —Maccabees 2