November 2 + All Souls Day

All Souls Day is a holy day set aside to pray for all of those who have died and in particular, to pray for the souls who are in purgatory, undergoing a process of purification before entering heaven. May our prayers be heard and accepted especially for those who have no one to pray for them.

According to the tradition of the Church, 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 and attain the beatific vision. There is scriptural basis for this belief. The primary reference is in 2 Maccabees, 12:26 and 12:32. Additional references are found in Zechariah, Sirach, and the Gospel of Matthew.

One of the most famous prayers for those in purgatory is the prayer of Saint Gertrude the Great, a 13th century German Benedictine nun. According to tradition, God revealed to the nun that the following prayer would release 1,000 souls from purgatory every time it is said:

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 family. Amen.