At this time of year nature begins her long sleep of Winter, awaiting its resurrection next Spring. How appropriate this Feast now with its message of detachment from material things before ascending to the riches of an Eternal Spring.
The Epistle lifts the veil, beholding “a great multitude which no man could number” entering Heaven. Oh, the comforting thought that it is a great multitude! This view and foretaste of Heaven calls for work to be done on earth. The Gospel, therefore, sets forth the laws of entrance, the Eight Beatitudes, which make us “blessed,” that is “happy” clearly proving that the Christian Life is not a “giving up” of present things but rather an “exchange” of natural for supernatural things de-signed to merge sooner or later with those blessings of beatific vision and beatific union, eternal, without end.
All Souls Day – Monday 2nd November
Each priest is free to say 3 Masses of the Dead today. A stipend may be accepted for only one Mass of the day by priests, and the second and third Masses must be offered for the Poor Souls in Purgatory and Intentions of the Holy Father respectively. All Souls was formerly a Holy Day which was downgraded to a I cl. feast day. Yet, one puts his spiritual welfare in jeopardy by not praying at Mass for those who have gone before that they may be released from the pains of Purgatory, identical in suffering to the pains of hell, though not eternal in duration. The Holy Souls have hope and confidence of entering into the Beatific Vision when they are cleansed of sin. Think of the importance of venial sin to God which makes one impure and unable to go immediately into Heaven. Some Souls will suffer until the end of time. Vespers of the Dead may be said where it is the custom.
On All Souls’ Day a plenary indulgence, applicable only to the Holy Souls, is granted to those who visit any parish church or public oratory and there recite the Our Father and the Creed once.
This year, because of the ongoing pandemic, you can obtain a plenary indulgence for the faithful departed not just in the week from 1st to 8th November, but on any particular day during the whole month of November, for a total of eight days, which need not be consecutive. The indulgence is granted to those who visit a cemetery and pray, even if only mentally, for the departed. The usual conditions for indulgences apply:
- Only one plenary indulgence can be granted per day.
- It is necessary to be in the state of grace, at least by the time the work is completed.
- Freedom from attachment to sin, even venial sin, is necessary; by this is meant attachment to a particular sin, not sin in general. Otherwise the indulgence is only partial.
- Holy Communion must be received each time the indulgence is sought.
- Prayers must be recited for the intentions of the Holy Father on each day the indulgence is sought. No particular prayers are prescribed. One Our Father and Hail Mary suffice.
- A sacramental confession must be made within a week of completion of the prescribed work. One confession made during the week, made with the intention of gaining all the indulgences, suffices.