Letter from the Pastor
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November 2, 2025I’ve always admired the wisdom of the Church. It is not in the “dead” of winter that the Church commemorates the faithful departed; rather it is in the transitional season of autumn. For that is what death is, not final but transitional.
Today the Church commemorates All Souls. We pray for those souls of the faithful departed who are being purified in preparation for the complete happiness and glory of seeing God and being with Him for all eternity. It is not a day of sorrow or grief, for they are saved; the full joy of heaven awaits them. Yesterday, we celebrated the Saints in glory, whose souls are in heaven, today we pray for those in waiting. We don’t know how the Holy Souls experience “time” in Purgatory. We know they endure a “purifying fire.” We know, too, that whatever this “fire” is like, it is entirely different from the fires of Hell. One of the saints wrote the purifying fire of Purgatory is the fire of longing, longing for your beloved, who you can’t see or be with. I like that explanation.
Aside from those the Church has beatified or canonized, we can't know who is in Heaven, who is in Purgatory, or who is damned. We should pray for the dead for the rest of our lives. As in this life, we can’t judge the state of someone’s soul; even more in death we can’t judge a soul. That is reserved to God alone. So then we may assume they are in Purgatory, we hope they are in Heaven and not that other place.
Praying for the dead is a practice from the ancient Hebrews, and a practice maintained by Christians since the beginning of the Church. There are inscriptions found in the catacombs, asking for prayers for souls and the souls of loved ones.
We also should ask those who have died to pray for us. While those whom the Church has deemed to be of the Church Triumphant (the canonized Saints) are in Heaven for certain and are, therefore, in no need of our prayers, we should ask for them to pray for us.
The most powerful prayer of course is the Mass. Masses for the dead have infinite value for the souls of the departed. They also have great value for the family of the deceased; it is comforting to know that Masses are being offered for our departed loved ones. When someone dies, it is customary to get a Mass Card and present it to the family at the wake. One should also offer Mass for family members who have died. We will offer a novena (9 days) of Masses for all those who have died from our parish this past year, and those you enrolled in the Novena of Masses.
Remember, death does not end the bonds of love and affection. They have left this earthly life to begin a new life in eternity; they are born again to eternal life. We are always united and connected to our loved ones. They never leave us. In this beautiful transitional season of autumn, we turn our prayers and attention to our beloved dead, the faithful departed.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.And let the perpetual light shine upon them.May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.Amen.
At the 10:30 AM Mass today, we welcome our CYO athletes, their parents, coaches, and Board. Afterwards they will gather in our school gym for a light breakfast. Our CYO program is large with well over 250 children involved with 22 teams. Good Luck this Season.