A Holy Life

The Faithful Departed

All Souls day

November 02

The Church has encouraged prayer for the dead from the earliest times as an act of Christian charity. "If we had no care for the dead," Augustine noted, "we would not be in the habit of praying for them." In the early Middle Ages monastic communities began to mark an annual day of prayer for the departed members. In the middle of the 11th century, St. Odilo, abbot of Cluny (France), decreed that all Cluniac monasteries offer special prayers and sing the Office for the Dead on November 2, the day after the feast of All Saints. The custom spread from Cluny and was finally adopted throughout the Roman Church. The theological underpinning of the feast is the acknowledgment of human frailty. Since few people achieve perfection in this life but, rather, go to the grave still scarred with traces of sinfulness, some period of purification is necessary before a soul comes face-to-face with God. The Council of Trent affirmed this purgatory state and insisted that the prayers of the living can speed the process of purification.

Sources for this article were taken from:  AmericanCatholic.org

 

Prayer

Merciful Father,
hear our prayer and console us.
As we renew our faith in Your Son,
whom You raised from the dead,
strengthen our hope
that all our departed brothers and sisters
will share in His resurrection,
who lives and reigns
with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen

Eternal Rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.

 

 

Chaplet of The Holy Souls

This Chaplet can be prayed on a set of Rosary Beads.
Begin with: The Creed, then 1 Our Father, 3 Hail Marys,
1 Glory Be for the Pope's intentions.

On the large beads of the Rosary recite:

"O holy Souls draw the fire of God's love into my soul to reveal Jesus crucified in me here on earth rather than hereafter in Purgatory. Amen."

On the small beads of the Rosary recite:

"Crucified Lord Jesus, have mercy on the souls in Purgatory. Amen."

At the end of the entire prayer: (3 times)

"Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be.
Amen."

Prayer: Just as Jesus died and rose again, so will the Father bring with him those who have died in Jesus. Just as in Adam all men die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

God our Father, we ask that you hear our prayers and bring us some consolation in our lives. As we remember in our prayers all of our loved ones who have died, we pray that they will have received the promise of eternal life and that they are with you in experiencing the joy of heaven. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.