November - Month of All Souls

I love the Catholic liturgical year and how as we are missing those loved ones who have gone before us as we enter into Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas that we have All Saints Day, All Souls Day and the month of All Souls to focus on praying for them.  Yet, if you are like me and have young children, it also brings up questions as how to explain the concept of purgatory, heaven and hell to them!  The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism, Part 3, Section 33 says that in understanding Purgatory we must be willing to suffer for a while and that "Our Lord cleanses us as a washing machine cleans clothes so that our souls will be entirely clean."  Even when we are sorry and repent our sins, Purgatory is still God's way of forgiving us, loving us and showing us His mercy and justice.  But that's still pretty heavy stuff, right?  Well, I like that we start with All Saints Day!

Celebrating All Saints Day!
(I made our banner in two parts so we can continue to use the
"Happy Feast of" for other Feast Days throughout the year)

Some of the books we focus on to learn about the Saints

We celebrate All Saints Day on November 1st in the Catholic Church and it has become on of our favorite feast days!  Our kids call the Saints "Jesus's Super Hero's", and living in a house with three boys super hero's are a pretty big deal around here! We try to learn about and celebrate the saints throughout the year, but All Saints Day is one day where we can focus on this choir of angels in prayer and thanksgiving to their amazing works.  To start introducing Saints into our "domestic church" we started celebrating our Feast Name Days!  The kids love these days to learn more about the saints that they were named after and enjoy having another special day, other than their birthdays to celebrate.  We also initially added celebrations for Saints of the "typical holidays" like St Nicholas, St Valentine, and St Patrick to add more meaning and Catholic tradition to our holiday celebrations.  As we continue to live out the liturgical year we have added celebrating the Feast Days of: St Francis, St Pope John Paul II, Guardian Angels, St Lucy, St Cecelia and others who have special meaning to our lives.  Part of the beauty of the Catholic Church is learning about how many role models we have and how many people we have praying for us in heaven!




Feast of St Matthew - September 21st
(Ryan Matthew)



Feast of St James - July 25th
(Connor James)

Feast of St Luke - October 18th
(Luke Daniel)

We celebrate All Souls Day on November 2nd, which is when we celebrate "all the faithful departed".  We took this day to go to the nearby Catholic cemetery to say our daily decade of the Rosary.  I realized this was our children's first trip to a cemetery.  We have been so blessed that not that many people close to us have passed away in the past 5 years since we have started our family.  Our oldest sons were mesmerized by the pure amount of tombstones at the cemetery.  This was a great way to open the discussion to how many people they think might be in heaven.  Our local priest, Father Roza gave a wonderful homily talking about how we need to continue to pray for loved ones who have passed because we never know when they enter heaven from purgatory.  This gave us the chance to talk to the boys about how important it is to continue to pray for all the people who we love.


Visiting the local Catholic cemetery

So then November 1st and 2nd are over, but we still have the rest of the Month of All Souls before us.  So now what? Well, now we pray!  Pray, pray, pray!  We found this great little printout in
A Year with God: Celebrating the Liturgical Year that gives us a place to pray for people who have died all month of November.  It also says that "During the month, offer to God sacrifices, good deeds, and prayers for the Poor Souls.  Your offerings could include attending Holy Mass, persevering in a difficult school subject, or going without a piece of candy."  This has been a great way for us to continue the Month of All Souls praying for those who have gone before us. 

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