Newsletter 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) 8th November, 2026
GOSPEL REFLECTION
ALL SOULS: November is the month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory. There is evidence in Scripture that there is Purgatory. In the Old Testament 2nd Maccabees 12:46 says, "it is a holy and wholesome thing to pray for the dead ..." The Jews believe in Purgatory. For example, Jews recite a prayer called ‘Mourner’s Kaddish’ for eleven months after the death of a dead person, so that they be freed from Purgatory. Purgatory is not an invention of the Catholic Church. In the New Testament Our Blessed Lord spoke about Purgatory. For example: Our Blessed Lord said: "the sin against the Holy Spirit would not be forgiven in this life or in the next," meaning that some sin is forgiven in the next life. In Heaven there are no sins to forgive. In hell, the souls don't want their sins to be forgiven. Therefore, there must be another place after death, where sins can be forgiven. The only prayers that can help the souls in Purgatory are the prayers of us who are still living on this earth. The souls in Purgatory cannot do anything more through their own prayers to release themselves from Purgatory. The Holy Souls are already praying and suffering as much as they can to be released. For this reason, the holy souls plead for us to pray and make sacrifices for them. We need to give all our heart to prayers and sacrifices for the souls in Purgatory. The State of Purgatory: St Augustine: "The time of Purgatory will be more painful than anything man can suffer in this present life." St Catherine of Genoa was given a vision of purgatory: "The souls in Purgatory endure a pain which no tongue can describe, and no intelligence comprehend." St Catherine described purgatory as God’s love. The ‘fire’ is God’s love which purifies the soul from their sins and leads them to true contrition. There are many reports of souls in Purgatory who have experiences of fire. For example: There was a French nun in Purgatory who appeared to her nuns in their Convent. She put her hands on a cupboard door leaving her handprint and fingerprint burnt into the door. These stories and many others are verified and kept in the "Museum of Purgatory" in the Vatican. The chief pain in Purgatory is the pain of separation from God. At Judgment, the Holy Souls, have an experience of God. To be deprived of His Presence, after experiencing Him, is an unimaginable pain. Even though the pains in Purgatory are great, the souls in Purgatory are prepared to accept their pains because having experienced Our Blessed Lord at Judgment, they want to be in Purgatory to repair or make up for their sins, and they are prepared to suffer any pain knowing that, through this pain they will be rewarded by being with Our Lord again and experience His love. When we pray for the souls in Purgatory the souls in Purgatory pray for us and their prayers are very, very powerful. Their prayers are powerful because their suffering is great. For example, St Catherine of Bologna said that whatever favour she asked through the souls in Purgatory she was granted immediately. So, whatever need you have, ask the intercession of the Holy Souls. EXTRA: A French maid from a country town made a commitment to God to offer one Mass per month for the holy souls. She earned little. On one occasion she travelled to Paris with her mistress. In Paris she fell ill and was hospitalised for a long period of time. So long, that her mistress went on ahead back to her home in the country. The maid, when well enough to leave hospital, had only one franc. She realized that she had not made her usual monthly offering. She went into a church and gave her franc to a priest for the Mass offering. The maid did not know anyone in Paris and she had no money. In her distress a young man took her to a house and told her ask for work. A lady answered the door, and the maid told her about the young man who had sent her here to ask for work. The lady was amazed because only a few minutes earlier she had dismissed her maid and at a moment's notice, so, it was impossible that anyone could have known that she was looking for another maid. "Impossible!" exclaimed the lady, "No young man, no one at all, could have known that I needed a maid." "Madam," the girl answered, "that's the young man who told me." She pointed to a picture on the wall. "Why child, that is my only son who has been dead for more than a year." “Dead or not," asserted the girl with deep conviction in her voice, "it was he who told me to come to you; he even led me to the door. See the scar over his eye. I would know him anywhere." Then followed the full story of how she had Mass offered with her last franc. Convinced of what the maid told her, the lady received her with open arms -not as a maid, but as a daughter, "You have sent my darling boy to Heaven." Another story of the generosity of the Holy Souls to those who pray for them. A Polish peasant died. His devoted wife wished to have Holy Mass celebrated for the deliverance of his poor soul. Being poor, she went to see a rich man who as an unbeliever and humbly asked him to help her; the gentleman felt compassion for her and gave her some money. The Holy Mass was offered. A few days later, God permitted that the departed peasant should appear to the rich man and say: “I thank you kind sir for the alms you gave to my wife towards the offering of the Holy Sacrifice, this Holy Mass has delivered my soul from Purgatory, and not in gratitude for your charity, I am sent by Our Lord to tell you that your death is near, and that you should be reconciled to God.” The rich man profited by the warning was converted and died shortly after. The souls in Purgatory look on us with remorse, if not despair, because those of us who live our faith only lukewarmly are making the same mistake that they made. St Catherine of Genoa said: "The souls in Purgatory, look down on us and say: "O wretched creatures, why are you so blindly attached to the things that pass? Why not make provision for the future?" Sr Mary Gabriel appeared to her Religious Sisters from 1874 to 1890. She was in Purgatory. She said: “Use every minute well, as each is an opportunity to merit Heaven and escape Purgatory. Oh, if we had 5 minutes of the time you waste thinking about yourself, what we would do for Him for whom we yearn so ardently.” So, what should we do to release souls from Purgatory? 1. As often as possible pray and make sacrifices. Also, offer all one's daily trials or sufferings for these souls, especially during the month of November. 2. Have a Mass said for the souls in Purgatory. EXTRA: Blessed Henry made an agreement with a friend that if one of them were to die the other would offer two Masses a week for his soul. The other died first. Blessed Henry immediately commenced offering up two Masses a week for his soul. After a long time when Blessed Henry felt that his friend had gone to Heaven, Blessed Henry ceased the Mass offerings. Later the friend appeared to Blessed Henry to tell him that he was still in Purgatory. Blessed Henry told him that even though he had stopped the offerings at Mass he had often prayed for his friend. The friend said the Mass is the most powerful prayer for releasing souls out of Purgatory. Blessed Henry then continued the practice of offering two Masses a week for his friend. Soon after he was visited again by his friend, but this time he was in Heaven. 3. Make a plenary indulgence. Plenary Indulgence: A Plenary Indulgence can be offered for oneself or for a soul in purgatory. When offered for a soul in Purgatory that soul may go to Heaven. How to gain a Plenary Indulgence on a particular day: 1. Holy Communion. 2. Sacrament of Reconciliation once every two weeks. (Within 7 days before or after). If one intends to gain a Plenary Indulgence almost every day a single monthly Sacramental Confession suffices. 3. Prayer for the Pope's intentions, (i.e. An 'Our Father.") 4. A work: a) The Rosary (5 Decades) prayed with at least one other person or in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, or b) The Stations or, c) 30 minutes before the Blessed Sacrament or, d) Visit the sick or the imprisoned, or the elderly, or the lonely or anyone in need or, e) Act of abstinence, almsgiving or, f) There are also other works. (On All Souls days instead of a work you only need to pray the Creed in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.) or, g) From November 1 to 8, visit a cemetery. Only one Plenary Indulgence can be granted per day. Therefore, we should do all we can to try to fulfill the conditions for a plenary indulgence each day. During November one Mass per day will be offered for the souls recorded in the Parish Remembrance Book. A recommended donation for the entire month is $15.00. You may record as many people as you like for $15.00. The St Gertrude Prayer: The Church says that many, perhaps one thousand souls, will be released by this prayer: “Eternal Father, I offer You the Most Precious Blood of Your 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 own family.” Amen.
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