All Saints' Day & All Souls' Day

All Saints' Day

The Feast of All Saints' Day on November 1st commemorates the Communion of Saints:  The Church Triumphant: those souls have are living in perfect union with God in Heaven, The Church Suffering: those souls who are suffering in Purgatory to cleanse their souls with hellfire with the hope of one day joining the perfected souls in Heaven, The Church Militant:  those souls on earth living in the state of Sanctifying Grace who are in their battle against sin.

 We celebrated with a big breakfast of martyrdom pancakes (pink pancakes with cooked strawberries) and St. Lawrence sausages.

 We see here that Pippin is putting our hard earned karate money to good use in trying to cut the roll of paper in 1/2 "hi-ya!"

 Later we went to an All Saints' Day party. Marigold dressed up as St. Kateri Tekakwitha.

 Poppy was St. Lucy, as usual, those were her eyes on the plate (though with the strap that looks like a nose it looks a bit like Elmo)

 Bilbo was St. George. Merry was St. Philip Neri and Pippin was St. Benedict.

 Lots of fun games and goodies.

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All Souls' Day

 It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.
2 Maccabees 11:46

On All Souls' Day we remember the souls suffering in Purgatory. They suffer the purging hellfire of intense suffering. Purgatory is the cleansing place for those who died with venial sin on their souls or those who have not fully made restitution for any sins committed. It is not enough to just confess one's sins, one must also do penance for the forgiven sins.

 We were blessed to attend a Pontifical Requiem Mass for All Souls' Day.

 The black "coffin" is a sarcophagus, adorned with a black requiem pall and surrounded by pure beeswax candles.  The magenta biretta is for the bishops and the black is for the priests. This Mass was offered for the deceased bishops and priests of our diocese.

 Frodo served as mitre bearer.

 Sam served as book bearer.

 The choir was absolutely beautiful.

 Every year our homeschooling group meets at the cemetery to pray for the dead.

We stopped at my father-in-law's grave site to pray for his soul.

Prayer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory
Our Lord told St. Gertrude that this prayer would release 1,000 souls from Purgatory each time it was said.
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy 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 family. Amen.