If you don't know what "Movember" is, it is a movement in Canada (it may be other places as well, but I only know for sure that it is in Canada) where men let their facial hair get a little wild. Millions of Canadian men & woman support this movement by proudly sporting moustaches, real or fake, all month. The point is to register https://www.movember.com/ca/register/and raise funds that go towards research of men's health issues, mainly prostate cancer and male mental health.
Needless to say, November is a very exciting month here in Canada! However, there is a bigger reason that this month is near and dear to my heart. In the Catholic Church, this month is designated to remembering the holy souls. We kick off the month by honouring All Saints Day (November 1st) and All Souls Day (November 2nd).
All Saints Day is a holy day on which we honour and celebrate all the saints that we have. I know a lot of people don't really get what Saints are. If you are not Catholic, or familiar with the teachings of the Catholic Church, this can be kind of confusing. Basically, a Saint is the term given to anyone who is in Heaven. Any person who dies and enters Heaven becomes a saint. Super cool business! Now the tricky part is that only a handful of saints are actually recognized.
The Catholic Church has specific, 'criteria', if you will, that has to be met in order for it to be confirmed that the soul of a person who has passed away is in fact in Heaven. Miracles that have happened in their name, etc. Many hours, days, months and years are spent investigating certain situation in which a person may be a saint. And, of course, there is a whole pile of praying involved.
Once the Church has decided that a certain person is to be declared a Saint the become "Blessed", for example, right now Pope John Paul II is Blessed Pope John Paul II. Then, the next step in Canonization. Which is a fancy word for saying they are now Saint <insert name here>.
*please note, this is just a very brief overview!
You can read up in the Cathechism of the Catholic Church
for more details, etc. You may also want to research on
http://www.catholic.com/browse. or chat with a priest, Brother or Sister!
This does not mean that the only people in Heaven are those who are canonized by the Catholic Church. There are people in Heaven who lived lives of holiness and who God was gracious enough to bring home to Him, that we will never know about until, God willing, we get there one day too.
Now, onto All Souls Day. This is a day on which we honour all the deceased members of our families, friends, and anyone really. When a person dies they can go to one of three places. Hell, Heaven or Purgatory. Obviously it is not my place to say who goes where, but I will explain this briefly.
Heaven- Fairly self explanatory. If you die with a pure, innocent soul you go to Heaven. So, wee babies who have yet to have sin (other than that of Origional Sin) go to Heaven. And, just basically, if your soul is entirely without blemish you meet God face-to-face. What an incredibly honour! Definitely worth living (& dying) for!
Purgatory- I would say that the majority of people who die and don't go to Hell, go here. Most of us will die with some sort of imperfection, no matter how large or small, on our soul. Purgatory offers a time for cleansing, and the length of time here depends on your soul, on your Earthly suffering, etc. The thing about these souls is that they cannot pray for their own souls to be released into Heaven. This means we have the beautiful honour and responsibility to pray for them so they can get closer to meeting Jesus. The souls here will go to Heaven, in time. It is like Heaven's waiting room in which we are prepared to meet our perfect King.
The following prayer was given, by Jesus, to St. Gertrude with the promise that each time it was said 1,000 souls would be released from Purgatory.
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.
Hell- I am not going to give this much attention, as I don't believe that Santan, or his Kingdom deserve even a mention. But, it does exist, and we need to be aware and very concious of that fact, but not live in crippling fear of it. Basically, if you die in a state of mortal sin http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catechism/catechism-of-the-catholic-church/epub/index.cfm you will go to Hell. Obviously I do not know every circumstance and only God will be the judge of that, but to the best of my knowledge, mortal sin=hell.
So, yes, that is what happens when you die. The Catholic Church has deemed November the month of the Holy Souls and so this is a time to visit graveyards and say some extra prayers for those who have passed away, especially those who were close to us and deceased members of our families. It is also a good idea to have Masses said for deceased members of your family, for your friends, or just for the holy souls in general. You can get Masses said any time of the year, but November is kind of a special time for souls.
Please, tuck in some prayers for the souls. I hope someone remembers to do that for me when I die!
Anyway, that is all I have for you today :)
As always, you're in my prayers.
E xo
Saint Gertrude, please pray for us!
No comments:
Post a Comment