"Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him..." (Revelation 3:20) A collection of my Sunday homilies for Holy Mass as well as some occasional talks and reflections. May my words enable you to hear the voice of Christ, who asks that you open the door to Him. Please share this podcast with others if you benefit from listening to it.
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10:21
November 2nd is All Souls Day. This is a day on which we can gain a plenary indulgence for a soul in Purgatory and, through the mercy of God, obtain that soul's entry into the blessedness and glory of Heaven. It is also possible to do this between Nov 1st and 8th, and because of Covid, this year the Church has extended that for the whole of the month of November. Pray for the Holy Souls. One day we may need the prayers of the Church Militant for our entry into heaven.
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November the second is All Souls Day, following All Saints Day on November the first. This is the day on which we pray for the church suffering, the holy souls in purgatory. It is a reality that most of us will die not in complete friendship with God, in other words, some residue or mark or effect of sin still operative in our lives. Please God we will not die in mortal sin, which is a complete break of friendship with God and leads to an eternity in hell. When we die with some satisfaction is the word sometimes we use, some repayment if you like, some need for cleansing and healing, then our soul goes to purgatory. It is a punishment in a sense, but it's not an eternal punishment, purgatory will come to an end, and our time in purgatory for each soul will come to an end. From the earliest times of the church and even back into the Old Testament in the book of Maccabees, there is an under there has been an understanding, and there still is an understanding that a soul may need to be cleansed to enter into the presence of God. To be in the presence of God and still have an effect or residue of sin would lead to great unhappiness. And God doesn't want that for us. He wants us to be completely and happily and purely in His presence. Those of us who are still on earth are able to offer prayers and penances, and of course the Holy Mass, for the benefit of the souls in purgatory. And one of the ways that this is done is by the Church granting an indulgence, particularly on All Souls Day, but for other days of November as well, as I'll explain shortly. What is an indulgence? Well, it is a remission in the eyes of God of the temporal punishment, that means the punishment of time, due to sins that have already been forgiven in the sacrament of penance. So in other words, the sin has been forgiven, and all guilt and all culpability for that sin has been taken away. But still there is some something, some time to make up to heal the wound of the sin. So we who are still on earth, when we are rightly disposed and observe the definite and prescribed conditions that the church sets out, gain this remission in the eyes of God of temporal punishment due to sin. Through the assistance of the church, because Christ has made the church the minister of redemption, he has authoritatively given to the church the power to forgive sins and also to take away the effects of sin. So the Church in the name of Christ, in the authority given to her, not that she has of her own right, but in the authority given to her, the Church distributes and applies the treasury of Christ's saving death on the cross, which made up for all the sins of the world that would ever be committed. And also it joins in the merits of the saints who are in heaven. So an indulgence is to comes in two forms. It can be plenary, which means it takes away all the temporal punishment due to sin, or it can be partial, takes away some. Now, the gaining of an indulgence, whether partial or plenary, is usually for the person who does the particular act and has the right dispositions, but on all souls day and in the month of November, we are able to apply that plenary indulgence to a soul in purgatory. We can have the soul of a loved one or a person we've known in this life in our mind as we do the indulgenced work, so that we wish to gain the plenary indulgence for them or the partial indulgence. But ultimately we leave it up to God. God in his mercy may distribute it to whoever is in most in need. So on All Souls Day, the first of November, a plenary indulgence is able to be gained by visiting a church or an oratory and doing the particular indulgenced act, and that is, and I'll come to that in a moment. So in other words, we can't do it in our bedroom, or we can't do it as we're driving the car. We have to physically go into the church or an oratory in front of the Blessed Sacrament, and we are expected to recite the Lord's Prayer and the Creed, can be the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed. And then the usual conditions are attached for any plenary indulgence, which is we must have an attitude of mind and soul that we wish to exclude all attachment to sin. We must have been to Holy Communion on that day, and also we must have gone to confession either on that day or twenty days around that day. And then we must pray for the Pope's intentions, which is usually in our Father or Hail Mary. Now it's fitting that the reception of Holy Communion take place on the day that the indulgenced work is performed, but the confession can happen on another day because we have that latitude of twenty days. So just to go over that again to make it clear, on November the second we must receive Holy Communion on that day. We must then go to a church, say the Lord's Prayer, and recite the Creed. We must have an attitude of exclusion of all attachment to sin. We must have been to confession recently or intend to go in the near future, around about twenty days, either side, and then we must pray for the Pope's intentions. Also, between the first of November and the 8th of November, however, this year again because of COVID-19, the church has said the whole of November is indulgence for doing this. If we visit a cemetery and we devoutly visit the cemetery, not just to look at the graves, and we pray for the dead, then we are able to gain a plenary indulgence for one soul in purgatory. And again the same conditions apply for a plenary indulgence. Go to communion on that day, go to confession on that day, or within twenty days before it, or twenty days after it, have an exclusion of all attachment to sin and pray for the Pope's intentions. And then the indulgence is plenary. If one of those conditions we can't meet, for instance, we can't get to Holy Communion on that day, but we visit a cemetery and pray for the dead, the indulgence becomes partial. There's no stipulation on what prayer it has to be for the dead when the cemetery is visited. It simply says to pray for the dead. So you might say a decade of the rosary, for instance. Or you might say three times eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. So I encourage you to enter into the spirit of praying for the holy souls in purgatory on the 2nd of November, and also between the 1st and the 8th of November, or if that is difficult for you for any day in the whole month of November, and see if you can gain a pleaner indulgence for a soul in purgatory, and if not, a partial indulgence. Let us see if we can get many, many souls to heaven through this month of the Holy Souls, the month of November. God bless you all, and let us pray for the holy souls.
