As a priest during this season of November I often feel that I am on a watchtower in the vineyard of the Lord, spying out the Last Things that seem to be coming over the horizon and calling to the people that winter is coming.

November is chosen for the month of the Poor Souls not just because of All Souls’ Day. The timing reflects the autumn season of the Northern Hemisphere; the harvests are in, growing season is ending, leaves changing colour and falling, animals preparing for winter and the days shorten. Autumn gives a feeling of end times and a reminder of our mortality. The Church year also is coming to an end. The readings in these last days of the Liturgical Year focus on the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell.

Many, even Christians, fear death and try to keep the very thought of it far from their minds. This is very understandable for anyone who believes that death is the end. To a certain degree it is understandable in the case of the believer or the Christian, whose conscience is not at peace with God. The latter, however, has the means of removing his fears by removing his sins, and by putting himself right with the Lord.

The normal, pious Christian should see death as what it is, an end of his time of probation and the door to his eternal reward. It is not normal for a student to dread his graduation day. Death for the God-fearing, honest Christian is graduation day. Therefore, no Christian should be afraid of it. But, we forget that our bodies are mortal and before the approach of death the body itself has a sense of death, a fear, a trembling, what the Greeks called Phobos. It is this Phobos that brings about in our bodies a great trembling and the buckling of our limbs as death approaches. It is this Phobos that Spartans sought to overcome in training for battle as they were forged to be a band of brothers so that they would fight to save the brothers beside them whom they had grown to love and it is this love that alone could overcome phobos . It is this phobos that springs from our mortal bodies which traditional Catholics also sought to counter. They learnt from their forefathers and ancestors in the faith the chant that helped them to fight against this unmanning and final temptation to unbelief and despair that surrounds phobos, when they prayed these words on their death beds:

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul;

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, assist me now and in my last agony;

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, may I bring forth my soul in peace with you. Amen.

These words are powerful and they are reminders of our last struggle in life, a struggle that will call on us to use of all our faith, hope and charity to turn, surrender and cling to the Lord as we leave this world and enter in eternity. Yet in these days the new generation needs something simpler and easier to remember as they did not have strong parents, strong uncles and aunts, even strong parishioners in the faith to teach the ancient and wise forms that had behind them centuries of fighting the phobos of death. So, we teach them here in our parish the words of the Divine Mercy, especially the words: ‘Jesus, I trust in you’ to fight the phobos of death. But we also teach them a simple act of contrition which we can whisper to the ears of the dying or say at least in our own hearts if we too lie dying on a street, on a battlefield, on a bed or are about to die because a nuclear strike is imminent! Here is a simple act of contrition:

O my God, because you are so good, I am truly sorry that I have sinned against you,

but with the help of your grace I will not sins again and I resolve to avoid the occasions of sin.

There are four steps that mark the life of a true Christian:

1. the impact of God’s love on a soul,

2. the consequent response of Repentance for sins committed,

3. the cleansing of our sins by Baptism or, if already baptised, then Confession of our sins and Absolution for our sins,

4. followed by the desire to do Penance; which for one who has been absolved in the Sacrament of Confession means to make amends or restitution for the damage done to the Holiness of God’s name, the Holiness of the Church and to those surrounding us whom we have harmed.

But making restitution for the temporal punishments for sin in this life is what the Holy Souls in purgatory did not sufficiently do on earth whilst they were alive in this world and so we here on earth are called to help them in this month of November to fulfil what was lacking in their lives on earth. For Yes, we are our brothers keeper, our sisters keeper and our Holy Souls keeper too. However, theHoly Souls cannot earn merit for themselves anymore but we can do penance in this life for them so that their stay in Purgatory maybe quickened. 

Remember, remember that you and I too, may need the prayers of those one earth, if we end up in Purgatory as one of the Holy Souls. If Holy Souls were helped by us to enter Heaven then they will remember our kindnesses towards them on earth when we enter Purgatory and they will become intercessors for us from heaven!

C S Lewis once spoke about the subject of Purgatory and he put it this way. Most of us, if we died now, probably would recognise that we don’t deserve to go straight into Heaven, but hopefully we would not think we deserve to go straight to Hell, so there must be a middling place. As Catholics we call this middling place, Purgatory and it is why we do not just remember the dead but we also pray for the dead. The Good news is that any soul in Purgatory will eventually, when perfectly purified [Matt 5:26], be brought into Heaven, for nothing impure can come into the presence of God [Apoc 21:27].

Each one of us can put the following simple question to ourselves this very moment. How would I fare if I were called before the judgment seat of God today? The best of us would certainly prefer to be better prepared. There is the good I have left undone, the faults for which I have not atoned properly, the uncharitable thoughts about my friends and neighbours in my mind unconfessed, the acts of charity I kept postponing and the acts of thanksgiving and praise I have not made to my loving God.

What of those who have even more serious sins on their consciences? Over two hundred thousand people will leave this world between now and midnight. If we were called, and we have no guarantee that we will not be called today, could we dare to face our judgment in our present state? "Today, if you hear God's voice harden not your heart" the scripture warns us. Today you have heard Him speak to you. He has reminded you that your end is coming, that you should put your spiritual accounts in order. This is an act of God's mercy. He does not need you, it is you who needs Him. Your eternal future depends on whether you listen to His call today, as tomorrow may be too late. You can put your accounts straight this very day. Why take a risk with your own eternal welfare?

The Christian who wants to die in the state of grace, that is, in the friendship of God (and can there be any real Christian who would not want to?) has but one way of making sure of this. He is to try to live always in God's friendship. The man who does this by living his Christian life daily need not fear death. It may be a sudden death, but it will never be an unprovided-for death.

What have the Saints and the Holy souls got in common? They both died in a state of grace. But what do they not have in common? The Saints have made full restitution for the temporal sins they committed in this life but the Holy Souls have yet to make full restitution. The Holy Souls cannot earn merit in purgatory but we can, both for ourselves and for the Holy Souls as our merits can be applied to them and we call this indulgences. But merit can only be obtained by those who are in the state of grace, the grace we received in baptism called sancifying grace. We lose this grace when we commit mortal sin. We regain this grace when we truly repent of our mortal sin, confess our mortal sin and be absolved of our mortal sin in Confession. For the Lord forgave sinners their sins and gave to the Apostles and their successors the power of the keys to forgive sins which Pope, Bishops and Priests alone have received down to this present day [Matt 9:5-6; 16:18-19; 18:19].

What have the Holy Souls got in common with the Souls in hell? They both suffer for their sins. But what have the Holy Souls not got in common with the Souls in hell? The Holy Souls sufferings will end but the suffering of the Souls in Hell will never end for the Holy Souls will eventually enter heaven, whereas, the Souls in Hell will never leave Hell to enter heaven. Do not be fooled by anyone about this reality, my people, as this is a truth that few want to hear about today, even some Catholics and some priests. How many avoid even considering it?

How many funerals try to bypass this truth and avoid even having a Requiem Mass for the dead or have Masses offered up for the soul of the deceased who now stand before the judgment seat of God [Heb 9:27], as must we all? Instead a funeral is reduced to a memorial service celebrating a deceased person's life and where a coffin has no Mass cards on it which the soul of the deceased has more need of then the array of flowers covering a coffin which are no use to the dead but are only of use for the living to signal their grief.

Yet praying for the dead and burying the dead with full Catholic rites is something which we are continually called to do as it is both a spiritual and corporal work of mercy. Praying for the dead is also found in every Eucharistic prayer of the Mass. Sadly, we see so many priests, parishioners and parishes not even keeping November as the month of Holy Souls.

November is a month when:

·        we should all be offering up prayers for the dead;

·        we should all be making sacrifices for the dead;

·        we should all be going out to the cemeteries to pray for the dead and point out to the priests their graves for him to bless

.        we should all be putting envelopes into the Holy Souls box so that our weekday Masses maybe offered for those Holy Souls that we once knew and loved.

Yet, how many will remember Halloween? Ghouls, ghosts, witches, dragons and demons make up the fantasy and horror production of this spooky entertainment industry and this is what the world wants you to remember. Ghosts yes, but Holy Souls, no! Halloween, yes; but Holy Souls in November, no. Let’s get real!

Are you one of those who do not remember that filial duty and that duty of friendship which requires of us to offer up prayers, sacrifices and Masses for parents, family, relatives and friends who have died? 

Yes, I am back on that watchtower again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqg4V4BmJj0&list=RDEM5NMdEHSHj-EZtFbw_QF4Ag&index=20&ab_channel=CitizenGatsby