Month of the Holy Souls

The month of November is dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. We pray for those who have departed from this life and have yet to attain the grace of Heaven. The 1962 Roman Missal states: “Hence when they enter into heaven, they will certainly not forget those who prayed for them….It is a pious belief that God manifests to them our prayers for them, that they also may pray for us.”

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin

November 21st marks the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Mary’s parents, Saints Joachim and Ann, were childless and received a heavenly message that they would be blessed with the gift of a child. In thanksgiving for this gift of their daughter, they brought Mary, at the age of 3, to the temple in Jerusalem to consecrate her to God. Mary lived in the Temple for 9 years. There she was educated with other young girls in worshiping God perfectly, and preparing for the coming of the Messiah. Various duties were also performed, and Mary’s happened to be the sewing of the veil of the temple. It would be at her Son’s death that this veil would later be torn in two.

Mary had lived in the temple, and would later become the temple, through her role as the living vessel for God’s son, the holy temple where the divine dwelled. Through contemplating Mary’s example of complete devotion to our Lord, we too can strive to become living temples of God.