All Souls Day Mass and Prayers for the Faithful Departed in November

  Monday November 2nd, 9:00AM Mass 

The month of November is dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. The Church commemorates all her faithful children who have departed from this life, but have not yet attained the joys of heaven. St. Paul warns us that we must not be ignorant concerning the dead, nor sorrowful, "even as others who have no hope ... For the Lord Himself shall come down from heaven ... and the dead who are in Christ shall rise.

The Church has always taught us to pray for those who have gone into eternity. Even in the Old Testament prayers and alms were offered for the souls of the dead by those who thought "well and religiously concerning the resurrection." It was believed that "they who had fallen asleep with godliness had great grace laid up for them" and that "it is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins." We know that a defiled soul cannot enter into heaven.

At St. Stephen The Martyr, we are praying especially for those names listed in our All Souls Novena of Nine Masses (November 2 - 10) and all the following parishioners and family members who have died in the past year:

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,   and Let perpetual light shine upon them.

May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the Mercy of God, rest in peace.  Amen.