Novena to our Guardian Angel for the Holy Souls

***Other prayers for the feasts and intentions of November can be found here.***

Later in the week I hope to include a post about a project my children have always enjoyed in the past for the upcoming feasts of All Saints and All Souls.  I am trying to prepare for our parish's All Saints party this weekend and still have quite a few costumes to finish and food to plan.

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Holy Mother Church honors the Poor Souls in Purgatory during the month of November by dedicating the entire month to them and remembering them on November 2, the Feast of the Holy Souls. We would all do well to pray and sacrifice for the poor souls in Purgatory throughout the entire year, but especially during November. In fact the faithful are able to gain a plenary indulgence for the poor souls during November 1-8 by daily visiting a cemetery and devoutly praying for the departed. The other requirements for the indulgence also need to be met; these are:

• reception of Holy Communion 
• reception of Penance 
• being free from all attachment of sin. 
• reciting an Our Father and a Hail Mary for the Holy Father's intentions. 

 Saint John Vianney says of the act of helping the poor souls, “Consider then...the magnitude of these sufferings which the souls in Purgatory endure; and the means which we have of mitigating them: our prayers, our good works, and, above all, the holy sacrifice of the Mass.”

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The following novena, which should be said for nine days, is simply one example of a way to pray for the Souls in Purgatory.

Novena to our Guardian Angel for the Holy Souls

O holy Angel, whom God, by the effect of His goodness and His tender regard for my welfare, has charged with the care of my conduct, and who assists me in all my wants and comforts me in all my afflictions, who supports me when I am discouraged and continually obtains for me new favors, I return thee profound thanks, and I earnestly beseech thee, O most amiable protector, to continue thy charitable care and defense of me against the malignant attacks of all my enemies. Keep me away from all occasions of sin. Obtain for me the grace of listening attentively to thy holy inspirations and of faithfully putting them into practice.

In particular, I implore thee to obtain for me the relief and deliverance of all the Souls in Purgatory, the ones who prayed for the Souls themselves while still on earth; the forgotten and abandoned Souls; the souls of my relatives and friends; the souls of priests and religious; the souls of all those to whom I am obligated by charity to pray for and may have neglected by laxity in memory; and most especially for the Soul I here name in this novena. (Mention or think of the person.)

Protect me in all the temptations and trials of this life. but most especially at the hour of my death, and do not leave me until thou hast conducted me into the presence of my creator in the mansions of everlasting happiness. Amen.

And again by St. John Vianney:
"I come to tell you that they suffer in Purgatory, that they weep, and that they demand with urgent cries the help of your prayers and your good works. I seem to hear them crying from the depths of those fires which devour them: "Tell our loved ones, tell our children, tell all our relatives how great the evils are which they are making us suffer. We throw ourselves at their feet to implore the help of their prayers. Ah! Tell them that since we have been separated from them, we have been here burning in the flames!"

"Yet how quickly we could empty purgatory if we but really wished to."

Words to consider: "You shouldn’t want to do things to gain merit, nor out of fear of the punishments of purgatory. From now on, and always, you should make the effort to do everything, even the smallest things, to please Jesus."
--St. Josemaria Escriva(The Forge, 1041)

God bless!

+JMJ+