Each month in the year, the Church assigns to a specific intention. So the month of May is given over to devotions to our Lady, just as June is given to honouring the Sacred Heart of Jesus. November is that month when we in particular remember the Holy Souls - those who have died and gone before us marked with the sign of faith.
We are called upon to pray for the dead throughout the year but November somehow seems an apt time to remember them in a more profound way. It is the month of remembrance. Her Majesty the Queen will, in this month, lead the nation in an act of remembrance for those who have died in war and conflict. But the Catholic month of the Holy Souls far out dates the remembrance Services in November which spring out of the signing of the armistice in Novemeber 1918. For our Church believes that the mercy of God is not cut short by the death of a person; we believe that, through our prayers and Masses, God will take these Holy Souls a little closer to himself on the journey to the beatific vision in heaven.
And so it was that St Clare's parish conducted a Service for the Bereaved on the first Sunday of November. Written invitations had been sent to the families of those funerals had been held here or had been conducted by one of the priests in the last twelve months. Of course a universal invitation was given and many attended to remember and pray for their lost loved ones.
The short Service was followed by refreshments in the Parish Hall.
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