All Souls Remembrance Novena of Masses

November is the month of All Souls, a special time of prayer in the Church for all those who have gone before us in death.

The most fruitful way we pray for those who have died is through the offering of the Sacrifice of the Mass as we commend our loved ones to the great love and mercy of Jesus and the sacrifice He offered to save us.

Each year, we offer a Novena of Masses beginning on All Souls Day. For nine days, our priests offer one of the parish's daily Masses at St. John for all those enrolled in our All Souls Novena of Masses.

All the faithful, whether on earth (the Church Militant), in Purgatory (the Church Suffering), or in Heaven (the Church Triumphant), form a "Communion of the Saints" in God, for "He is not God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to Him" (Luke 20:38).

"From the beginning, the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1032).

 It is Christ who binds all Christians together, and our prayers to Him and for those who have died transcend time and space. Therefore, we can be confident that our prayers for the dead are not without merit, nor do they fall upon deaf ears.