Gaining Graces for the Dead!

All Souls' Day is tomorrow (November 2) and it is good to think about the many graces that are available for those who have gone before us and are undergoing their spiritual purification in purgatory. They may be our loved ones, members of our community, or souls we don't know from all places of the world and history. To pray for them is to help them in their journey to Heaven. And once they attain their heavenly reward, they'll be praying for us before the Throne of God! So let us take up this great act of charity for souls in helping them along their way.

A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the souls in purgatory, is granted to the faithful who fulfill the following conditions:

•               Visit a Church on November 2, All Souls' Day

•               Offer an Our Father and Hail Mary for the Pope's Intentions

•               Offer an Our Father and the Creed for the Faithful Departed

•               Make a good confession within a week and be free from all attachment to sin

•               Receive Holy Communion that day (or ASAP following if unable that day)

A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the souls in purgatory, is also granted to the faithful who fulfill the following conditions:

•               on any and each day from November 1 to 8, devoutly visit a cemetery and pray, if only mentally, for the departed (the 'Eternal rest grant unto them...' suffices)

•               Offer an Our Father and Hail Mary for the Pope's Intentions

•               Make a good confession within a week and be free from all attachment to sin

•               Receive Holy Communion that day (or ASAP following if unable that day)