Monthly Prayer: November 2025

This month's reflection is written by Canon Brian Gowans, who discusses the comfort we find in remembering loved ones and the hope we share in praying for the Holy Souls.

As a priest of some 40 years, I am no stranger to visiting cemeteries usually to officiate at the burial of parishioners. However, these days my visits have become more personal as my parents passed recently and are buried in my local cemetery. 

Mum passed on the wonderful feast of the Immaculate Conception 8 December 2023 and Dad on 11 January this year so the memory is still quite raw and no more so than in this month of the Holy Souls.

As I pray by their grave and look at the inscription and images on the headstone - the bible and rosary which they recited daily, the cross as a reminder of God's love and salvation, the praying hands a symbol of family prayer and the image of Our Lady (we all need a Mother's love) - so many memories come flooding back.

Coming here is not only a reminder of death but a reminder of life. As I walk among the gravestones of those I have buried, I see not just images of death but images of so many stories of life well lived. Lives of babies who laughed and cried, toddlers who crawled then walked into everything! I see fathers, mothers, grandparents, brothers, sisters, friends young and old. Families who ate together, who enjoyed walks together, who sat with cups of tea or mugs of coffee chewing the fat, agonising over the issues of the day or laughing while sharing the news of a new baby, a job promotion or showing off an engagement ring!

As they approached death, were they afraid or did their faith make them excited with growing anticipation? As I walk among the headstones and pray, I know their souls don't live here now. This hallowed ground may be full of so many memories but they are in a better place. Our faith teaches us that our prayers for the dead can help those souls in Purgatory reach heaven quicker, that's why we have this month of the Holy Souls. As we pray for the dead let us remember they too intercede for us as part of the one family - God's, and how powerful is that intercession!

What a gift this month of November is for us all - alive or dead we are truly blessed.

Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

Amen.