November is the month dedicated to the Holy Souls. For many it is the bleakest and most difficult month of the year, made ever more poignant on the death of a loved one.
Perhaps it is for that very reason that it is an opportunity for all of us to reflect on the mystery of death and loss. In these November days when everything is dark and dreary and dismal we can somehow discover that the loving hand of God is all the time at work in us.
Psalm 119 puts it so eloquently ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path’. It’s those simple words that always find resonance in my heart when I stand at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on every pilgrimage, in silence and in awe.
May all who face this month of November with the loss of a loved one all too fresh in their hearts be reminded about the empty tomb. Into the darkness the light of the Risen Christ will shrine. God is indeed with us and may we find life and hope in his loving embrace.
Can we make the Prayer for the Holy Souls this November our own.
Lord, be good to them and show them all your love.
Lord, be kind to them and grant them peace above.
Lord be merciful to them and wipe their sins away.
Lord, be generous to them, with all my heart I pray.
Lord, be gracious to them, for all the good they have done.
Lord, be gentle with them, for sufferings undergone.
Lord, may we meet again, when heaven’s crown is won.
Amen.
Very Rev’d Gerard MacCormack, KHS