Yesterday was All Souls Day, when the Church unites in a special way in prayer for those who have died.

But for Catholics this should always be a focus of our prayers, and the entire month of November has traditionally been a time of particular focus on praying for the souls of the departed. Let’s remember that a number of plenary and partial indulgences are available throughout November to encourage this charitable action, which unites living members of the Church militant here on earth with the Church triumphant in Heaven and the Church suffering in Purgatory.

North American Catholics tend to mute their celebrations of All Saints Day and All Souls Day. We could do worse than to emulate the example of countries like the Philippines where, as this article describes, families largely ignore Halloween as a holiday and instead assemble en masse in cemeteries for the next two days to honor and pray for deceased family members and others who have died.

My wife and I spoke yesterday evening with a Filipino friend about this practice and she confirmed it. Felisa also told us that, after spending her first Halloween this year in North America, she remains baffled about the focus of celebrations here on that event and the relative inattention to the subsequent holy days of All Saints Day and All Souls Day.

Pope Benedict XVI discussed praying for the dead in public remarks over the last three days.

In his Sunday Angelus remarks yesterday in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope said, “Christian hope is never something merely individual, it’s always a hope for others. Our lives are deeply linked, one to another, and the good and bad each one does always impacts the rest. So the prayer of a pilgrim soul in the world can help another soul that continues purifying itself after death. And for this, today the Church invites us to pray for our beloved dead and to spend time at their tombs in the cemeteries.”

Concluded the Holy Father, “Mary, star of hope, make stronger and more authentic our faith in eternal life and sustain our prayer of suffrage for our departed brothers.”

— Tom McFeely