)
)
)
)
Ní imithe uainn atá siad, ach imithe romhainn.*
*They are not gone from us, but gone before us.
From the earliest days of the Christian religion the Church has honoured with great respect the memory of the dead. The whole month of November is an interesting time of prayer in the Church as it is filled with many important feast days and it includes the days on which we commemorate all the saints and all the faithful departed.
1 November – All Saints Day
All Saints’ Day, also known as the Feast or Solemnity of All Saints, is celebrated every year on 1 November. On this day, which is a Holy Day of Obligation, we honour all of the Saints and ask them to pray for us.
2 November – All Souls’ Day
All Souls’ Day or more formally ‘the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed’ is a solemn celebration commemorating all of those who have died and is observed on 2 November.
Belief in the resurrection of the dead is an essential part of Christian revelation. It implies a particular understanding of the ineluctable mystery of death. Death is the end of our earthly life, but ‘not of our existence’ (St Ambrose) since the soul is immortal.
November Remembrance
November is a time for remembering and praying for our loved ones who have gone before us and whose loss we feel. It is a time when we are particularly conscious of those who are grieving and all those families and communities who have lost loved ones in the past year.
We mark this time of year with events like the blessing of the graves, the celebration of remembrance services as well as commemorating All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day.
In the churches and chapels that we attend during the month of November we will see a sacred space within the church dedicated to remembering those who have died.
Remembering Catherine McAuley during November
When Catherine McAuley was born in Dublin on September 29, 1778, the sorrows and blessings of her next forty years were still hidden in what she would later call the Providence of God.
You can read more about her life here.
Catherine's death
Catherine's energies in the summer of 1841 were occupied with retreat instructions for postulants and novices, preparations for reception and profession ceremonies on August 19, and plans for the departure of the founding party to Birmingham on August 20. In Birmingham, she was tired and confined to one room, her cough worsened by fresh air. On her return journey to Baggot Street, she visited the site of the future convent in Liverpool, and took her companion, a novice, to visit her grieving parents who were grieving the death of their daughter. Catherine was back at Baggot Street by September 21 where she saw a physician who declared her right lung "diseased." Making light of his verdict, she nonetheless delegated some of her responsibilities to her assistant, though she herself wrote loving letters to many sisters, scarcely mentioning her illness.
At the end of October she became bed-ridden, and was anointed on November 8. Only on Wednesday, November 10, was her condition generally recognized as beyond hope of recovery.
As she lay dying on November 11, fully aware of the fatigue and sorrow of those around her bed, she made one last request: she asked a sister to tell the community to "get a good cup of tea - I think the community room would be a good place -when I am gone and to comfort one another - but God will comfort them."
Catherine McAuley died at ten minutes to eight, on the evening of 11 November 1841 and was buried the following Monday, in the newly created cemetery at Baggot Street.
Each year on 11th November we remember her and give thanks for her life and the great legacy that she has left us.
Click here for a special reflection on Catherine's death led by Mercy Associate Anne Reid.
Additional resources from our website
)
Our Online Prayer Space
Each day around the world there are prayers offered through the intercession of Venerable Catherine McAuley.
These prayer petitions come to us too here in Mercy International Association. People write their prayer petitions in our book attached to the chapel in Mercy International Centre in Baggot Street.
People also offer prayer petitions in our Oratory which is based to the side of the main red doors of 64a Lower Baggot Street, its door open to the busy bustling life on Baggot Street.
People also make prayer petitions using our website where there are three distinct areas to make a petition:
All of the prayers that we receive are prayed for weekly here in the chapel of Mercy International Centre.
Prayers for the month of November
Prayers of Intercession
On this feast of All Saints,
We pray that the Church may be blessed
by the example of goodness and holiness in its members,
from the most hidden to the most prominent.
Lord, hear us
The saints celebrate the victory of Christ
over everything that oppresses God’s children.
May our communities be places where believers work confidently for that victory.
Lord, hear us
We pray for those who are in mourning.
May they find real hope in the conviction
that God is the God of the living,
and that to him all people are alive.
Lord, hear us
Loving and merciful God,
we give thanks for the lives of all Sisters of Mercy
who have walked before us in faith,
sharing compassion with the poor, the sick, and the sorrowing.
Receive them now into the fullness of your light and peace.
May their works of mercy continue to bear fruit in our world, and may their spirit of kindness and courage live on in all who follow their example.
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in your loving embrace forever.
Amen.
We pray for all young people who have died. We remember especially those who have died suddenly, those who have died in tragedy. May the Lord bring them to a place of light, peace and healing.
Lord, hear us.
We pray for places in our world where people face death on a daily basis because of violence, hunger, war, or disease. We pray for an end to violence and injustice in our world and that God may turn our hearts in compassion towards those in need.
Lord, hear us.
For all the faithful departed,
especially those who suffered during their life
on account of their faith and their integrity.
May their courage be rewarded
and may they intercede for us from heaven.
Lord, hear us
For those who have died.
May they hear the Lord inviting them
to enter into the joy of their Master.
Lord, hear us
A Prayer of Remembrance
God, thank you for the special people in our lives whom we are remembering in a special way during the month of November. We thank you for being a compassionate God who walks with us
in the our dark moments of grief and loneliness. We are thankful for all who continue to love and
support us through our grief. Lord, continue to be a light for us, giving us hope, direction and
courage. May we now live our lives treasuring the memories of those special people we have known
and loved and help us to bring light and hope to others. We make this prayer through Christ our
Lord, Amen.
Prayer for the Dead
Into your hands, O Lord,
We humbly entrust our brothers and sisters.
In this life you embraced them with your tender love;
deliver them now from every evil
and bid them enter eternal rest.
The old order has passed away:
welcome them into paradise,
where there will be no sorrow,
no weeping nor pain,
but fullness of peace and joy
with your Son and the Holy Spirit
forever and ever.
Amen
A Blessing Prayer for Graves
Lord, with reverence, we leave our prayers and our love at these graves, and we remember in faith the reality of that earthen Easter morning when all the holy dead shall rise in the splendour of your glory. Until that day, eternal rest be to those whose graves we visit today, and to all the holy dead. We place this prayer before you through Christ our Lord.
Amen.