[Wisdom 6:12-16; Psalm 63; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13]

This Sunday, and again next Wednesday, our country will fall silent for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice serving our Nation. As I watched the news this morning, I saw a veteran who is now 102 years old, who had survived a ship being sunk in World War 2. He spoke about the comrades he had lost and of how he had to keep going to the Remembrance Parade; to keep their memory alive. His fear was that when he and the rest of the World War 2 veterans are no longer with us that we, as a society, will collectively forget the sacrifices they had made.

November is a month when we as Catholics remember our dead. We are encouraged to pray for them at this time, although the reality is that we should be praying for them at all times of the year. Praying for the living and the dead is one of the seven Spiritual Works of Mercy.[1] At this time in particular, we remember those who have gone before us. The November tradition goes back a thousand years and is traced to St Odilo, who was the Abbot of Cluny. He instructed his monasteries to observe a day of prayer for all the deceased each year on November 2nd, immediately following All Saints Day. This custom spread throughout the Western Church over the following centuries. In turn this was taken up by the laity devoting the whole month to prayer for the dead. The Church then attached specific plenary indulgencies to those who visit to a cemetery between the 1st and 8th of November to reinforce the importance of setting aside a time to pray for the dead.[2]

Mother Nature seems to reflect a more sombre time too, as in our Northern Hemisphere, we have shorter days, the leaves are falling to the ground, the days are colder and there is less sunshine. Our Scripture readings today also encourage us to think of those who have gone before us, as well as the end of our own life. Saint Paul writing to the Thessalonians reminds them that as Christians we have hope. Death is not the end for us. His letter describes his thoughts on the end of time, how the dead will rise again with Christ and the faithful who are still alive at that time will be called up alongside those who are Risen; so that we can always be with the Lord.

In the Gospel we have from St Matthew, we hear Jesus telling the disciples the parable of the ten virgins. In this parable Jesus is the bridegroom coming at the end of time. The virgins represent the church. The oil represents what will count at the day of judgement; deeds of love and mercy. The virgins with no oil represent those who talked the talk but nevertheless put off good deeds until later. The ones with oil represent those who have obeyed the great commandment to love God and to love their neighbour. When the foolish virgins asked for oil, the other virgins were unable to share their oil, as the love and acts of mercy were associated with their actions. The futile attempt of the foolish virgins to buy oil when the bridegroom arrived demonstrates the futility of trying to prepare when it is too late. Their cry of ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ Had already been answered earlier in Matthew’s Gospel in Chapter 7 verse 21 where he recorded Jesus saying ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.’[3] [4]

As Jesus said at the end of today’s Gospel, ‘Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.’ This is another reason to pray for the souls of the dead. If our deceased relatives were ill-prepared prior to dying, they will need the prayers of those left behind to help them. The Church teaches that those who die in God’s friendship but are not yet fully purified undergo a final purification, called purgatory before entering the joy of heaven, and that the prayers and good works of the living can be applied on their behalf within the communion of saints (CCC §§1030-1032).

The November devotion does not add new doctrine to this teaching; it is a devotional intensification in time, encouraging Catholics to set aside a season for something the Church actually asks of the faithful throughout the year — remembering the dead in prayer — much as Lent intensifies practices of penance that remain proper to every season.[5] When I pray for the dead, I add to my prayers, those who have no-one left to pray for them.

On Sunday afternoon, this weekend, we will have the Blessing of the Graves at Worting Road Cemetery, in Basingstoke. Even if you have no loved ones buried there, you can still come along and pray with those of us who do. It is the last day of the All Saints Octave, where a Plenary Indulgence is available for all who are properly disposed and who ‘devoutly visit a cemetery and pray for the dead’.[6] I look forward to seeing those who will gather with us at 2pm.

Further Reading

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

CCC 671-672: we wait for all to be made subject to Christ
CCC 988-991: the just will live forever with the risen Christ
CCC 1036, 2612: vigilant waiting for the Lord’s return[7]

November Devotion to the Holy Souls

Please accompany in your prayers

  • All those who are sick, either at home or in hospital, especially those who have very few or no visitors.
  • Those who have died and those who grieve for them.
  • The success of the Pastoral Area Mission Plan.
  • The continued success of the Alpha courses taking place in our Pastoral Area.
  • The continued success of the Sycamore Programme taking place in Tadley on Tuesday evenings
  • Those who work to keep us safe, those who have given their life to keep us safe and the families left behind.

Deacon Tony,

7th November 2026

[1] What are the corporal and spiritual works of mercy? – EWTN Great Britain

[2] November Devotion to the Holy Souls

[3] Arthur E. Zannoni, Telle Me |Your Story -The Parables of Jesus, [Liturgy Training Publications, Chicago IL, 1989] 58-9.

[4] Bible quote from NRSV XL Catholic Edition, [Catholic Bible Press, HarperCollins Christian Publishers, 1989]

[5] November Devotion to the Holy Souls

[6] Here’s how Catholics can get 8 plenary indulgences during the first week of November – EWTN Great Britain

[7] Homiletic Directory, Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments