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Sunday, November 2, 2025
Hello folks,
The Lord be with you all!
November 2 (this Sunday) is All Souls Day when we have special prayers (and even special rules around Mass) to pray for the souls in purgatory. Each of us will face a particular judgement when we die. It will be a just judgement that we will truly know to be correct. This will either result in condemnation to hell, or if we die in friendship with God (in a state of grace), we will go to heaven. However, if we die in friendship with God, but not yet fully detached from sin, or with sins or imperfections for which we have not atoned, we will have to undergo purification to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. This is why we pray for all the souls of the faithful departed and why we offer Masses for the dead. We don’t offer Masses or other prayers for the saints in Heaven. Of course, we don’t always know who is in Heaven; we only know of the officially canonized saints (an official list of the Church). Thus, we pray for any individual (non-canonized) person and for all the souls of the faithful departed. If the person is known by God to already be in Heaven, then God can apply those prayers to someone else who is need of them.
Additionally the entire month of November is particularly devoted to prayer for the holy souls in purgatory. It is a good time to visit cemeteries to pray for the dead whose remains lie there. We also have books in all three churches where you can write the names of deceased loved ones to be included in our prayers of the faithful during this month. However, we also encourage you to pray for those who have no one to pray for them.
On Sunday evening, we will have an All Saints gathering for families with young children.
The devastation of Hurricane Melissa to Jamaica, Cuba and beyond has resulted in people asking about donating to help relieve the distress of its victims. We will have a special second collection at the end of November (the first weekend that we don’t have any other second collection in either parish).
You may have noticed in Saint James’ and in Saint John’s that we have a couple of rocking chairs at the back of the church. These are for rocking babies…not adults! So, please make sure that they are available for parents/grandparents who will be rocking these babies. We will be getting two more for Saint John’s. If anyone has a spare rocker in good condition that they might be able to donate to Saint Joseph’s, please let us know.
The next movie night at Saint Joseph’s will be on Sunday, November 16 at 7pm, and will feature the 1963 classic, “Lillies of the Field.” All are welcome!
I want to thank the Groton Knights and all who assisted them from across the collaborative for the great Italian meal following the 4pm Mass last weekend. Nearly 150 were fed (with extra food going to the Pepperell Veterans’ Home) and enjoyed getting to know their neighbors!
God bless,
Father Maher
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