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Show Month of Holy Souls. EACH DAY of this month of November No-vember a light should burn in every Catholic heart, just as a taper burns at the head of our dead when the last rites of the .Church ore administered and its prayers are repeated re-peated for the repose of a soul. Each day should remind us of the shortness of time and- the. incomprehensible length of eternity. When we awake in the morning and reflect that the night which has passed brought no sudden death in the family circle; that our own lives have been spared to take up the work of another day. a prayer should ascend that the sun might not go down leaving an act of love and charity go by a kind of word unsaid or a wounded heart unhealed. un-healed. When we go out upon the street perhaps we meet the faces seen every day of our lives. Perhaps one or two are not in the same place' they were the day before, the week before. We take up the morning paper and that may explain the absence of those familiar fa-miliar faces. If not, somebody will tell us those faces are now cold in death. When will our time come? Are we prepared to leave the world of sin and enter into the world that is sinless? Tears and contrition have availed much, yet how can we bear the heavenly heav-enly light of the Throne and the companionship com-panionship of Saints with our souls unpurified. Until the sduI has discharged the debt which remains even after guilt has been remitted through the sacrament sacra-ment of penance, it is denied the light of Heaven and remains in that middle mid-dle state which the Church calls Purgatory. Pur-gatory. The tortures of that poor soul deprived of the sight of God, yearning yearn-ing and pleading for our prayers, is incomprehensible to the finite mind which measures pain by the equity of physical suffering. It is only the spiritual mind which grasps the full significance of "Thy kingdom come" and zealously' labors by prayer to loose from sin the prisoners in the purgatorial" limbo. Having the glory of the Kingdom ever in their eyes and ever in their hearts, such Catholics will every day this month, by prayer and by acts of charity, offer up their works to atone for the stain yet left upon the souls of departed ones, so that through purification by fire they may speedily enter the realms of eternal bliss. Such beautiful thoughts are so much better said in poetry than homely prose, that we gladly give place to a poem by J. William Fischer in the November number of the Rosary Magazine. Mag-azine. It is "A November Dirge:" There's a minor note of sorrow In the sighing of the trees; There's a knell of piercing sadness In the blowing of the breeze. There's a shadow in the heavens. There's a Rachel-cry of pain For the loved ones, gone before us. Who will ne'er come back again. O November! Thou art weeping. For thy song-birds all have fed; A lope widow, thou art kneeling At, the dear graves of the dead. Earthly hearts with love are breaking, Tender eyes are filled with tears. While they sleep, the dear departed, Through the silence of the years. Oh. life-wand'rer. in the darkness, Hark, they turn their voice to thee; Those poor souls are sadly calling: "O have pity! Set us. free! We are pris'ners of the Christ King, Lo! we thirst for visions bright. And your prayers will ne the angels That will lead us into light." Oh, sweet love, then come and, kneeling At dear mem'ry's sacred bier. Let us ransom those poor creatures With our Ave's, full of cheer! They will soothe our tender heartbreaks, Still this world's deep crying pain, For in Heaven, sweet, eternal, Lo! the dead will live again. O we love thee, dear November. For thy gentle breath of peace. For thy winds that softly call us To some poor soul's glad release; Love thee for the latent sadness That sweet lingers 'round the trees, For the death-knell of a loved one That comes floating on the breeze. |