The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1901-11-02
Month of Holy Souls.

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 are
administered and it's prayers are 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 I'M
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 ia
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 awaited
much, yet how can we bear the heav-
emily light of the Throne and the COM
partnership of Saints with our souls
unpurified
Until the soul has discharged the
debt which remains even after guilt
has been RENTED through the sacra-
ment of penance, it is denied the light
Of Heaven and remains in that mid
die state which the Church calls Pur-
gatory. The tortures of that poor soul
deprived of the sight of God yearn-
ing and pleading for our prayers, is
incomprehensible to the finite mind
which measures pain by the
equity of physical suffering. 1t 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
y
and ever in their hearts, such Catholics
viii every day this month. by prayer
and by acts of charity. offer up their
works to atone for the stain yet lefc
upon the souls of departed ones, SO that
through publication 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 Mag
azine. It is "A November Dirge:"
There's a minor note of sorrow
In the signing of the trees;
There's q knell of piercing sadness
In the blowing of the breeze
There's 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 fled;
A lone widow, thou art lneeling
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:
20 have pity, Set us free,
We are pris'ners of the Christ King, |
Lo! we thirst for visions bright,
And your prayers will De the angels
That will lead us into light
Oh, sweet love. then come and, kneeling |
AT dear menu rvs sacred bier,
With our Ayes, full of cheerl
They will soothe our tender heartbreaks, |
Still this worlds 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 souls glad release;
Love thee for the latent sadness
That sweet fingers round the trees,
For the death-knell of a loved one
That comes floating on the breeze.