Month of the Holy Souls (Nov 1)
November 01, 2025
Readings, Music and Prayers for the Month of the Holy Souls
Series III
Day 1 (Solemnity of All Saints)
A reading from the Book of Genesis (6:17; 7:4, 19-23; 8:14, 20-21; 9:8-13)
[God said to Noah], "I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die."
For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.’
The waters swelled so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered; the waters swelled above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all human beings; everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, human beings and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark.
In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelt the pleasing odour, the Lord said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 'As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.* I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
From a homily by St. Augustine of Hippo
Watch yourselves: this world is passing away. Remember how the Lord foretells in the Gospel that it will be the same on the last day as it was in the days of Noah: People ate and drank, bought and sold and married right up to the day when Noah entered the ark; then the flood came and destroyed them all.
The reason the ark took so long to build was to make unbelievers wake up. Noah worked on it for a hundred years, yet people were not awake enough to say: ‘The man of God must have good reason for building this ark: it must mean that the human race will soon be destroyed.’
Once again the ark is being built, and those hundred years represent the days in which we live: this whole period of time was prefigured by that number of years. If those, then, who paid no heed when Noah was building the ark deserved to die, what do they deserve who are careless about their salvation while Christ is building his Church? There is as much difference between Noah and Christ as between servant and lord, or rather as between men and God, for the servant and his master are both men. And yet the people of those days have become a fearful example for their descendants because they did not believe the man who was building the ark.
Christ, who is God become man for us, is building his Church, the ark of which he has made himself the foundation. Every day incorruptible timber, that is, believers renouncing this world, is added to the structure of this ark, and still people say: Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. Answer them back, then, and say: ‘Let us fast and pray for tomorrow we shall die.’ Those who say Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die have no hope of rising again, but we who, thanks to the words of the Prophets and the preaching of Christ and the Apostles, believe in and proclaim the resurrection, we who hope for a life after death, must not lose courage or let our minds be dulled by dissipation and drunkenness. Let us rather be dressed for action with our lamps alight as we await the Lord’s coming with all sobriety; let us fast and pray, not because tomorrow we shall die, but so that we may die without fear.
Musical Selection (Bob Hurd)
Saints of God abiding in the arms of mercy, pray for us!
I saw the souls of the saints beneath the altar; slain for bearing witness to God's Word, and each one was robed in white.
Saints of God abiding in the arms of mercy, pray for us!
I saw a multitude from every land and people, worshipping before the Throne of Grace, where all tears are washed away.
Saints of God abiding in the arms of mercy, pray for us!
Since even now this crowd of witnesses surround us; let us cast aside the weight sin, so with them we may run the race.
Saints of God abiding in the arms of mercy, pray for us!
Prayer
Lord God,
wellspring of forgiveness
and loving author of our salvation,
in your mercy hear our prayers
and through the intercession of the blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints,
bestow on the members of our community,
our friends, relatives, and benefactors
who have passed from this world
a share in your everlasting happiness.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever. Amen.