Thank you for joining us - to pray, reflect and remember for the feast of All Souls and the month of November. We hope the items on this page will be of help.

Abbot Paul will reflect on the human side of death - loss, grief and remembering. Fr Brendan will offer ways of thinking about life beyond the grave that stem from our Christian faith. 

May God bless you and and keep safe and well,

Fr Brendan & Abbot Paul

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord,

Lord, hear my voice!

O let your ears be attentive 

to the voice of my pleading.

If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt,

Lord, who would survive?

But with you is found forgiveness:

for this we revere you.

My soul is waiting for the Lord,

I count on his word.

My soul is longing for the Lord

more than watchman for daybreak.

(Let the watchman count on daybreak

and Israel on the Lord.)

Because with the Lord there is mercy

and fullness of redemption,

Israel indeed he will redeem

from all its iniquity.

Merciful Father, hear our prayer and console us. 

As we renew our faith in Your son, whom you Raised from the dead, strengthen our hope that all our departed brothers and sisters will share in His resurrection, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord; 

And let perpetual light shine upon them. 

May they rest in peace. Amen

Thank you for joining us - to pray, reflect and remember for the feast of All Souls and the month of November. We hope the items on this page will be of help.

Abbot Paul will reflect on the human side of death - loss, grief and remembering. Fr Brendan will offer ways of thinking about life beyond the grave that stem from our Christian faith. 

May God bless you and and keep safe and well,

Fr Brendan

There is a lovely line in the Psalms:

"The Sparrow herself finds a home, the swallow a nest for her brood" refering to the Temple. 

In one of his autobiographical works, the late Quintin Hogg, Lord Hailsham, includes this poem based on Bede’s story. 

Father, before this sparrow’s earthly flight / 

Ends in the darkness of a winter’s night; 

Father, without whose word no sparrow falls / 

Hear this, Thy weary sparrow, when he calls. 

Mercy, not justice, is his contrite prayer / 

Cancel his guilt and drive away despair; 

Speak but the word, and make his spirit whole / Cleanse the dark places of his heart and soul. 

Speak but the word, and set his spirit free / 

Mercy, not justice, still his constant plea. 

So shall Thy sparrow, crumpled wings restored / Soar like the lark, and glorify his Lord.

The souls in purgatory cannot think,

“I am here, and justly so because of my sins,”

or “I wish I had never committed such sins

for now I would be in paradise.” ...

Such is their joy in God's will, in his pleasure,

that they have no concern for themselves

but dwell only on their joy in God's ordinance. ...

Only once do they understand

the reason for their purgatory: 

the moment in which they leave this life.

After this moment, that knowledge disappears.

Immersed in charity, incapable of deviating from it, 

they can only will or desire pure love.

There is no joy save that in paradise

to be compared with the joy of the souls in purgatory. ...

Joy in God, oneness with him, is the end of these souls,

an instinct implanted in them at their creation. ...

That is why the soul seeks to cast off 

any and all impediments, so that it can be lifted up to God; 

and such impediments

are the cause of the suffering of the souls in purgatory.

Not that the souls dwell on their suffering; 

they dwell rather

on the resistance they feel in themselves

against the will of God,

against his intense and pure love bent on nothing

but drawing them up to him. ...

The soul becomes like gold

that becomes purer as it is fired,

all dross being cast out.

The last stage of love 

is that which does its work without human doing.

If humans were to be aware of the many hidden flaws in

them they would despair.

These flaws are burned away in the last stage of love.

God then shows the soul its weakness,

so that the soul may see the workings of God.

If we are to become perfect,

the change must be brought about in us and without us;

that is, the change is to be the work not of human beings

but of God.

This, the last stage of love,

is the pure and intense love of God alone.

The overwhelming love of God

gives the soul a joy beyond words.

In purgatory great joy and great suffering

do not exclude one another.

(Purgation and Purgatory,Classics of Western Spirituality,

71-72.76.78-79.81-82)

Ant: To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul

TO YOU, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

I trust you, let me not be disappointed;

do not let my enemies triumph.

Those who hope in you shall not be disappointed,

but only those who wantonly break faith.

Lord, make me know your ways.

Lord, teach me your paths.

Make me walk in your truth, and teach me

for you are God my saviour.

In you I hope all day long

because of your goodness, O Lord.

Remember your mercy, Lord,

and the love you have shown from of old.

Do not remember the sins of my youth.

In your love remember me.

 The Lord is good and upright.

 He shows the path to those who stray,

 He guides the humble in the right path;

 He teaches his way to the poor.

 His ways are faithfulness and love

 for those who keep his covenant and will.

 Lord, for the sake of your name

 forgive my guilt; for it is great.

 If anyone fears the Lord

 he will show him the path he should choose.

 His soul shall live in happiness

 and his children shall possess the land.

 The Lord's friendship is for those who revere him;

 to them he reveals his covenant.

 My eyes are always on the Lord;

 for he rescues my feet from the snare.

 Turn to me and have mercy

 for I am lonely and poor.

Relieve the anguish of my heart

and set me free from my distress.

See my affliction and my toil

and take all my sins away.

See how many are my foes;

how violent their hatred for me.

Preserve my life and rescue me.

Do not disappoint me, you are my refuge.

May innocence and uprightness protect me.

for my hope is in you, O Lord.

Redeem Israel, O God, from all its distress.

Ant: Do not let your hearts be troubled; trust in God still and trust in me.

The Lord is my shepherd;

there is nothing I shall want.

Fresh and green are the pastures

where he gives me repose.

Near restful waters he leads me,

to revive my drooping spirit.

He guides me along the right path;

he is true to his name.

If I should walk in the valley of darkness

no evil would I fear.

You are there with your crook and your staff;

with these you give me comfort.

You have prepared a banquet for me

in the sight of my foes.

My head you have anointed with oil;

my cup is overflowing.

Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me

all the days of my life.

In the Lord's own house shall I dwell

for ever and ever.

Ant: Remember me O Lord my God, when you come into your Kingdom

To you our praise is due

in Zion, O God.

To you we pay our vows,

you who hear our prayer.

To you all flesh will come

with its burden of sin.

Too heavy for us, our offences,

but you wipe them away.

Blessed is he whom you choose and call

to dwell in your courts.

We are filled with the blessings of your house,

of your holy temple.

You keep your pledge with wonders,

O God our saviour,

the hope of all the earth

and of far distant isles.

You uphold the mountains with your strength,

you are girded with power.

You still the roaring of the seas,

(the roaring of their waves)

and the tumult of the peoples.

The ends of the earth stand in awe

at the sight of your wonders.

The lands of sunrise and sunset

you fill with your joy.

You care for the earth, give it water,

you fill it with riches.

Your river in heaven brims over

to provide its grain.

And thus you provide for the earth;

you drench its furrows,

you level it, soften it with showers,

you bless its growth.

You crown the year with your goodness.

Abundance flows in your steps,

in the pastures of the wilderness it flows.

The hills are girded with joy,

the meadows covered with flocks,

the valleys are decked with wheat.

They shout for joy, yes, they sing.

Ant:  It was necessary that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory.

I am the resurrection and the life. 

Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 

and everyone who lives and believes in me 

shall never die.

Everything the Father gives me will come to me,

and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away,

for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will,

but the will of him who sent me.

And this is the will of him who sent me,

that I should lose nothing

of all that he has given me,

but raise it up on the last day.

This is indeed the will of my Father,

that all who see the Son and believe in him

may have eternal life;

and I will raise then up on the last day.

I am the bread of life.+

Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

This is the bread that comes down from heaven.

Whoever eats of this bread will life forever;

and the bread that I will give

is my flesh for the life of the world.

R/  Show them your merciful love, O Lord

V/ Give them eternal rest.

V/ Praise the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.

Ant: Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with him, those who die in Jesus.

The Magnificat:Lk 1:46 55

My soul glorifies the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.

He looks on his servant in her nothingness;

henceforth all ages will call me blessed.

The Almighty works marvels for me.

Holy his name!

His mercy is from age to age,

on those who fear him.

He puts forth his arm in strength

and scatters the proud hearted.

He casts the mighty from their thrones

and raises the lowly.

He fills the hungry with good things

sends the rich away empty.

He protects Israel, his servant,

remembering his mercy,

the mercy promised to our fathers,

for Abraham and his sons forever.

Closing Prayers

Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiæ,

vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.

Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevæ,

Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes

in hac lacrimarum valle.

Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos

misericordes oculos ad nos converte;

Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,

nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.

O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.

May He support us all the day long, 

till the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, 

and the busy world is hushed, 

and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. 

Then in His mercy, may He give us a safe lodging, 

and a holy rest, and peace at least. 

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord; 

And let perpetual light shine upon them. 

May they rest in peace. Amen