Today it seems there are apps for everything, ways to streamline activities, hack our daily work, help us remember important things and keep us connected to friends and family.

A few years ago, a friend and fellow Regnum Christi member, CC Christopherson of Ohio, shared a way she and her family make the most of the month of November with a calendar on which each day is assigned to a deceased person whom they pray for on that day.

It’s kind of like an app, since it makes things so simple and organized, just not so hi-tech. It’s a Calendar printout you can keep on your fridge to remind everyone of their holy November mission.  You write the name of a deceased loved one on each day of the calendar, reminding you to dedicate your prayers and sacrifices for them on that day.  At the end of November, you will have brought 30 souls a bit closer to their eternal reward!

Adults and those without little ones can simply use the calendar as a way to organize their efforts to offer their daily prayers and sacrifices for the souls of their loved ones.

Families can take it a step further, making treat bags or boxes with 30 pieces of candy in them (left-over Halloween candy is perfect!). Each day, after a child has prayed for the person on the calendar, they can take a treat to remind them of the ‘reward of Heaven’ they have asked God to give this person. Or, they can make a sacrifice and not eat the candy that day, giving their prayers an extra push!

CC and her family have taken this great way to participate in the communion of saints to another level. She shares the Christopherson family tradition and some of the ways they have encouraged others to live this holy November mission:

“Our family has been utilizing the November calendar for years.  We make it a family mission to give out ‘packets’ containing the calendar, printed prayers and little bags to anyone who will take them.

 

This year we took it a step further.  Unfortunately, we had a very special 19-year-old man at our parish named Cullen pass away in September from a car accident.  It was a shock to our whole community.  The students at our parish school were especially close to Cullen because he helped to train the new altar servers.

 

Our local Challenge club approached the principal of our parish school to ask if the club could put together packets for all the students, with Cullen listed on November 1^st.  The principal loved the idea, and our priest asked for more packets for our PREP students (those students receiving religious education but who do not attend the Catholic school).  Our parish priest was able to speak to the students about this very special mission at their weekly school Mass.  The Challenge girls gave away over 250 packets to their parish students.”

 

I invite everyone – young, old, priest, consecrated, lay – to join me in this simple way to live the tradition of the church by praying for our brothers and sisters who have gone before us.

You can download the calendar here, as well as directions for the calendar/candy box and a file with prayer cards you can use or print to give out to other prayer warriors, Christopherson style.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

  1030 All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

 

1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.⁶⁰⁶ The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire:⁶⁰⁷

 

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.⁶⁰⁸

1032 This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: “Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.”⁶⁰⁹ From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God.⁶¹⁰ The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:

 

Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.⁶¹¹