All Souls Day - Remembering Our Passed Loved Ones

All Souls days is usually forgotten by many due to being right after Halloween, on November 2nd. All Souls Day is a feast commemorating all of those who have died and now are in Purgatory, being cleansed of their venial sins and the temporal punishments for the mortal sins that they had confessed and atoning before entering fully into Heaven.

So how do we teach this feast to our children? Death is not something a lot of people like to talk about, and some children just are not ready to understand the concept of death.

I decided to use the words "love" and "remember" a lot that day. We started our celebration the day before visiting a local museum that was hosting a Day of the Dead exhibit. It was a great way for the kids to learn more about their own culture as well. We belong to the museum so it was free to see.

The night before we made heart cookies for our loved ones. I got pre-made rolled dough on clearance from Walmart from the Halloween section of cookies for only $1. Each pack came with 2 sheets of rolled dough so it was simple and almost mess free! All we needed was a cookie cutter. The kids had a lot of fun making them. You can use candy to decorate and even use edible markers to write names if you would like for older children.

The morning of All Souls Day we set up a display on our home altar with pictures of our passed loved ones an dsaid a few prayers including the Prayer of St. Gertrude 

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.

We left that morning and picked up some flowers and visited our local passed loved ones. The kids enjoyed putting flowers on their statues. 

Take this day just to celebrate your memories with your passed loved ones and tell stories to your children about them. It is a great day of celebration and praying to help them make their way to the Lord.