From the Pew

Most of us visit a cemetery only for a funeral. November gives Catholics a reason to go back on purpose, and we think more families in Lombard should take it.

From Nov. 1 to 8, the Church attaches a plenary indulgence for the souls in purgatory to a simple act: visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead. It takes a short drive and a few minutes. It costs nothing, and it may be the greatest kindness we can still do for grandparents, parents, and friends who have gone before us.

It is also good for the living. Children who walk among the graves and pray a decade of the Rosary learn, without a lecture, that death is real, that the dead still belong to us, and that Christians face it with hope. In a culture that hides death away, that lesson is worth more than any school assembly.

So pick an afternoon in that first week of November. Bring a rosary and maybe some flowers, and say the names out loud. Then go to confession, receive Communion, and pray for the Holy Father's intentions. The souls in purgatory cannot help themselves, but we can help them.

Few towns our size can say what Lombard can. Sacred Heart keeps a perpetual adoration chapel for its parishioners, St. Pius X opens its chapel most mornings and evenings, and Christ the King exposes the Blessed Sacrament every Wednesday and holds a candlelight hour of adoration each month.

Those hours depend on faithful people who come to keep watch. A chapel stays open only as long as people keep coming.

We do not need to be experts at prayer to sit before the Lord for an hour. Bring a Bible, a rosary, or nothing at all. Saint John Vianney told of a farmer who explained his long visits to church this way: “I look at him, and he looks at me.”

If you have never been, start with one visit this month. If you already go, consider taking a regular hour. It is one of the best things any of us can do for our parishes and for our town.