All Souls Day is a day of prayer and remembrance for the souls of those who have died. It is a day we remember those family members and friends close to us so that they may find eternal peace in the presence of the Lord.
A Mass was celebrated Monday by Fr. Martin Curtin of St. Pius X Church in Middletown. Fr. Curtin, a 1976 graduate of E.O. Smith High School in Storrs, recently came to St. Pius after 10 years at a Long Island church. Fr. Martin reminded us that we, as the priestly body of Christ, can stand before God as we pray for our loved ones to enter Heaven: “Someone God gave us who has died, who He doesn’t want to lose, who He wants to give eternal life to.”
The Mass was celebrated in the gym with only the freshman class present. Sophomores, juniors and seniors, one class at a time, will get a chance to physically be in the gym for other Masses this year. Communion was available for the other students in the chapel after school.
Students also are given the opportunity to write the names of their departed loved ones in Xavier’s Book of Remembrance, which will remain in the chapel throughout November.