One abiding Catholic practice has been that of praying for the dead, particularly in the month of November, the month dedicated to the souls of the faithful departed. In many parishes throughout the Catholic Church many Catholics will be praying for and asking that their loved ones be remembered at special Masses and prayers. In some Melbourne parishes, there is the custom of inviting parishoners to write the names of deceased relatives and friends in a "memento" book. A selection of these names are read out each day in the Prayers of the Faithful.

Many scripture scholars argue that pre-Christian Jewish ideas about the afterlife were somewhat vague until the second century BC. The persecution of Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes in which many devout Jews were martyred for their faith was a catalyst for belief in a blessed afterlife (heaven). Linked to this belief in heaven was the belief in the need for purgation or purification for the dead who, though they were righteous, died with attachment to sin, for example Jewish warriors who died in battle, yet who were later found to be wearing pagan idols. It was believed that prayer, particularly the atonement sacrifices for sin would release such people from their sins (cf. 2 Maccabees 12: 38 - 45). The custom of Christians praying for the dead is an ancient one. Inscriptions from the second century have been found in Christian tombs asking for prayers for deceased loved ones.

One practice associated with All Souls Day is the celebration of three Masses by a priest. Although some may perceive this practice to be "very old fashioned", it only became normative for the entire Catholic Church in 1915. Benedict XV extended this practice that emerged in Spain to the universal Church. He was saddened and deeply moved by the huge numbers of young soldiers who were being slaughtered in WWI only to receive neither a proper funeral nor to be remembered in prayer. In many respects, Benedict's motivations for this practice have been ominously prophetic. This century has seen carnage on a scale unknown to previous generations; it has also been said that there have been more martyrs this century than in the previous nineteen centuries of Christianity combined, many of whom simply vanished without a trace.

Besides having Masses said for the dead, many Catholics remember the dead in November by saying the "Rosary for the Dead" (substituting the 'Glory Be' with the prayer 'Eternal Rest Grant unto them, O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.) and visiting a cemetery, particularly the graves of loved ones.

The need for prayer for the deceased, particularly for those who in the words of Benedict XV "died in the flower of youth, before their time" is particularly apparent as details emerge daily of tragic deaths in East Timor. Though a death (particularly a death of a person who dies a tragic death that is hard to explain or accept) is marked by a sense of loss and sadness, prayers for the dead are quintessentially an act of belief and hope: belief in the reality of an afterlife in union with God and hope that those for whom we pray will like us, share in that life. Let us also at this time hope and pray with the approach of the new millenium that the violence that has characterised the twentieth century may give way to an era marked by peace, love and reconciliation.