by Dymphna Morrissey

Created on: August 09, 2011   Last Updated: November 15, 2011

Many people associate the month of November with cemeteries.  This is a month where we are supposed to pray for the souls in purgatory.  Previously, when visiting cemeteries, I never thought of the souls in purgatory.  Then I learned of a chaplet by Saint Gertrude that is supposed to release 1,000 souls from purgatory every time you say it.  It is as follows:

"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, for those in my own home,
and within my family.

Amen."

Previously, I thought purgatory was not exactly silly, but not really worthy of my attention.  Then I found this book called Purgatory Explained by F.X. Schouppe.  This book really intrigued me because previously, I did not know what people did in purgatory.  I learned that one minute in purgatory is equivalent to something like eight years.  This is because it is so painful.  There was a story about a man who was given the choice to die and go to purgatory for something like a day or suffer a while more on his deathbed.  He decided to go to purgatory for a day.  The next day his angel came for him and he said, "It's been a year!"  So say this prayer and help all the people in purgatory.  Say it when you go to a graveyard.

I was not in the habit of doing so even though I have always enjoyed taking walks through cemeteries. I think graveyards are spooky, but I am not afraid of ghosts because I don't think I will ever see one. My grandfather had the ability to see ghosts, but I did not inherit this ability. If I did see a ghost, I think I might faint from fear. However, my grandfather was not afraid of ghosts. As a result, he used to see them when he was walking home from somewhere late at night. Ghosts used to knock things like alarm clocks out of his hands. He was not making these stories up. He seemed convinced they were true.

Someone once told me that if you are afraid of ghosts you will not see them.  I tend to think this is true.  I walk by the same cemetery every evening at dusk and have never seen a ghost.  I peer in thinking I might catch  a glimpse...but nothing.  If I saw a ghost, I imagine that I would get really freaked out. 

New York is a city with many haunted places.  I have been in buildings in New York

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