REMEMBRANCE DAY November 11, 2026

On the Last Day we may learn how God’s Providence brought the First World War to an end at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918.

       The “eleventh hour” relates to the parable of the workers in the vineyard—the last of whom were hired at the eleventh hour, very nearly the end of the day. Not least of the providential reasons for the Armistice being in November must be to remind us (during this month of prayer for the dead) to pray for those who died in war. We owe a particular debt of gratitude to all those who died for our country whose intention was to keep us free from tyranny of all sorts.

       For Catholics, Remembrance Day is not about glorifying those who died in war, but praying for them to complete their purgatory and enter heavenly life with Our Lady and the Saints. Many of them died very suddenly, with no time to prepare by repenting of their sins. But God is merciful and we pray that His goodness may have helped them to make an act of sorrow at the last instant of their lives.

       Yet even after repentance there will still be the need for atonement—expiation—a process of “making up” for past sins and cleansing them and their after-effects away, which we call “Purgatory”, without which it is impossible for any soul to enter into the presence of God’s infinite goodness and light.

                                                                ~ Fr. Paul Dobson