Today is All Souls Day. It’s mostly a Catholic thing. You’re supposed to say a prayer for the dead, well, for the souls of the dead. You can put money in a Novena card and professional prayers will say prayers for your loved ones. I think it’s worth the investment.

Thinking of and saying a prayer in remembrance of your ancestors and friends is one thing, but the intent of All Souls Day is a lot heavier than that. Catholic doctrine says that there are three things that can happen after you die, you can go to heaven, you can go to hell or you can go to purgatory. I’ll spare you the technical details, but the basic concept is that the ones that go straight to heaven are near saints and that those who go straight to hell are evil pricks. Since it’s really hard to be holy and not that common actually to be a non-stop jackass, most of the faithful end up in purgatory. So All Souls Day is about praying for the souls of the in-between people so that they can get promoted. Some call purgatory limbo and that sounds a lot more fun, but regardless of what you call it, you’ll have to decide for yourself how to spend your praying time.

I don’t feel like I’m qualified to pray for someone’s everlasting soul, so I’m gonna pray for other stuff. I’m gonna pray for Duane Allman’s slide guitar and for Gregg’s smoky voice. I’m gonna say a prayer for Joe DiMaggio’s sweet swing, Jackie Robinson’s hook slide and Lou Gehrig’s grace under pressure. I’ll thank God for George Harrison’s innocent honesty and the voice of Ronnie James Dio and for the simple man he created in the form of Ronnie Van Zant. While I’m at it I’ll say a prayer for John Wayne riding his pony out into the American West and for Frank Sinatra’s phrasing and George Carlin’s funny bone and James Madison’s brain and Crazy Horse’s bravery and Chick Hearn’s vocabulary and Charles Schultz’s vision and BB King’s Lucille.

Of course, I’m gonna pray for my sister’s curly red hair and smiling spirit. So many people already gave heart and soul.