St Ignatius Loyola being welcomed into heaven by Christ, detail of nave ceiling fresco by Andrea Pozzo, c. 1685, Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio, Rome.
Join us for our Halloween supper after Mass tonight! Some Christians have a problem celebrating Halloween, thinking it gives too much glory to Satan, death and evil itself. Actually Halloween was originally a celebration leading up to the greater feast of All Saints or All Hallows (1 November), the purpose of which is to celebrate those Saints who are with Christ in glory because of his victory over sin, death and the devil.
From Fr Steve Grunow:
There is a lot that is unsavory about the contemporary celebration of Halloween. What does the singular focus on violence, horror and death have to say about our culture? The traditional, Catholic Halloween placed these realities within the context of Christ’s victory over sin, death and the devil. The current secularized version of the festival has no salvific content and has been loosed from its theological moorings. It looks very much like a festival of death for a culture of death and for that reason I can see why parents might be concerned.
But what is the proper response to a culture of death? To lock the Church behind closed doors or to let her out into the world? I think it is time for Catholics to accept the religious liberties that this culture claims to afford them and go public with their own festivals- and to do so dramatically and with a great deal of public fervor. What is holding us back? What are we afraid will happen? The reticence and fear that characterizes Catholics is costing the Church its unique culture and it is allowing the culture of death to flourish. Halloween should not be a day when our churches go dark and Christians retreat into the shadows, but when we fill the darkness with Christ’s light and go out into the culture, inviting everyone to the prepare for the festival of the Saints with all the joy we can muster.
Read the rest here.
For a great scripture study on today’s readings, try The Sacred Page. And listen to Bishop Robert Barron’s homily, What Does it Mean to be a Saint?
Today’s Mass Readings:
Word format: All Saints 2015
Pdf format:All Saints 2015
Catholic in Yanchep 