Days of the Living and the Dead - Halloween - All Souls

Each Sunday, Week after week, having listened to God’s Word, we profess our beliefs ... In the words of the Apostles creed, tucked into the middle of the last sentence … 

"I believe in the holy spirit, the Holy catholic Church the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the Body, and life everlasting.

If what we Pray is what we believe - We believe in the Communion of Saints - how does it affects our lives ?

These 3 Days are connected & All Saints Day is at the HEART
the day before is Halloween … & the day after … All Souls day

Some of our Current stuff of Halloween is connected to All Saints … and some stuff is not… Like the Name – That is connected.
October 31st is the eve of All the Saints.

Saints – are the holy ones: Holy = Hallowed
(Our Father… HALLOWED be your name)
So it’s the Evening before the day of all the saints
All Hallows day Eve… All Hallows eve… Halloween
This time of year is very much a time of Harvest for us in our northern Hemisphere and there is a connection of the harvest of all the faithful… at the end of time.The earth is going dormant… Like when a person dies…  Our Current Practice of Trick or Treat (Dressing up to appear as one of the spirits) and Giving sweet treats as bribes comes from the Celtic / Druid customs which were part of Ireland / England. These customs spread throughout the world as Irish left Ireland in the mid 1800's during the potato famine. Jack-O-Lanterns are connected to the Druid Fires – Lamps that were used to guide the way. 

                                   [Reflection on Pumpkins: 

Being a good person is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all of the yucky stuff – including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a bright new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see.]

All Saints Day on November 1 is set aside to remember not only the vast array of uncanonized saints—those individuals whose holiness was known only by a few - but also to Remember that we are part of the Communion of Saints.  Canonized saints are only a small minority of those celebrating the direct vision of God. There are many unknown or unnamed Saints - so this is their Day - this is Our Day!!!  In a sense we - the living - are small "s" saints - while those who are with God now in heaven are capital "S" Saints!

November 2, is the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed
To Commemorate means to Remember - Remember before God
We pray for them. I remember my Mother and Grandparents, my aunts and uncles and family friends. This day marks the time to pray for them… particularly a chance to pray during the whole month of November…

Living as if we believe in the communion of saints means that we are among those singing at Funeral, that we are regularly praying for the dead,  and that we are invoking and praying with the Saints, asking their intercession.

Have a blessed - Memorable - November!

Peace