Halloween - All Saints - All Souls
Saints are people who, by their joyful service, have extended the love of God to others. The Roman martyrology--the list of the saints officially recognized as such by the church--contains over ten thousand names. And those are only the saints whose names we remember! All Saints' Day also remembers those holy people whom no one but God any longer knows. The reading for the day from the Book of Revelation describes "a great multitude that no one could count."
The abundance of the harvest of souls is perfectly suited to observance in the northern hemisphere in late autumn. That's why in North America All Saints' Day and Halloween are brightened with corn shocks, pumpkins, apples, nuts and other signs of nature's bounty.
The North American tradition of Halloween ghost-and-goblin madness comes from Celtic lands, where the spirits of the dead were thought to roam the earth for one night before winter began. To ward off their fear of the supernatural, people sat around huge bonfires, telling stories and sharing the fruits of the harvest. Children were sent round to beg for fuel for the fire. Although the practice of "trick-or-treating" has its roots in pre-Christian Celtic tradition, it would be a mistake to write off the practice as devil worship. In Christ, all things have been made new. And so we dress as ghosts and goblins to laugh at the devil, who has lost ultimate power over God's beloved children.
In Mexico, especially in the southern state of Oaxaca, families go and tend the graves of their loved ones at this time of year. In the middle of Halloween night, they have a fiesta with masks, food, sweets (like miniature skulls made of candy) and bunches upon bunches of marigolds--all by the light of candles in the cemetery! Those who have gone before us, marked with the sign of faith, are still members of the family!
All Saints' Day - November 1
"Today we keep the festival of your holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem, our mother. Around your throne the saints, our brothers and sisters, sing your praise for ever. Their glory fills us with joy, and their communion with us in your church gives us inspiration and strength as we hasten on our pilgrimage of faith, eager to meet them."So we pray during the Mass of All Saints. We celebrate those who have made the long journey to the holy city, to Jerusalem, to the feast of heaven. The scriptures and prayers for the day tell us that we are part of that vast throng now standing before God's throne in ceaseless praise. From the second reading: "I saw before me a huge crowd which no one could count from every nation, race, people and tongue...dressed in long white robes." At our baptism, when we received our white robes, we became part of this great assembly. Indeed, every time we go to Mass, before we sing Holy, Holy, we recall that we sing God's praise with "angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven."
Who is this company and why is it so wonderful to be part of it? This is another way of asking, "What does the communion of saints mean?" It is not complicated. All the baptized, living and dead, across the generations, walk together, suffer together, sing together--not only those who have died, and not only those who lead heroic lives. Vincent Harding, writing in Sojourners magazine, put it this way: "What a wild company we belong to! These are wild people, persecuted people, going-out, not-knowing-where-they're-going people." For a picture of what the lives of saints look like, we read the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) at Mass today.
All Souls - November 2
Because we know that death is not the end of life, it is not morbid for us Christians to visit the graves of our loved ones who have died. It is good to visit the cemetery, especially on November 2 and then throughout the month of November, when the church celebrates the communion of saints and souls and looks forward to that harvest at the end of time when all will be gathered into the new Jerusalem.
We decorate the graves of our loved ones because we believe that in baptism they have died with Christ and thus Christ will raise them up. So we place on the grave an evergreen wreath--the ancient crown of victory over death and a reminder of the eternal life promised to us in the first sacrament. Or we light vigil candles on the grave, keeping one lit throughout November - a reflection of the light of Christ given to each one of us on our baptism day, and a reminder of the wise bridesmaids who kept their lamps lit while waiting for the groom to come so that the wedding could begin. We can pray at each grave:
Eternal rest grant unto __________, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.May they rest in peace. Amen. May their soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
Peace
No comments:
Post a Comment