Happy All Saints Day and happy All Souls Day!" this coming Sunday Oct 31, 2010 All Hallow's Eve.
If some Protestants think that Halloween is satanic, then I understand their retreat to church parties. However, many Catholics are also beginning to retreat from Halloween.
Like Protestants, some have church parties. Others simply close their blinds and watch videos in a back room come All Hallow’s Eve. Because of what’s going on in the streets, I don’t entirely blame them. Yet, if Christmas Eve had somehow become a celebration of death, would Christians retreat to a back room and watch videos? I hope not.So why should we, good Catholics, flee from this day? We should not. We should take back our "holy" Halloween.
One of the first things I would encourage is to get yourself and your children clean and, when possible, holy costumes.
During the medieval times - on All Soul’s Day custom of beggars knocking on doors for "soul cakes" in exchange for prayers for the household’s deceased. So, when your Children go for treating they must say the following: "Thank you for the treat and that our family and I will be praying for you and the souls of your dearly departed loved ones during the month of November. Happy All Saints Day and happy All Souls Day!"
I hope your Halloweens truly becomes joyful and holy events with the month of November which is dedicated to special prayer, not just for our own loved ones, but also for the souls of all our neighbors and their dearly departed. The Church has always evangelized, in part, through the celebration of feasts. By taking back Halloween we can introduce our children to evangelization and begin to respond to our Holy Father’s call to re-evangelize the West.
