All Hallows' Eve: A Catholic Feast

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com A Subversion of Expectations There is a well-known quote from the 1995 movie Usual Suspects. Perhaps you’ve heard it: “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” Isn’t this true? And we could take it a step further to say that Satan has not created anything at all in his entire existence. He just subverts good things created by God. Satanism, even, is nothing more than a hollow reversal of the truth, goodness, and beauty of Christianity. If I showed you an upside down cross, what would you think of it? Would you immediately recoil and say that it’s satanic? Today, that might be the expectation. But what if I told you that the upside down cross is the Cross of St. Peter who did not believe himself to be worthy of crucifixion in the same manner as Jesus. It wasn’t made a satanic symbol until the 18th Century. What about the five-pointed star enclosed in a circle? This is universally recognized as a satanic symbol. The so-called church of Satan and the Satanic Temple have taken it on as their symbol. However, the pentagram (and pentacle) is traditionally associated with both the five senses of the human body and also with the five Wounds of Christ! The hermeticists of the Renaissance period hijacked it and made it an image of magic. And it wasn’t made a satanic symbol until the 1960s. These are just a couple of examples to show that we need to reexamine our preconceived notions from time to time. What is All Saints’ Day? The liturgical calendar of the Church is punctuated by various feast days of saints. On these days, we ask in a special way for the intercession of these holy men and women. We also honor their cooperation with God’s grace and seek to imitate their lives. We may also read some of their writings or pray in a way which was particularly loved by that saint. There are too many saints to honor specifically by name and there are only 365 days in a year, and we do not know the names of all the citizens of Heaven. So, the Church celebrates All Saints’ Day each year to commemorate each individual in Heaven: those known by name and those known to God alone. All Saints’ Day is celebrated each year on November 1st and is a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics of the Latin Rite. In the Eastern Catholic Churches, this special feast is celebrated on the Sunday after Pentecost. In the Latin West, November 1 became the date to honor all saints. This practice goes back at least to the 8th Century. Even in secular culture, we have an indication of the prevalence of the day. The night before All Saints’ Day is known as All Hallows’ Eve or Halloween (Hallow is the German word for the Latin sanctus). Halloween is Definitely Part of American Culture As a secular celebration, Halloween is a huge deal in the United States. Kids go trick-or-treating, we watch scary movies, people dress up in costumes, go to haunted houses and corn mazes, tell spooky stories, and listen to scary music. To be honest, it was always one of my favorite secular celebrations as a kid. What kid would not want a bag full of free candy? As a teenager, I didn’t trick-or-treat, but I still went to theme parks during Halloween time and went through the haunted walk-through attractions. And as an adult I would go on haunted walking tours in old cities; I’m pretty sure I could lead the French Quarter ghost walking tour in New Orleans. Death is Part of Our Fallen Reality We have to keep in mind that death is part of our fallen reality. Humanity has always had a fascination with the macabre and things that go bump in the night. Why this interest in the ethereal and otherworldly? What is it about this day, in particular, that draws out the attention to the supernatural or paranormal? Death comes to all, much like taxes. The answer is what are we going to do about it? We can run from it, but it will chase us to the tune of the ticking of the clock. Human beings are no stranger to death, but that plan was not so from the beginning. Our first parents were created in a state of original justice, walking hand in hand, so to speak, with God. After the first sin, evil entered the world. Our nature was tainted by the inclination to do wrong and offend God. Our relationship with Him was changed. And death entered our reality. However, God did not leave us abandoned to our sin. In fact, death itself was both punishment and salvation. Anyone who has watched a vampire movie knows the curse of immortal life in this vale of tears. And those who watch zombie movies see bodies without souls and ghost movies show us souls without bodies. Again, all these examples show the futility of being trapped in the earthly realm of suffering. Our relationship with death is complicated. We rightly grieve when a loved one dies, and we naturally have an aversion to the thought of our own death. Sometimes, in despair, we might have suicidal ideation due to a traumatic event or mental illness. Think of the fictional character Hamlet weighing this earthly life of suffering and the endless sleep of death: “To be, or not to be, that is the question…” Hamlet is even pictured in the play soliloquizing a human skull, a profound symbol of mortality. The Greek philosopher Plato even wrote that philosophy itself is “about nothing else but dying and being dead.” This was also a common theme of the philosophical school of thought known as stoicism which meditated on death often. In another play by Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, the praetorium guard whispers to the doomed dictator: “Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal.” If we live our life with the daily reminder that we are going to die one day, perhaps we will make better choices. Perhaps we will choose to pray more, to love more, to fully live more. We can think of how Moses prays in Psalm 90 that God might teach the people “to number our days so that we may get a heart of wisdom (Ps. 90:12).” Our life on earth is short and fleeting. As Isaiah says, “The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass (Is. 40:7).” When the ancient pagans meditated on death, there were several who took this as an invitation to party. The ancient Romans even had a phrase for this mindset: nunc est bibendum (now is the time to drink). The Christian tradition’s meditation on death, of course, does not bear the same weight. In fact, the Christian notion does not motivate us to throw caution to the wind and embrace the mid-2000s notion of Y.O.L.O. (you only live once). Instead, we are called to meditate on our last end and act accordingly in the present. How to Meditate on Death - The Four Last Things The Scriptures teach us: “In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin (Sirach 7:40).” Death does not pity anyone and it comes for everyone. Life is short and shortly it will end. In the end, we die. This is the first of the last four things. Our death is our soul’s separation from our body. It is a consequence of evil and original sin. However, death is a grace, in God’s timing and providence, because it ends our toiling in the valley of tears and draws us to Himself. Upon our death, our soul appears from Jesus Christ, the Judge, who commends our soul to Heaven or condemns us to Hell. The particular judgment of our soul is the second of the last things, and Heaven and Hell are the third and fourth. We are not so much damned as to say we damn ourselves by our actions here on earth. If we are in a state of unrepentant mortal sin upon our death, we will be judged to Hell, but the choice is ours. God loves us immeasurably and desires our salvation. He wants us to be in Heaven with Him for all eternity, but will not force His love on anyone. If there are any vestiges of venial sin on our soul or attachments to sin, then we may need a “time” of purification in Purgatory, for nothing unclean can enter Heaven. Then, at the en… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.gooddistinctions.com