November 1 is a special day when the Church celebrates All Saints, what used to be known as All Hallows Day. But, you might ask, do you mean Halloween? Not really, although they have the same root word, from Old English Hallow, which means the saints or the holy.
For those in America, I suppose many children came around your home yesterday for the trick-and-treat of Halloween. Many were dressed in scary costumes. Others wore funny outfits, and some stayed up late, moving from home to home to get their treats. Some others enjoyed the excitement of impersonating some of their favorite characters.
Fun memories for many kids, I suppose. But what is it about Halloween that is being celebrated? Is it the ghosts, the spirits of the dead, or what? Well, if it is the ghosts, that would be scary, won’t it? So would it be worth celebrating as a holy event?
Halloween is a pure secular cultural phenomenon. Many of its features are a return to the Celtic festival of Samhain. Although it mimics the feast of All Hallows, also known as the feast of All Saints, a feast celebrated in the Catholic Church over 1400 years ago, it lacks the sacred grace of All Saints.
All Saints Celebration
All Saints is a celebration of the lives of all the people who died and are in heaven and whose names are not listed in the Church’s liturgical calendar. They are those who’ve washed their robes and are made white in the Blood of the Lamb (Rev 7:14). They could be your friends, relatives, parents or grandparents, or colleagues at work who died in the Lord. In short, it is a celebration of all who died and are redeemed by God’s grace.
You might be wondering why do we celebrate their lives? Why not let the dead be at peace? Why bother them?
Why Celebrate the Lives of the Saints?
There are many reasons the Church celebrates the lives of the saints in heaven. First, we believe that our friends and relatives who died in the Lord still have a spiritual relationship with us. This is biblical teaching supported by the Gospel of Matthew 17, the story of the transfiguration of Jesus. Two people appeared to the Lord Jesus Christ, namely Moses and Elijah; those were men who died hundreds of years before Christ. The story shows that those who die in God live on. They are alive.
Another example is when the Sadducees (Luke 20:37-38) questioned the authority of Jesus because he spoke about the resurrection of the dead. He replied, emphasizing that resurrection is accurate and that those who die in the Lord are alive. So, you see, it is a biblical teaching that those who die in the Lord are alive.
The second reason why we celebrate the saints is that we want to model our lives after theirs. We want them to inspire our lives too. They become our spiritual mentors and heroes. Think of the honor guard to fallen soldiers during Veterans’ Day. We want to honor the fallen heroes, don’t we?
Third, we can also ask the saints to pray for us since they are with the Lord.
Finally, we can receive spiritual gifts from them. They act like our spiritual companions. In short, we are in communion with them, what the Catholic Church calls the Communion of Saints. It is a spiritual communion between the saints in heaven, the Church on earth, and the Church in the state of purification.
Saints are Trusted Heavenly Mentors
It is lovely to have a good relationship with the saints because they are trusted friends, spiritual mentors, and models for us. Ask them to pray for you today for that need of yours you so crave.
Happy and Blessed Solemnity of All Saints. Amen.
God love you. God bless you.
