A Season Pointing to Renewal
Fall is a time of change in our average year. The leaves change colors and fall off the trees, plants begin to die, animal prepare to hibernate, it gets cold, and the world becomes a little less colorful with life. Things seem to be dying around us. While this is true, however, it isn't all bad news because we know that in a few months the world will renew and resurrect in springtime.
In our Church, it's a lot of the same. In the fall we spend time remembering those who have gone before us and celebrate their lives. We don't celebrate death, but life, eternal life, which our dearly departed now enjoy. The fall offers us a chance to slow down and prepare for what is ahead. In dying, through Jesus Christ, we know there is rising, but we must acknowledge the dying first; maybe our own dying such as shedding bad habits, people, and places and begin down the path of replacing those things with new habits, people, and places in order to become renewed. It isn't easy.
During these months of October and November, there is a particular emphasis on death, but it isn't really on death per se, but on life. We celebrate three days that each have significant meaning and point us to the spring Triduum and the Resurrection, which are Halloween, All Saint's Day, and All Soul's Day.
Halloween can be a touchy subject because, especially in American tradition, we can go a little overboard and forget that Halloween wasn't about death, but eternal life. We mock death by dressing up in costumes and ask death, "O death, where art thou sting?" We do this knowing full well that, even though our physical selves will die, if we believe in Jesus Christ, we know that we have eternal life with Him and death has no power.
All Saint's Day is a time for us to remember, celebrate, and pray to those who the Church has recognized as holy. In our lives, we are called to be saints and we look to them as models of faith. The saints were just like us and we can be just like them by learning from their example. The saints intercede for us when we pray to them.
All Soul's Day or Day of the Dead is a time for us to remember those who were saints in our lives, who probably more intimately touched us spiritually. We remember and celebrate the lives of those who have died and also ask for their intercession as they are not part of the communion of saints.
In our Church, it's a lot of the same. In the fall we spend time remembering those who have gone before us and celebrate their lives. We don't celebrate death, but life, eternal life, which our dearly departed now enjoy. The fall offers us a chance to slow down and prepare for what is ahead. In dying, through Jesus Christ, we know there is rising, but we must acknowledge the dying first; maybe our own dying such as shedding bad habits, people, and places and begin down the path of replacing those things with new habits, people, and places in order to become renewed. It isn't easy.
During these months of October and November, there is a particular emphasis on death, but it isn't really on death per se, but on life. We celebrate three days that each have significant meaning and point us to the spring Triduum and the Resurrection, which are Halloween, All Saint's Day, and All Soul's Day.
Halloween can be a touchy subject because, especially in American tradition, we can go a little overboard and forget that Halloween wasn't about death, but eternal life. We mock death by dressing up in costumes and ask death, "O death, where art thou sting?" We do this knowing full well that, even though our physical selves will die, if we believe in Jesus Christ, we know that we have eternal life with Him and death has no power.
All Saint's Day is a time for us to remember, celebrate, and pray to those who the Church has recognized as holy. In our lives, we are called to be saints and we look to them as models of faith. The saints were just like us and we can be just like them by learning from their example. The saints intercede for us when we pray to them.
All Soul's Day or Day of the Dead is a time for us to remember those who were saints in our lives, who probably more intimately touched us spiritually. We remember and celebrate the lives of those who have died and also ask for their intercession as they are not part of the communion of saints.
Preparing Your Altar
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