Saint Helena of Constantinople, Saint Kateri, Saint Cleopatra
Before my conversion
Halloween was by tops my favorite holiday. There’s just something quite appealing (for a
shy introvert) in fantastical transformation, especially if I must muster the
courage only one day a year (smile). Becoming someone completely sensational,
someone completely different from me, a character that has lived deep in my
childish wonderland is like conquering a hidden dream. While my past costume selection have always
been some variation of a pretty princess, as I came to know God and my faith grew there
was an inner transformation that slowly took place in regards to how I
celebrate Hallows Eve. In 2007, I was a
member of Jovenes Para Cristo a big family
of fellowship and also a very conservative Catholic group. It was there that I learned that Halloween is
a very controversial holiday in the Christian world. Every year we heard a talk on the origins and
history of the holiday. The themes of
evil, demonic and the occult were topics that were strictly impressed upon us and
we were told not participate in the evil day.
To stand in solidarity against the darkest night of the year. Though I didn’t agree with some of the
viewpoints expressed during our annual anti-Halloween talk I stopped
participating. I stopped dressing up and
what was once one of my favorite days of the year now turned into a day of uncomfortable
sadness, of repressed dreams and
creativity.
Even my dog gets in the fun!
As I
meditated on Halloween for a couple years while I turned off the lights and
closed my door to trick-or-treaters I realized that not participating didn’t
make my day any holier. In fact, in a
desire to oppose Satan by not participating in one of my favorite celebrations
I was also pushing God out of my October thirty-first. One day, in a homily Father made a side
comment which began my recreation of what I now call "Holy Halloween." He said dressing up for Halloween is not bad
and he encouraged those “kids” who wanted to dress in costume to think of being
a saint for Halloween. It was one of
those eureka moments where my mind raced and my heart made flips inside –
because I knew that Halloween was a day of the Lord too and a great day to
evangelize and to share my faith with others.
What other day are people out in the streets coming to your door
interacting? I began with placing “Jesus
loves you” stickers on the candies I passed out. This became a great tradition that my nephew
and I do every year. A few days before
Halloween each year while we mark our candies we talk about God and just spend
time bonding. I was listening to the
radio and a Catholic speaker mentioned that she passes little cards to
evangelize the people that come to her door and then prays for their deceased
during November- I might try that next. We
carve pumpkins using the Pumpkin Gospel which is a beautiful book that
uses the carving process to tell our salvation story. You take icky stuff out of the pumpkin, clean
it all out to put God’s light in and then the pumpkin shines just like we do
when God is in our lives.
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary & Saint Francis of Assisi
The biggest
thing that I have implemented is dressing up as a saint. I love medieval times so usually I choose a saint
from that era (smile). At first, I would
just pick a saint using google and read a quick Wikipedia bio on her and that
was the end of that. But as the years
have passed I now order a good book biography and during the entire month of October
I read about the saint and learn more about her. This year in addition to reading Mark Twain’s
Joan of Arc, I am also praying a novena to Saint Joan with my friends. I am not too knowledgeable of the Catholic saints
so it’s great that my October routine helps me grow in wisdom and to make
friends with great intercessors. The
thing I learned is that every day is a day for God, and we need to have the creativity
to use pagan holidays for God’s work much like our church has done throughout
history.
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