His Excellency,
The Most Reverend Edward K. Braxton, Ph.D., S.T.D.
Diocese of Belleville
Sermon:
Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time,
October 30, 2021,
St. Teresa Parish, Belleville
(This is the text as originally written. During the actual delivery, some passages were omitted and other comments were added spontaneously. Nota bene: This text has not been thoroughly proofread. Therefore, there may be errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation.)
"You Are Not Far From The Kingdom Of God"
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Every year as the autumn leaves start to fall, as the days grow cooler and cloudier, and evenings grow darker, we know that summer is over, and winter is coming soon. In the midst of this harvest time of transition, we mark three thought provoking days beginning tomorrow with October 31, All Hallows’ Eve (sadly corrupted into “Halloween”), Monday, November 1, All Saints’ Day, when we honor those who have lived faithfully Jesus’ Law of Love (that is, “Love God with your whole being and Love your neighbor as you love yourself!”), and Tuesday, November 2, All Souls’ Day, when we will pray intensely for the dearest of the dear in our lives who have died and for all the faithful departed. These three days are unique in the Church’s year of Grace.
They make clear the importance of the words of Moses in our first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy and the words of Jesus in our gospel reading from Mark.
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God!
Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole being.”
To this Jesus adds: “The second commandment is this: You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” Jesus then tells the scribe who questioned him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
These three days: All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day remind us that most human beings have a strange fascination with death, a fear of death, and a curiosity about the possibility of the life of the world to come. These three days also take us back to ancient, pre-Christianity customs.
The Church rightly celebrates All Saints’ Day on November 1, before the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed on November 2. In this way, we are reminded that through Baptism we are all called to live in such a way as to be numbered among the Communion of Saints. However, for many Catholics, All Hallows’ Day has been obscured by the ghosts and ghouls of All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween). Regrettably, in most communities, as the children of Catholic families join with others in the children’s celebration of Halloween and “trick or treat,” “haunted house” images of the dead may eclipse a true Christian spirituality of death. As a result, children may have little or no catechesis about the meaning of All Saints’ Day. When All Saints’ Day is diminished, the true meaning of All Souls’ Day is obscured and we lose sight of our Christian hope that Christ’s faithful disciples are to be numbered among the saints.
Tomorrow, in spite of the coronavirus pandemic, many children will parade up and down the streets in their neighborhoods in their favorite Halloween costumes chanting “Trick or Treat” in hopes of collecting vast amounts of candy. This year Americans have spent more than $8 billion dollars on Halloween costumes, greeting cards, decorations and treats. Just think of how many of the poor, the unemployed, the homeless, and the sick in our country could be cared for with $8 billion dollars!
Most Christians, including most Catholics, seem to enjoy Halloween as a night of innocent fun for their children. But some Christians are uncomfortable with Halloween. Other Christians are against Halloween altogether because they know it can be traced to pagan practices.
As many of you know, the American celebration of Halloween draws significantly from Scottish and Irish folk customs that can be directly traced to pre-Christian times rooted in the ancient Celtic feast of Samhain (“sah-ween”). The Celts believed that on this night the barrier between the natural world and the supernatural was removed, and the spirits of the dead were able to roam freely among the living.
For the Celts, Samhain (“sah-ween”) was a celebration of an elite intellectual class known as the Druids. They believed that on October 31st, the Lord of the Dead, whose festival fell on November 1st called together the souls of the wicked who died during the past year and had been condemned to inhabit the bodies of animals. They also believed the veil between the present world and the spirit world was torn down allowing demons, witches and hobgoblins to harass local villages.
In order to protect themselves from attacking demons, people disguised themselves as witches, devils, and ghouls—the source of the modern custom of wearing costumes for Halloween. They also attempted to ward off evil spirits by carving scary and grotesque faces on various gourds (including pumpkins, illuminated with candles). In order to placate the evil spirits, they offered a variety of treats—fruits and vegetables. If the demonic hordes were satisfied, it was believed they would leave a household in peace. But if they were not satisfied—if you didn’t offer any treats or your offering wasn’t good enough—the ghosts would trick you by casting a spell on you and reeking havoc in your home. This is how the practice of “trick or treat” was born.
Once the Catholic Church came to the Celtic peoples in the seventh century, some of their traditional folk customs were adopted by the church. But in A.D. 835, Pope Gregory IV moved the Church’s "Feast of All Saints" from the spring to November 1st in an attempt to rid the Celtic people of the observance of Samhain (“sah-ween”). In its place, All Hallows’ day, or All Saint’s Day, honored all Christians who died that year as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. The vigil Mass the night before was called All Hallows’ Mass and the day itself became known as “All Hallow’s Eve,” and gradually as Halloween. The goal of the Church was to eclipse pre-Christian practices with the truth of the gospel. In a similar way, the Catholic selected December 25 as the date to celebrate the birth of Christ in order to eliminate the worship of the sun god in the winter solstice. But, as you certainly know, on December 25, far more Americans celebrate the coming of winter than the birth of Jesus. It may also be true that many Catholics who enthusiastically go all out for Halloween on October 31 sleep in on November 1, All Saints’ Day. They do not bother to go to Mass and receive the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. As a result they are not reminded of Jesus’ radical law of love. Love God with your whole Being. Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
All Soul’s Day challenges us all. We Catholics sometimes respond to the inevitable end of our lives in contradictory ways. Our faith teaches us that in death, life is not ended but merely changed. Yet our everyday language almost suggests the opposite. We learn that someone’s mother has died and we ask, “What WAS your mother’s name?” The reply is usually, “Her name WAS Katherine.” We speak of the person who died exclusively in the PAST tense! As if her name is not still Katherine–as if she no longer IS. As if in death, she has fallen out of existence. As if we do not believe that she is not far from the Kingdom of Heaven. But our faith teaches us to pray for the dead on All Souls’ Day and EVERY day! The funeral rite is a prayer for the dead, designated by the Church as the “Liturgy of Christian Burial.” Yet, many Catholic parishes disregard this and print programs for funerals announcing, “The Mass of the Resurrection: A Celebration of Life,” even though the person whose body lies before the altar has obviously not been raised from the dead. Furthermore, being raised from the dead does not guarantee eternal life with God. Scripture teaches that the dead shall be raised. However, only the just are destined for the Kingdom of God. Nevertheless, homilists regularly assert that the person whose gentle remains lie before the Paschal Candle during the funeral is “already in heaven having a good time with the angels and saints.” If they are, why are we praying for them during the funeral and on All Souls’ Day? If we knew them to be Saints in Heaven, we should be praying to them!
On this cold, damp, fall evening I urge each of you to give some thought to All Hallows’ Eve, All Hallows’ Day and All Souls’ Day, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. What do these important days mean to you? They should be a loud and clear reminder that Jesus Christ wants each of us to live, to love, to serve, and to pray in such a way that Jesus can whisper to our hearts after we receive Him in the Eucharist this evening, “Dear Friend of Mine, you are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven!
Praise be Jesus Christ. Both Now and forever! AMEN!