But although these three holy days once played a pivotal role in the seasonal rhythm of Western culture, today their true significance is largely forgotten. Instead, October 31 in particular has been replaced by the antithesis of what it was originally, now turned into a macabre celebration of horror and evil. As Catholics, we should go against the contemporary cultural tide and reclaim the true significance of the Autumn Triduum.
The first step is to disengage from the secular celebration of Halloween. Instead of "Spooky Season," we should make October an anticipation of All Saints Day. We can spend time each day of the month reflecting on the lives of saints. Instead of dark, scary decorations, we can fill our home with images of the saints. Instead of Halloween parties, we can have get-togethers focused on dressing up as saints and learning about their lives. Our celebration of the saints at Mass on All Saints Day will then be all the more meaningful.
As we learn about and celebrate the saints, we should be reflecting on our own mortality and eternal calling. All of us are called to be saints. But who, we might ask, are the saints? In the fullest sense of the word, saints are human beings who have achieved full union with God. Some are still alive on this earth and they have reached the fullest possible union with God on this side of Heaven.
All the souls in Heaven are saints by definition, in that we can only enter Heaven if and when we are completely open to full union with God's love in the afterlife. Some of the saints who are in Heaven are canonized by the Church, that is to say, the Church declares that, after a life of holiness dedicated to Christ, they are now enjoying eternal blessedness in Heaven.
In the month of October and on November 1, let us especially focus on becoming saints, thereby fulfilling our deepest existential yearning - to be imbued by God's eternal, infinite love. Becoming saints can also help us change the world. People often complain that they are powerless to change systemic problems in society or to impact the problems that can arise in the Church itself. The answer is becoming a saint. Since saints are perfectly aligned with God's will, they are powerful channels of God's healing love to the world. We can see throughout history how God has worked through the saints to transform society. We can be the source of that transformation if we allow God to make us into saints through his infinite grace.
November 2, All Souls Day, is closely tied to the celebration of the saints. When we die, we can enter only one of three spiritual states. One is Heaven, for all the saints, who have completely opened themselves to God's love. The opposite of that is Hell, eternal separation from God for those who have completely rejected God's love in their earthly life.
The third state is Purgatory. Purgatory is for those who have not rejected God's love completely but have not yet embraced it fully either. Purgatory is a result of God's love, giving us a chance even though we are not fully free from sin when we die. In Purgatory, we are purified. We atone for the temporal consequences of sin. We learn to let go of the idols we had put in the place of God. We also come to understand how we had hurt others through our sinful, selfish actions in the course of our lives.
Our focus in this life should be to be purified, to become saints. Everyone needs to be purified to enter Heaven. We can go through our purification now or in Purgatory. Let's not wait. Let us seek to be purified now.
As we pray for the deceased, our prayers can help those in Purgatory to complete their period of purification faster. Also, we should not assume that our loved ones who have died have immediately entered Heaven. The reality is that, more than likely, they are being purified in Purgatory. But a misleading cultural trend assumes that all our loved ones instantaneously reach heavenly blessedness upon passing. One of the regrettable consequences of such an assumption is that we end up not praying for the deceased, which robs them of the prayers they need to complete their purification and enter Heaven.
As we pray for the souls in Purgatory, they also pray for us. Interestingly, the apparition of our Lady of Knock in Ireland in 1879, came after the local parishioners had been praying for the souls in Purgatory for 100 days. Perhaps the souls in Purgatory interceded with Our Lady to grant the faithful parishioners the great boon of the apparition.
All Souls is also good day to visit the graves of our loved ones to pray for them at the site of their final repose and their future resurrection. In Mexican culture, November 2 is known as the Day of the Dead and is marked with various festive customs to honor those who have gone before us. Traditionally, special prayers for the dead also continue in the Catholic Church all throughout November, as in our parish family. November is also a good time for other special remembrances of our deceased loved ones. Sometime during the month, my wife and I always host a get-together, inspired by Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations, to share a meal and to share stories of our loved ones with a circle of friends.
Returning the topic of purification, when souls move from Purgatory to Heaven with the help of our prayers, they become powerful heavenly intercessors for us. Which brings us back to the saints in Heaven. Why is it important for us that the Church canonize certain saints, declaring them to be holy men or women who are now in Heavenly glory? One reason is for us to have role models we can emulate. Instead of celebrities and athletes, we can look to the heroes of our faith. We can learn about their lives and the many ways that they had said yes to God.
The other reason the Church canonizes saints is to give us powerful intercessors, whom we can ask for help. We already ask each other for help in this life and ask each other to pray for us. When the saints enter Heaven, they don't cease to be able to help us. In fact, they are all the more able to do so, since they are in the presence of God.
As we reflect on the true meaning of the Autumn Triduum, we also see the tragic consequences of turning away from our traditions. Back in the early 16th century, the Augustinian monk Martin Luther challenged the Church's teaching on salvation, with a particular focus on the veneration of the saints and prayers for the souls in Purgatory. He published his first writings against Catholic teaching on October 31, 1517, which in time led to the shattering of Christendom, the shattering of Church unity, and the splintering of much of Western Christianity into about 40,000 different denominations. Among Protestants today, October 31 is still known as Reformation Day. As Catholics, we should use this time of the year to pray all the more for the restoration of Christian unity.
The abandoning of the Catholic understanding of the afterlife in our culture has also led to October becoming "Spooky Season," a ghoulish celebration of darkness and evil. We can counteract such trends by re-embracing and returning to our old-time Catholic traditions. Our traditions built Western Civilization and they can help us restore and rebuilt our civilization anew today.
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The readings for the Solemnity of All Saints, Cycle C, are:
Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
Psalm 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12a
The full text can be found at the USCCB website.
The readings for the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, Cycle C, are:
Wisdom 3:1-9
Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
Romans 5:5-11 or Romans 6:3-9
John 6:37-40
The full text can be found at the USCCB website.
Photo Credit: The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs by Fra Angelico from Wikimedia Commons.
