Two Days, Different Sentiments

You know something, I really don't like Halloween all that much.  I see it as part of a trifecta of overrated, overly-cliché holidays including St. Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day.  These occasions, while they have a special meaning, are buried under petty customs that cause them to be without any real substance.  While it's true that I get easily spooked, I also feel that the presence of ghoulish decorations and festivities really is a bit much.  (And given the "party" nature of the holiday, it almost seems better to have Halloween on the last Friday of October, rather than the last day.)

The only part I really find worthwhile about Halloween is the opportunity to pass out candy to children, making it a fun kid's thing, which allows it to be healthily toned down.  I especially enjoyed doing so this year, as it had been since 2008 since I lasted handed out candy at home in Oak Park.  It's fun to do something nice for children, and to see the variety of costumes.  There were at least a couple that really stood out while I handed out candy yesterday.

These sentiments about Halloween have grown in recent years, simultaneously with appreciation for the day after Halloween: All Saints' Day.  This is one of my favorite religious Holy Days.  I delight in picturing myself as part of a large company of people of Christian faith, striving to be more like God (i.e., more holy) here on Earth, joined with those who have completed their Earthly journey of faith and now are in God's presence, including those officially recognized by canonization by the Church.  They set an example for us, and urge us on to keep persevering in our strides toward holiness in our time here on Earth.  Our holiness is one of those "already here, but not yet" realities:  We have been made holy as children of God, and our holiness will be fulfilled when we reach Heaven.  Furthermore, it's fitting to cast our gaze upward to Heaven as we near the end of the Liturgical Year, when the liturgy takes on eschatological overtones.

I attended Mass this morning at my home parish with all the school students there.  Father Larry put it well in his homily, when, at the very end, he posed the question, "Whose feast day is it?", and then answered it with, "Yours".  I like that idea, and I extend it to say that this is our Feast Day, of all the saints  professing Christian faith here on Earth now, and those saints who are in Heaven.