Happy Halloween! The Catholic Perspective

Hat tip to FishEaters, with gratitude ~

31 October and 1 and 2 November are called, colloquially (not officially), "Hallowtide" or the "Days of the Dead" because on these days we pray for or remember those who've left this world. The days of the dead center around All Saints' Day (also known as All Hallows') on November 1, when we celebrate all the Saints in Heaven. On the day after All Hallows', we remember the saved souls who are in Purgatory being cleansed of the temporal effects of their sins before they can enter Heaven. The day that comes before All Hallows', though, is one on which we unofficially remember the damned and the reality of Hell. The schema, then, for the Days of the Dead looks like this:
31 October:
Hallowe'en:
unofficially recalls the souls of the damned. Practices center around the reality of Hell and how to avoid it.
1 November:
All Saints':
set aside to officially honor the Church Triumphant. Practices center around recalling our great Saints, including those whose names are unknown to us and, so, are not canonized
2 November:
All Souls':
set aside officially to pray for the Church Suffering (the souls in Purgatory). Practices center around praying for the souls in Purgatory, especially our loved ones

The earliest form of All Saints' (or "All Hallows'") was first celebrated in the 300s, but originally took place on 13 May, as it still does in some Eastern Churches. The Feast first commemorated only the martyrs, but came to include all of the Saints by 741. It was transferred to 1 November in 844 when Pope Gregory III consecrated a chapel in St. Peter's Basilica to All Saints (so much for the theory that the day was fixed on 1 November because of a bunch of Irish pagans had harvest festivals at that time). All Souls' has its origins in A.D. 1048 when the Bishop of Cluny decreed that the Benedictines of Cluny pray for the souls in Purgatory on this day. The practice spread until Pope Sylvester II recommended it for the entire Latin Church. The Vigil of, or evening before, All Hallows' ("Hallows' Eve," or "Hallowe'en") came, in Irish popular piety, to be a day of remembering the dead who are neither in Purgatory or Heaven, but are damned, and these customs spread to many parts of the world.

Thus we have the popular focus of Hallowe'en as the reality of Hell, hence its scary character and focus on evil and how to avoid it, the sad fate of the souls of the damned, etc. How, or even whether, to celebrate Hallowe'en is a controversial topic in traditional circles. One hears too often that "Hallowe'en is a pagan holiday" -- an impossibility because "Hallowe'en," as said, means "All Hallows' Evening" which is as Catholic a holiday as one can get. Some say that the holiday actually stems from Samhain, a pagan Celtic celebration, or is Satanic, but this isn't true, either, any more than Christmas "stems from" the Druids' Yule, though popular customs that predated the Church may be involved in our celebrations.

~~

From the Irish come the carved Jack-o-lanterns, which were originally carved turnips. The legend surrounding the Jack-o-Lantern is this:

There once was an old drunken trickster named Jack, a man known so much for his miserly ways that he was known as "Stingy Jack," He loved making mischief on everyone -- even his own family, even the Devil himself! One day, he tricked Satan into climbing up an apple tree -- but then carved Crosses on the trunk so the Devil couldn't get back down. He bargained with the Evil One, saying he would remove the Crosses only if the Devil would promise not to take his soul to Hell; to this, the Devil agreed.

After Jack died, after many years filled with vice, he went up to the Pearly Gates -- but was told by St. Peter that he was too miserable a creature to see the Face of Almighty God. But when he went to the Gates of Hell, he was reminded that he couldn't enter there, either! So, he was doomed to spend his eternity roaming the earth. The only good thing that happened to him was that the Devil threw him an ember from the burning pits to light his way, an ember he carried inside a hollowed-out, carved turnip.

~~

From the English Catholics we get begging from door to door, the earlier and more pure form of "trick-or-treating." Children would go about begging their neighbors for a "Soul Cake," for which they would say a prayer for those neighbors' dead. Instead of knocking on a door and saying the threatening,

"Trick-or-treat" (or the ugly "Trick-or-treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat"), children would say either:

A Soul Cake, a Soul Cake, have mercy on all Christian souls for a soul cake!
or
Soul, soul, an apple or two, If you haven't an apple, a pear will do, One for Peter, two for Paul, Three for the Man Who made us all.

While Soul Cakes were originally a type of shortbread, it is said that a clever medieval cook wanted to make Soul Cakes designed to remind people of eternity, so she cut a hole in the middle of round cakes before frying them, thereby inventing donuts! Fresh plain cake donuts would be a nice food to eat on this day.
Cake Doughnuts (makes 20)

2 quarts canola oil 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1/4 cup sour cream

1 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp coarse salt

1 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 packet active dry yeast or 0.6 ounces cake yeast

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons nonfat buttermilk

1 extra-large whole egg 2 extra-large egg yolks

1 tsp pure vanilla extract 1 1/4 cups nonmelting or confectioners' sugar

1. Heat oil in a low-sided six-quart saucepan over medium-high heat until a deep-frying thermometer registers 375°. Lightly dust a baking pan with all-purpose flour, and line a second one with paper towels; set both aside. 2. Meanwhile, place sour cream in a heat-proof bowl or top of a double boiler; set over a pan of simmering water. Heat until warm to the touch. Remove from heat; set aside. 3. In a large bowl, sift together all-purpose flour, cake flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Make a large well; place yeast in center. Pour warm sour cream over yeast, and let sit 1 minute. 4. Place buttermilk, whole egg, egg yolks, and vanilla in a medium bowl; whisk to combine. Pour egg mixture over sour cream. Using a wooden spoon, gradually draw flour mixture into egg mixture, stirring until smooth before drawing in more flour. Continue until all flour mixture has been incorporated; dough will be very sticky. 5. Sift a heavy coat of flour onto a clean work surface.

Turn out dough. Sift another heavy layer of flour over dough. Using your hands, pat dough until it is 1/2 inch thick. Using a 2 3/4-inch doughnut cutter, cut out doughnuts as close together as possible, dipping the cutter in flour before each cut. Transfer doughnuts to floured pan, and let rest 10 minutes, but not more. 6. Carefully transfer four doughnuts to hot oil. Cook until golden, about 2 minutes. Turn over; continue cooking until evenly browned on both sides, about 2 minutes more. Using a slotted spoon, transfer doughnuts to lined pan. Repeat with remaining doughnuts. 7. Gather remaining dough scraps into a ball. Let rest 10 minutes; pat into a 1/2-inch-thick rectangle. Cut, let rest 10 minutes, and cook. 8. When cool enough to handle, sift nonmelting sugar over tops; serve immediately. (Recipe from Martha Stewart).

Other customary foods for All Hallows' Eve include cider, nuts, popcorn, and apples -- best eaten around a bonfire or fireplace!Another Hallowe'en custom is the old Celtic "bobbing for apples." To do this, fill a large tub two thirds full with water and float apples in it. Children take turns trying to pick up one of the floating apples using only their mouths (hands are not allowed and must be held or tied behind the back!) -- very tricky to do! The first to do so wins a prize (some say he will be the first one to marry someday). You can make the game more fun by carving an initial into the bottom of each apple, letting that initial indicate the name of the person each apple-bobber will marry, and/or using different colored apples with different assigned meanings or prizes. (You can play a dry version of this game by tying the stems of the apples to strings and suspending them. If you do this, carve any initials at the tops of the apples.

Of course, all of this sort of thing is a parlor game and should never be taken seriously or cross the line into divination!)....and tell scary stories! If you want the perfect poems to relate to your children on this day, see Little Orphant Annie, The Raven, The Stolen Child, and the Wreck of the Hesperus. And here are those poems and some stories for you to download in Microsoft Word .doc format:
Little Orphant Annie by James Whitcomb Riley (2 pages)The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe (3 pages)The Stolen Child by William Butler Yeats (2 pages)The Wreck of the Hesperus by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow (3 pages)The Monkey's Paw, by W. W. Jacobs (11 pages)The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson (5 pages)The Tell Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe (4 pages)The Cask of Amontillado, by Edgar Allan Poe (7 pages)The Masque of the Red Death, by Edgar Allan Poe (5 pages)The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving (22 pages)

After teaching your children about the frightening realities of Hell and the fate of the damned, reassure them by telling them that the Evil One has already been conquered! Satan has no real power over those who are in Christ, and mocking him and his minions is a way of demonstrating this; teach your children how to call on the power of Christ and His Church to protect themselves from their snares. Warn them that magic (the art of performing actions beyond the power of man with the aid of powers other than the Divine) is real, that there is no such thing as "white magic," that playing with the occult -- whether by divination, necromancy, the casting of spells, playing with Ouija boards, etc. -- is an invitation to demons to respond, and that it is from demons that magic gets any power it has. Remember St. Michael to them, teach them about the power of sacramentals and prayers that ward off evil when piously used (the Sign of the Cross, Holy Water, blessed salt, the Crucifix, the St. Benedict Medal, St. Anthony's Brief, etc.), teach them to call on the Holy Name of Jesus when they are afraid, etc.

~~

The Reluctant Pope

I wish Il Papa all the luck in the world in erasing the cruel indignity of the hootenanny Mass. How this was ever seen as an acceptable replacement for classic music and hymnography I will never understand if I live to be 110.

From The Telegraph (UK)

QUOTE At the heart of Benedict’s papacy is the belief that Catholics must worship God properly. He wants to heal the wounds caused by the liberals’ cruel repudiation of beautiful Latin services. In 2007 he dramatically removed all the restrictions on the celebration of the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass. Old and new worship should live side by side, enriching each other, he believes. UNQUOTE
~~~

God Is Alive

I first heard this wonderful Leonard Cohen song/poem when I was very young, maybe 14 or so. It has always struck me as a potent and true expression of the sacramental nature of the material world, not to be mistaken for animism, but somewhat akin to it - the Catholic sense that God's Magic, His Mystery (mysterion, agape, nous and sophia) trumps all attempts to diminish it, that Christ is indeed rised from the dead and has once and for all trampled down death by His death, and bestows life upon those in the very tombs.
Sung by Cree singer-composer Buffy Sainte-Marie.

November Rains

It has been cloudy, cold and rainy for days now here in the heartland of America. People are by turns happy about the election outcomes, angry about the election outcomes or consumed with their own personal daily grind. I'm feeling introspective.

I for one am cultivating a wait-and-see attitude towards the likable and brilliant Mr. Obama ~ as I tell my Catholic traditionalist friends - three words: remember Tony Blair. After his liberal party came to power and stayed there a while, the first thing he did after leaving office was run out and join The Catholic Church.

The pressures of state on a complex and righteous man can turn him to God in a way that we shall just have to trust the archangels with. I mean for goodness sakes, after 8 years in power the so-called conservatives haven't changed the atmosphere regarding the sanctity of human life one iota. If anything it is worse than ever.

"The best political, social, and spiritual work we can do is to withdraw the projection of our shadow onto others."- Carl Jung

It has been rightly said that Barack Obama is the first postmodern American president. Thi sis nothing but good news for the genuine Christians amongst us, for in history the so-called "Dark Ages" of post-empire were not very dark at all, they brought about great changes in art, religion, science and agriculture. Think the Irish monks illuminating the Book of Kells, universities founded, the foundation for science laid, Gregorian chant and all the basis for Western classical music laid, Byzantium and its high Christian culture, algebra arrived from the East, amazing architecture, laws passed which were more just, greatly productive agriculture. So back to the future we go! Just as not all that glitters is gold, not all the looks bleak is.

###

My Contribution to the "Honeymoon" Phase: Aretha and Fasting

His selection of Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff raised my eyebrows
pretty high. But rather than rush to judgement, I am
going to wait and see how the rest of President Obama's cabinet shakes out.

In the meantime, enjoy my little contribution to the
"honeymoon phase" of the new presidency. As someone who was raised yellow dog Democrat who remembers the stirring promise of JFK and Bobby and the oratory and bravery of Martin, I am fasting today for my country's new leader and praying that he is will be converted, like Tony Blair, to Catholicism.
Please join me. Especially if you are a Trad who has been bad-mouthing Obama. It'll be good for the country & good for your soul.

A song penned by Sam Cooke during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s after being greatly moved upon hearing Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" in 1963."A Change Is Going to Come" was voted #12 for Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. This song has been covered by Bob Dylan, Tina Turner Aretha Franklin, The 5th Dimension (in a 1970 medley with The Rascals' "People Got to Be Free"), The Band, Al Green GreeneBilly Bragg, Solomon Burke, Terence Trent D'Arby, Gavin Degraw, the Fugees, the Cold War Kids, The Gits, Deitrick Haddon, Prince Buster, Morten Harket, The Neville Brothers, Johnny P, Otis Redding, Leela James, Tina Turner, and The Supremes. Arcade Fire has used the song in support of Barack Obama's nomination for President of the United States.

Enjoy.

Wakey, Wakey, Lads ~ The Boss is Coming

A group of Bishop's gathered yesterday at Barangaroo, AU listening to Pope Benedict XVI ~ aka the leader of the Church, successor of St. Peter and their COO (Chief Operations Officer) as he addresses the youth of the world on high matters of eternal import. Wakey, wakey, lads...His Excellencey Bishop Spooky Spook (left middle)has his eye on ye.
Hah.
A hat tip & bow to Father Sylvester at Shouts In the Piazza.

The Land Down Under

Pope warns against the lure of false idols Sydney Morning Herald

Super Holy Thursday Catholic Online

The Pope Thinks Young In Australia Time Online

Benedict: World's natural resources being squandered The Guardian

QUOTE - SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI says the world's natural resources are being squandered by ``insatiable'' consumption and urges people to care more for the environment.
The pope also condemns television and the Internet for exalting violence and sexual exploitation as entertainment.
Benedict made the comments on Thursday in a speech to hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gathered in Australia for the Roman Catholic church's World Youth Day.
He says nonviolence, sustainable development, justice and care for the environment are of vital importance for humanity. UNQUOTE

Why All Catholic and Orthodox Churches Should Immediately Begin A Green Initiative

The rest of Creation cries out against the evil and perversity of the human species. Other creatures fulfil the commandments of God; they honour his laws. And other creatures do not grumble and complain at those laws. But human beings rebel against those laws, defying them in word and action. And in doing so they inflict terrible cruelty on the rest of God's creation.
-- Blessed Hildegard von Bingen

I have wondered often why many seemingly devout and pious Catholics and Orthodox seem oblivious to the need to change our lives in order to be good stewards of God's Creation. I visit parishes both Traditional, Eastern Rite and modern (Novus Ordo rite) and I have yet to see a program of recycling, green energy usage or support of sustainable agriculture in any of them, much less a series of lectures, homilies or classes on the subject.

Here, gleaned from sources both East and West (since I am an Eastern Rite Catholic who is married to a Greek Orthodox, I have a place in both worlds) are the top ten reasons why a Catholic community should take climate change, earth stewardship and green issues seriously enough to modify our lives,

1.) In 1997, Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians, declared that the wanton destruction of nature was a sin.

2.) Recently, Bartholomew's chief theologian, Metropolitan John of Pergamon, took things a step further, declaring that humans must not simply act as stewards of the environment, but as "priests of creation," embracing nature rather than simply managing it "The human being is almost by its very constitution the link between creation and God," he explained. "We are part of nature."

3.) Pope Benedict XVI has stated: "Preservation of the environment, promotion of sustainable development and particular attention to climate change are matters of grave concern for the entire human family. No nation or business sector can ignore the ethical implications present in all economic and social development. With increasing clarity scientific research demonstrates that the impact of human actions in any one place or region can have worldwide effects. The consequences of disregard for the environment cannot be limited to an immediate area or populus because they always harm human coexistence, and thus betray human dignity and violate the rights of citizens who desire to live in a safe environment ." - LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI TO THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE ON THE OCCASION OF THE SEVENTH SYMPOSIUMOF THE RELIGION, SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT MOVEMENT

4.) The Vatican is installing 1,000 solar panels which will adorn the football-sized roof of the Paul VI audience hall, one of the top energy guzzlers in the sovereign city state. The solar system will be able to provide all the heating, cooling, and lighting needs of the entire building year-round, and any extra electricity generated will be fed back into the Vatican’s grid. If it's good enough for Il Papa, it's good enough for me.

5.) At a Youth Rally last year, Pope Benedict said: "New generations will be entrusted with the future of the planet, which bears clear signs of a type of development that has not always protected nature's delicate equilibriums.” He continued: "Courageous choices that can re-create a strong alliance between man and earth must be made before it is too late."

6.) Who's going to be the first carbon-neutral country in the world? Some hippie Scandinavian nation, right? Or Brazil?
Nope. It's the Vatican, and it's teaming up with a Hungarian carbon offset company to plant the Vatican Climate Forest.

7.) John Paul II: "The law written by God in nature and capable of being read by reason leads to respect for the Creator's plan, a plan which is meant for the benefit of mankind. This law establishes a certain inner order which man discovers and which he must preserve. Any activity in conflict with this order inevitably does damage to man himself." - Liturgy of the Word celebrated in Zamosc, Poland on June 12, 1999

8.) "If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who deal likewise with their fellow men."
-St. Francis of Assisi

9.) "JESUS DEIGNED TO teach me this mystery. He set before me the book of nature; I understood how all the flowers He has created are beautiful, how the splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the Lily do not take away the perfume of the little violet or the delightful simplicity of the daisy." - St. Therese of Lisieux

10.) St. Augustine: "SOME PEOPLE, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Note it. Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead He set before your eyes the things He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?
QUESTION THE BEAUTY of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air distending and diffusing itself, question the beauty of the sky ... question all these realities. All respond: "See, we are beautiful." Their beauty is a profession. These beauties are subject to change. Who made them if not the Beautiful One who is not subject to change?
THE EXPLANATION, then, of the goodness of creation is the goodness of God. It puts an end to all controversies concerning the origin of the world.... The heretics mention, for example, fire, cold, wild beasts and things like that, without considering how wonderful such things are in themselves and in their proper place, and how beautifully they fit into the total pattern of the universe, making their particular contributions to the commonweal of cosmic beauty."
--The City of God 11.22

Some final thoughts ~

from The Council of Ephesus (A.D. 431)
FOR ALTHOUGH VISIBLE and a child in swaddling clothes, and even in the bosom of His Virgin Mother, He filled all creation as God.

And one more list, courtesy of Catholic Conservation Center.

Top 10 Reasons to Care for Creation!
God is the Creator of the Universe and maintains its existence through an ongoing creative will.
God has blessed and called "very good" all that is created.
God's plan for Creation is one of harmony and order. Creation forms a whole, a cosmos.
God loves the community of life.
God's creatures share a common home.
God's presence is discernible in all Creation.
God intends the Earth's goods to be equitably shared.
Within Creation, the human person enjoys a consummate dignity. Inherent to this dignity is that of exercising a wise and just stewardship over the rest of Creation.
Sin brought division into the entire world, but not only within and between human persons. The consequences of sin also affect the Earth.
In a mysterious way, Christ's redemptive mission extends to all of Creation.

To read more, visit The Catholic Conservation Center

Pope Paul VI - A Hospitable Earth for Future Generations
Message to the Stockholm Conference on Human Environment
June 1, 1972

The Catechism on environmental issues (click here).

The Four Cardinal Virtues

Green In The Bible


Matthew 6:10:
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.