Last night, speaking with my kids about what costumes would be suitable for Halloween (the oldest went as St. Nicholas and the youngest as a shepherd –- we decided he’d be the “Good Shepherd”) it occurred to me that some characters from the Book of Revelation would probably make for good costumes. And then I thought of today’s first reading, one of my favourite Scripture passages:
”And there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.”
This is how the Book of Revelation describes a heavenly scene –- a scene where there are countless numbers of people, myriads of angels, heavenly creatures, all the souls of the just -– all of them, standing before the throne of God, in eternal worship.
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. As Catholics, we love Saints, we honour them, we learn from them, we let them intercede for us, pray for us. For some people, this idea of “saints” may be confusing, but it’s clear from a quick read of the Book of Revelation that the idea of “saints in heaven” makes perfect sense.
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First published October 31, 2011
I have many friends who do not participate in Halloween activities. They refuse to do so because they believe that Halloween is a pagan holiday. Some even go as far as saying that it is a Satanic feast.
I’ve always felt that there’s nothing wrong with participating in Halloween activities. After all, I don’t believe that when we dress up or go door-to-door looking for free candy, we are celebrating anything in particular. But, I too have heard about the Celtic Samhain festival of harvest and I do believe that there are crazy things that happen today on Halloween night, even occult rituals. So I went to do some research.
Turns out that most of our present-day Halloween traditions are deeply rooted, not just in our Catholic faith, but in specific activities that were done in order to celebrate our saints and the souls of the dead.
As you know, Halloween is an abbreviation of the term “All Hallow’s Eve,” which means “the eve of All Saints” (“hallow” means holy). I don’t need to tell you that, since the first century, Christians have been celebrating and remembering the “spirits and souls of the just.”
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A reflection for the 30th Sunday, Ordinary Time, Year B. The readings are Jeremiah 31:7-9; Psalm 126; Hebrews 5:1-6 and Mark 10:46-52
I’m blind. Really, I am. I don’t mean it metaphorically. I am blind. I wear contact lenses. I’ve been wearing glasses since I’m seven. When I was little I used to love this cartoon, Mr. Magoo – remember him? He was always bumping into things. And I’ve always been moved by stories of blind people – and especially stories of Jesus healing people who are blind.
Last Sunday, October 26, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI canonised seven saints. And among them was our very own Kateri Tekakwitha, the very first North American Native woman to be recognised as a Saint. When Kateri was about 5 years old, her village suffered from a small pox epidemic. Her father, her mother and her little brother, along with hundreds of people from her village died. Kateri also had the disease, but she didn’t die. But smallpox leaves you with scars – deep scars that look like craters – and Kateri’s face was left disfigured by the smallpox scars. And her eyes were left weakened – she had poor eyesight. She couldn’t be outside in the bright sun. She used to wear a blanket over her head to shield her eyes from the sun. She would grope around with her arms in front of her so she didn’t bump into things.
When I first learned about Kateri, I was told that Tekakwitha means “she who rearranges things.” But this summer, while making the documentary on St. Kateri, some Mohawk people told me that Tekakwitha actually means, “she who bumps into things.” I guess she would rearrange things so that she wouldn’t bump into them.
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Mi primer sermon: 27 de mayo, 2012, Fiesta de Pentecostés.
Hoy celebramos la venida del Espíritu Santo y en las lecturas escuchamos dos relatos distintos del mismo evento. San Lucas en los Hechos de los Apóstoles describe el evento que todos conocemos: Con el viento huracanado y las llamas de fuego y los discípulos que comienzan a hablar en lenguas. El relato de San Juan es un poco distinto, pero para mí, un poco más conmovedor.
Los apóstoles están atemorizados, tienen miedo. Se sienten confusos, desalentados, abandonados, defraudados… todo lo que esperaban había fracasado. Ese hombre a quien seguían, quien creían era el Hijo de Dios, el Mesías, el que iba a liberar a Israel de la ocupación Romana – había sido arrestado, torturado y asesinado. ¿Y a quién van a matar después? A ellos mismos. Los apóstoles están encerrados, llenos de miedo… y, ¿quién se aparece? Jesús. Y, ¿qué les dice? Paz. Jesús les da la paz, “tengan paz.” “No tengan miedo.” No tengan miedo; tengan paz. ‘No tengas miedo’ es quizás la frase que mas aparece en la Biblia – sale como unas 350 veces: no tengáis miedo, no teman… y muchos de nosotros recordamos las palabras de Juan Pablo II durante su primera homilía como Papa en octubre de 1978: “Non abbiate paura!” No tengan miedo. Esa es la buena noticia de hoy.
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