As we celebrate All Saints Day and All Souls day in a few days, I was curious to know how these liturgical celebrations connected to our secular holiday of Halloween. Indeed, Halloween started as All Hallows Eve, the Old English term for the vigil celebration before the Feast of the Saints. In Ireland, the faithful used to dress in costumes on All Hallows Eve of both saintly and evil spirits, depicting the battle between good and evil that goes on in the world. Paul mentions such a battle in the passage from the Letter to the Ephesians in today’s first reading, telling the faithful to draw strength from the Lord to help them stand firm against the tactics of the Devil. St Paul states that our main struggle in this world is not against our fellow human beings, but rather it is against those forces of spiritual evil that wage battle against us. In our modern way of looking at the world and at the universe, with our knowledge of science, astronomy, and cosmology, we perhaps have lost the sense of the battle of good vs evil spiritual forces that the ancient world saw as a integral part of reality. We have gained a lot in our advances in scientific knowledge, but perhaps we have lost a lot as well, especially in the way we see the spiritual realm. On our journey of faith, we are called to grow in God’s truth, to maintain integrity and loyalty to the faith, to follow God’s laws and commandments, and to form a strong union with our brothers and sisters in Christ. These are all ways that we can put on the armor of Christ, to be firm and resolute on our journey of faith. Like Paul, may we live out our faith boldly, not being afraid to stand up for our beliefs and convictions.
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