RCIA 2014 Group

10/29/2013

Preparing for All Saints Day

I wrote this article a few years ago around this same period of time. I invite you to read it and then reflect upon some of the questions listed below.
Use the comment section to offer some of your own thoughts after reading the article.

Article: Halloween and Trick-or-Treat Catholics (click to read)

For Reflection:

Did you trick-or-treat when you were younger? Who explained or how did you come to make sense of it?
Have you ever had to explain this ritual to other adults or children? How did you explain it to them?
Explaining cultural traditions and religious traditions can be similar. Such explanations can either be simplistic or deeply engaging. What is your experience of understanding being Catholic like at the moment?
Are you seeking to be a trick-or-treat Catholic or not?

3 Comments

Ben Koester

10/31/2013 03:22:24 am

Yes, I went trick-or treating when I was a child. Growing up with two other siblings living in the suburbs of Cincinnati, many children dressed up and couldn't wait to get candy and see all the other children in the neighborhood. Thinking back on it, I don't know if anyway really explained why we went trick-or-treating; it just was something we did. I have seen pictures of myself as a small child dressed up. I think parents enjoy it as much as the children do when they are young because they can dress them up and "show them off".
I personally have never had to explain this holiday before. It allows kids to "be" whoever or whatever they want and their treat is a bag full of candy. It's supposed to be a fun night for children and a nightmare for dentist.
Being Catholic is trying to always see the best in everyone and everything. It's knowing that even if you are alone and have no one to turn to, Jesus is always there for you. It's even more than that; it's a community that is there for you. It's a world society that will embrace anyone from any background, gender, race, class and age. It's a family that believes everyone has good in them and believes the same story that God is the reason we are here and that Jesus has already saved us. It is a warming blanket to cover yourself even on the coldest of nights.
Am I seeking to be a trick-or-treat Catholic, yes and no. I do wear the costume that Jesus has conquered sin and death and gives us the gifts of forgiveness and life. However, I know too many people who "dress up" everyday and put on a front. Their costume has became a mask of who they really are to the world. But underneath, they are a completely different person. This i believe is wrong and this is how it is hard at times to truly know someone.

Happy Halloween

Jay Cuasay

10/31/2013 03:59:55 am

Thanks for a very thorough and thoughtful response.

I hope that the All Saints Day celebration, the Feast of All Souls Day, The Book of Remembrance, and how we leave this out the entire month of November also adds to your observations about "Being Catholic." That we remember our dead and spend the month of November putting them forward, naming them. Yet, we also remember them at every mass along with the Communion of Saints. And we truly believe that all of them, along with us gather around the altar for Communion, where heaven and earth, the divine and the human are joined in Christ's Body.
A simpler way that I put it for my daughter (or anyone who has lost a loved one) is "Isn't it wonderful that God can be with us and with those who are no longer with us? What an awesome God!"

Rick Gonder

11/2/2013 06:42:25 am

Ben - I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on Halloween and the metaphor presented in Jay's piece.

As for me, I don't recall Halloween ever being explained to me as a child nor really relating anything to my children other than it was a fun time to go dress up as something else and beg candy from the neighborhood. It was a night filled with fun, excitement and anticipation (all the candy) from those that answered the doorbell. As my siblings, friends and I traversed the neighborhood we ran between houses to see who could get the most candy before it was time to be home and get ready for bed. Usually we compared our loot bags to see who yielded the most candy. I think the excitement/fun of the event dissipated in the early teenage years (that was for the "little kids") and served the household passing out candy to the excited children (and seeing the joy in the faces as I opened the door and dropped the candy in their bags).

As adults Lora and I shared responsibility of watching the kids go house to house until they were old enough to trek out on their own while the other filled the trick or treater's bags with candy.

The Catholic religion has many traditions passed down from Jesus through his Apostles. It is obviously a much more serious venture (than the Halloween tradition), building faith in God•and living the Christian virtuous life. I believe that the Catholic traditions and beliefs strengthen us to be closer to God. It helps me find the meaning of my own life, reflect on what I have accomplished and what I could do to be a better Christian. The difference between Halloween and the Catholic traditions is you don't dress up as something else to reap the rewards of your faith. You live it (Christian ways) daily as your spirituality grows with your faith in God.

RCIA 2014 Group

Preparing for All Saints Day

Leave a Reply.

Purpose

Archives

Categories