One of the favorite books I read once a year or so at our School Masses is “It Will Be Okay: Trusting God Through Fear and Change.” The book tells the story of a seed who likes being a seed safely in the farmer’s shed in a box. One day though the farmer takes him and plants him, and he becomes quite afraid to be in this new, cold, dark place. His friend, Little Fox, keeps him company and encourages him, and eventually things change in a way he never imagined possible – he becomes a tree.

It’s a great book that is a reminder that illustrate how change is a part of life. For, as we are reminded of in John’s Gospel (John 12:24) unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains a grain of wheat, but if it dies, it produces much fruit. God helps us to do that through life, and even after our earthly life comes to an end.

So it is with life; we have to change to become better, and inevitably life brings changes too – even death – as we cross over to one day be with Jesus forever. Yet through it all, God is there with us.

The Church has traditionally had November as a time where we reflect a bit on this, namely mortality and death.

In particular, there are a few days coming up that each have a different take on death and the afterlife, namely Halloween, All Saints Day, and All Soul’s Day. Each is worth celebrating in it’s own way.

With respect to Halloween, The holiday’s history is the eve of All Saints Day. It was known as a time for Christians to mock the devil by reveling in the triumph of Jesus Christ over evil and death. To borrow from the website “catholic.com” “now hear every October 31 is the devil mocking us. It seems some Christians, displaying a Grinch-ish dislike of the simple joys of dress-up and candy consumption, have literally demonized the traditional observation of Halloween as pagan—and worse…Many Christians through the centuries have entertained an unhealthy fear (as distinguished from a healthy fear) of the devil. Dressing children in “scary” costumes for the amusement of the neighbors can defang evil by demonstrating that innocence is adorable and evil is but a damned parasite on all that is good and noble. But in a hyper-scrupulous environment, it can be difficult for Christians to appreciate that there is spiritual value in such a mockery of evil—or even that it is mockery of evil and not participation in it.”

The animosity among some towards Halloween, notably these days from some fundamentalist Christians, stems from John Calvin, the Protestant reformer who wanted to remove all Catholic holidays.

So the bottom line is Halloween is a day to celebrate with kids and do the traditional wearing of costumes, and “trick or treating” and really is a day where we take on the one hand a more lighthearted approach to death; saying we are not going to be consumed by fear, but celebrate in a sense that death does not have the last word.

This leads us to All Saint’s Day, November 1st. Many of us know or experienced deep love from people in our lives we’ve lost. Most people though do not go through a formal canonization process; where a cause for their being declared a saint is opened. Of course there are many people in heaven whom are known only to God; and we ask for their prayers and intercession. This day honors that connection and of how these people remain connected to us.

Lastly we have All Soul’s Day. This is the following day, and it is a day where we pray for all of our beloved dead. We do this because we believe that there is a journey to heaven.

For some when they die, they have already learned to love God fully; they go to heaven. For some, they may have rejected God completely, and they go to hell, which is the absence of God; hence the eternal frustration of someone who can do nothing to undo a completely closed heart. However, we also believe in purgatory. And as I’ve noted before citing then-Cardinal Ratzinger who wrote on the subject, purgatory is not some type of concentration camp. Rather, it is a process, known to God, where His love purges us of those sins and things we cling to. We can go to confession, and sin is forgiven, but there is still sometimes in us the tendency or temptations to do those same sins again. After we die, God helps us through that so that its permanently removed. Purgatory is not pain; only love. Just as a coach or teacher encourages us for what we’ve done good, they also challenge us to become even better. God takes delight in liberating us from our sins, and that will happen after death – so we pray for those who have died on All Soul’s Day, and indeed many Masses are often offered for deceased people we have known.

Death is understandably not something we like to think about, and for most of us we try to ignore it. But perhaps a better way is to make peace with it. We all face our Good Friday, but this leads to Easter Sunday. So let us turn our fears and anxieties over to God, and also never forget our connection to our beloved dead never ends, for Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection change everything. Our God is awesome indeed, and is truly a God of life.

So, too, is it important to remember death does not end our connection to our loved ones. We may not physically be with them on this earth, but as we not only pray for one another, we are also inspired to become better. For instance I’m one of those people who puts up their Christmas stuff right around or after Halloween (why keep it in storage I figure, its darker out I might as well brighten up the house!). That said so many of my ornaments are hand-made creations from my grandmother Pat, or ornaments that once hung on my grandparents tree. Even one of my trees (yes, “trees” – I have 4!) is from the 1980s and was in my parent’s home. They are reminders to me of the people who’ve meant so much to me. My parents are still with me on this earth; my grandparents, and my wonderful four-legged friend Kirby, along with many others, I hope to meet up with again down the road – but they journey with me as I think not only about the past, but the love they showed me and so many others and try to emulate it.

Death isn’t something we much like to think about, but remember our God did – and He died – but Easter and the Resurrection will always have the last word.

Have a blessed week,  ~Fr. Paul

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October 2025