Upcoming October Celebrations

09-25-2022Weekly ReflectionFr. Michael Straley

Next weekend begins October … and the stores are full of Halloween decorations. It is a sad commentary that now many people spend more money and time decorating for Halloween than for Christmas. Do we celebrate fear and evil more than we celebrate blessings and saints? Remember, the day after Halloween is the Feast of All Saints, which is a Holy Day of Obligation to attend Mass.

This is a good way to look at how secular culture has an effect on our lives. It is a good time to look at our priorities and maybe adjust our lives a little. In our magazine, Clairvaux Community Life, I talked about a Catholic way to celebrate both October 31 and November 1. The Mexican celebration of Dia de Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, is a way to laugh at and mock the idea that death is the end of all life and therefore to be feared. Instead, Day of the Dead is a way to celebrate those past lives that have been important to us and even to “invite them” to the celebration!

Let us never forget the saints in our lives, those celebrated by the entire Church and those we remember in a special way.