Hallowtide

This weekend, the Church celebrates what is called “Hallowtide,” or the feasts of All Saints Day and All Souls Day. The name “Hallowtide” comes from the older English version of the name All Hallows Day. “Hallow” means holy or saintly, which incidentally means that Halloween (All Hallows Eve), despite the secular world’s attempt to assert otherwise, is actually originally a Christian holiday. 

All Saints Day is the feast where we celebrate the Church Triumphant, those souls who have entered heaven, whether we know of them or not. There are more saints in heaven than just those who have been formally recognized by canonization. In addition to Mass, one way this feast has traditionally been celebrated is by dressing up as various saints from history, which is where the custom of dressing up in costumes comes from.

All Souls Day is the commemoration of the Church Suffering, those souls who are in Purgatory. Despite many popular misconceptions, Purgatory is not a bad thing. Purgatory, as the name implies, is where the soul is purged or purified of the last scars of sin. It is not where you go if you are not bad enough for hell but not good enough for heaven. If you wind up in Purgatory, you are guaranteed to go to heaven in due time. The tricky thing with Purgatory is that you cannot do anything to help yourself while you are there; that is opposite of what it is for. Love is an outward movement, away from self and towards the other, and Purgatory is about perfecting our love. So the souls there cannot pray for themselves, only for us. We are the ones who have to help them. This is why we have All Souls Day, and why it is considered a work of mercy to pray for the dead throughout the year. 

May we take some time this weekend to celebrate the saints who accompany us each day and to pray for the dead who are still journeying to God, that through our love and devotion for both, we may one day be with them and with God for eternity!