October already! Where has this year gone?
October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary! If you can, try saying a Rosary every day this month.
Rosary
Saint Feast days this month:
October 1 - St. Thérèse of Lisieux
October 2 - The Holy Guardian Angels
October 4 - St. Francis of Assisi
October 5 - St. Faustina Kowalska
October 7 - Our Lady of the Rosary
October 15 - St. Teresa of Avila
October 16 - Hedwig of Silesia
October 17 - St. Ignatius of Antioch
October 18 - St. Luke, Evangelist
October 22 - Pope St. John Paul II
October 28 - Sts. Simon and Jude, Apostles
We have all grown up in a world where on October 31st, we celebrate Halloween and dress up to get candy from our neighbors. A fun tradition! But did you know that Halloween was first a Catholic holiday?!
At the end of this month, we have the triduum called All Hallows' Tide, starting on October 31, All Hallows Eve, with All Saints’ Day on November 1st, and All Souls Day on November 2nd.
These three days are a great time to reflect and pray about your death. Which is where it got its spooky theme. Medieval Catholics would decorate with skulls and skeletons to remind themselves of their mortality and to live their life according to God’s will. When they spoke about a ghost, it was coming from the Germanic gast, meaning soul/life/breath. Memento Mori is Latin for “remember that you must die”. All of these themes are still present today in Halloween, just has lost its true meaning, the reminder that we will all die. We all will one day face judgment day. Are you ready? If not, what can you do now to get ready?
Memento Mori - Latin for “remember that you must die”.
All Hallows Eve, the vigil of All Saints Day, traditionally was a day of preparation. A day of penance, fasting, and abstinence, to prepare ourselves for the feast the next day. This day of penance helps us to let go of things of this world that might be holding us back from God. It’s a great day to go to confession if you can. The Church no longer requires you to fast or abstain, but still a great practice. It makes the next day feast all the sweeter!
All Saints’ Day, November 1st, commemorates the dead in Heaven. All canonized and uncanonized Saints. Every soul in heaven is a saint, even if the Church here on earth doesn’t recognize them as a saint. To be with God = to be a saint. So on this day, we recognize all the saints in heaven, including the silent saints.
November 1st is a Holy Day of Obligation, so go to Mass!!!!
A fun way to celebrate this day would be to get together with friends and family to have an All Saints Day party! Everyone can come dressed as a saint. During the party, each person can stand up and give hints on who they are dressed up as. Everyone tries to guess who they are. It’s a fun way to learn about the saints. There are also lots of other games you can play, giving them a little saint twist, like Saint Cecilia musical chairs, or pin the fire on the apostles, or exchange Saint prayer cards. Get creative!
All Souls Day, November 2nd, commemorates all the faithful departed, the souls in purgatory. When we die, we will face a particular judgment. (CCC 1021-1022) This is when your life lived here on earth will determine where your soul goes. We decide this every day we live based on the choices we make. If here and now till the moment of your death, you love God and do His will, perfect in this life, you will go to Heaven. Heaven means to be with God. (CCC 1023-1029) If in this life you choose to reject God’s love with mortal sin and die without repentance, you will live eternally without God, in the torments of hell. (CCC 1033-1037) Or in God’s mercy, we will face the purification needed to achieve the holiness to enter heaven, or purgatory. (CCC 1030-1032)
All Souls Day is the day we pray for those in purgatory, as they cannot pray for themselves or make sacrifices. The souls in purgatory need us to help them, to ease their suffering and advance them through their purification so they can join the Saints in heaven. This could be our own loved ones and friends, but also remember all those who have no one to pray for them. You can really help those poor souls in purgatory by going to mass, praying the Our Father, the Creed, and then visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead. If you have flowers around your house, you could pick them to place on the tombstone you pray for. The following is a great prayer to say when you visit the cemetery:
“Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.”
Lastly, a fun way to celebrate this day is to decorate your house with flowers, candles, and photos of those who have died. Tell stories of those you knew. As well as make soul cakes! (They are cinnamon cookies) It was traditional for children to go around to houses asking for these cookies in exchange for praying for those of the family who had died. (The origins of trick-or-treating.)
Soul Cakes - a small, dense, sweet, spiced bun or biscuit, traditionally eaten on All Souls' Day or All Hallows' Eve (Halloween)
Traditional Soul Cakes that are tasty and easy to bake:
Yield: about 16 cakes
7 tablespoons softened butter
1/2 cup cane sugar
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
I tsp mixed spice, or pumpkin pie spice
2 tablespoons milk
1/3 cup raisins, or dried fruit (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°F
Beat together butter and sugar until well combined.
Add the egg yolks one at a time, and then the flour and spices, mixing until it just comes together. Stir in the dried fruit with a spoon or by hand, then transfer the dough to a floured surface.
Roll out the dough to be about 1/2" thick, and cut into rounds using a biscuit or cookie cutter. Using a sharp knife, mark the tops of your cakes with a cross. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes.
I know that this all seems like a lot, but really, it is just scratching the surface of all the traditions around All Hallows Tide. I encourage you to look more into these traditions or Saint feast days this month.
The book “The Catholic All Year Compendium” by Kendra Tierney is a great book!
I also encourage you to download the app Hallow. There is so much to listen to and learn from that app, including a new series called “Hallowed be thy Day” where Lisa Cotter talks about what is happening on each day in the life of The Church.
In Christ under Mary,
Monica
and the Women’s Connect team