Last Saturday was our annual All Saints party at the Knights of Columbus. We have been hosting a party at the Knights for about five years now, and most of the attendees are homeschooling families. This year we had 56 children attend with their families and our theme was the Crusades. I think everybody had a good time. My favorite part of the event is when we pray the litany of the saints. We do it in an unusual way. Nearly every child comes dressed as a saint. When it comes time to pray the litany, we pray to the saints the children are dressed as. This year we were fortunate because the local Missionaries of Charity came to pray with us.

The following is an article authored by my wife, Melissa, which explains Mexican All Saints traditions for Americans at a Knights of Columbus party we host annually. We apologize for formatting.

Celebrations of Life
Practices of All Saints' and All Souls' Days:
Halloween and El Día de Las Muertas

The Cathedral Knights of Columbus will host a Día de Las Muertas or "Day of the Dead" celebration for families, a fully Catholic, ancient tradition of Mexico. The event will begin with Mass at the Hall and lunch, games, prizes, a children's parade, Litany of the Saints and candy will follow. The purpose of this article is to better inform interested families about this custom. This informative article was greatly aided by Father Joseph Ganssle and was reviewed by him.

I. Introduction

Halloween is a holiday observed on the evening of October 31 in most areas of North America and in some areas of Western Europe. Halloween falls on the eve of All Saint's Day. The name is derived from archaic terms for the day, Allhallows Eve. Originally a pagan festival of the dead, All Saints' Day was established by the Church in the 9th century to honor Christian saints. All Saints, on November 2nd, is a holy day established in the 10th century. The Day of the Dead or El Día de Las Muertas, the Mexican practice of All Saints' and All Souls' Days, transforms into Catholic tradition the pagan Native American celebrations of the dead.
II. Origins of Halloween—Samhain

Many of the ancient peoples of Europe marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter by celebrating a holiday in late autumn. The most important of these holidays to influence later Halloween customs was Samhain, a holiday observed by the ancient Celts. Samhain began at sundown on October 31 and extended into the following day. According to the Celtic pagan religion, known as Druidism, the spirits of those who had died in the preceding year roamed the earth on Samhain evening. The Celts sought to ward off these spirits with offerings of food and drink, a sort of precursor to the Trick-or-Treat tradition in America.
In the process of incorporating the Celts into the Church, the holiday was adopted and adapted to Christian principles; although, it was not until 835 that the holiday shed the remainder of its pagan tendencies. It was then that Pope Gregory IV sought to replace Samhain with All Saints' Day. Later, All Souls' Day was first instituted at a French monastery in 998 and quickly spread throughout Europe.

Throughout Europe costumes represent popular expressions of Catholic piety. The Irish celebrate All Saints' Day by dressing as devils to show how death and Satan have no power over Christians and how we live in the protection of God. The Irish expressions are truly meant to mock Satan and his minions. Mediaeval Europeans staged Morality Plays in which actors dressed as devils and angels representing vices and opposing virtues in real world situations as a catechetical technique. After the play the actors and audience members would go out into the community and portray the spiritual battles. Ultimately this process of costuming and the accompanying rewards became our familiar costumes and trick-or-treating.

The jack-o'-lantern is probably the most ubiquitous symbol of Halloween. It was originally carved from a large turnip rather than a pumpkin and it developed in medieval Scotland, rather than Ireland. The jack-o'-lantern derives its name from a character in British folktales. According to these tales, the soul of Jack O'Lantern was barred from both Heaven and Hell and was condemned to wander the earth with his lantern. He symbolizes purgatory, the eternal separation from the warmth of God and Jack's fate, and consequently Jack himself, are feared. The jack-o-lantern serves as a reminder to remain faithful in order avoid his punishment.

II. Origins of "Day of the Dead"—Miccailhuitontli (meek-all-wee-TONE-tlee)

The original celebration of Day of the Dead can be traced to the festivities held during the Aztec month of Miccailhuitontli (meek-all-wee-TONE-tlee), named for the goddess Mictecacihuatl (meek-tec-a-kee-WHA-tl), the "Lady of the Dead". In the Aztec calendar, this ritual fell roughly at the end of July and the beginning of August, but it was moved by Spanish Jesuits to coincide with All Hallows Eve or Día de Todos Santos (All Saints' Day).

Often, the day begins with Mass and a Rosary for loved ones who have passed to their reward. Gatherings take place in cemeteries decorated to overflowing with orange and red flowers such as marigolds and chrysanthemums. Incense is burned. Many families construct elaborate ofrendas or tables heaped with food and drink and lit by candles even during the day. Special loaves of bread known as pan del muerte or "bread of the dead" are baked for the holiday. It is sweet, dry bread decorated with sugar to resemble skeletons, skulls, and mummified bodies. Other food offerings are selected with a specific individual in mind, including dishes the deceased person enjoyed in life. Sometimes even gifts of coffee, cigarettes and money grace the offrenda. Despite appearances to the contrary, the people are warm, congenial and celebratory, not sad or frightened.

Gifts are sometimes exchanged from godparents and parents to children. Small tokens of affection like Saints' medals, Santos (small statues of saints), rosaries, and holy cards are common as well as the secular gifts of plastic and candy skeletons. Unusual to Americans but a frequent gift all the same is the bendita. It is not unlike the scapular in devotion and purpose and represents the incorporation of Native Americans into Catholicism; it is a dried deer's eye upon which the image of a saint is painted. It is given to bless and protect children from influence and temptation and the intentions of ill-disposed people.

III. Conclusion

There are no traditional European-American celebrations surrounding the holy days of All Saints' and All Souls' Days. Beyond Mass attendance on All Saints' Day, few families celebrate in any meaningful way. But for those who do, in attempt to avoid the common pagan manifestations of Halloween, many families attempt a secular, innocuous "harvest" theme. The secularization of Catholic feasts and holidays is shameful and the celebration is ultimately more pagan than before. This practice fails to fully celebrate the days which honor those who have passed before us into Heaven and those who have passed but who are in need of our prayers. Death is an integral part of our temporal existence as it marks the passing from this life into eternity and these holy days are tributes to this coming life. While it is natural to be cautious and respectful of death, it is only to be feared if we fail to live according to the teachings of the mother Church. All Catholics should often contemplate their lives and coming death and truly evaluate our existence and these celebrations facilitate such thought. Children are certainly no exception.

Further, there is little need to invent traditions for these feasts when there are authentic, long lived, Catholic traditions for the new world. While these traditions and customs are strikingly different from secular practices they are not pagan. Truthfully, the are the result of pagan practice absorbed by the Church and transformed into Christian tradition; however, the same can be said for many of the Church's feasts. The Christmas tree and the Easter egg are examples of the Church's moves to set aside pagan ritual and replace it with authentic Christian symbols. The painted egg, once a fertility symbol of ancient Egypt, now holds a revered place in most Catholic homes at Easter as it now is symbolic of the Resurrection. Saint Mary Magdalene is often depicted with an egg, as she was the first to see the resurrected Christ. No one refutes the Christian representation of the egg, despite its pagan origins.

To Americans, El Día de Las Muertas celebrations may appear morbid or macabre but should be interpreted with the appreciation of the cultural significance. Mexicans have little fear of death and dying in the life well lived and see it as the natural completion of the Earthly vocations. The symbols of this process, specifically the skulls, miscellaneous bones, and mummies are really signifying only the visual and tangible elements of this completion. The celebration is of life, the temporal and eternal, and death is only a touchstone, a marker if you will, separating these. The celebrations permit one to fully embrace life and all of its manifold characteristics, including this division. This necessarily means coming to terms with death's more recognizable elements.

The American avoidance of the less savory aspects of life, specifically the imagery of death, and the turning to more "harvest" associated celebrations while not specifically pagan do not fully escape the pagan themes. The earliest celebrations were centered on the harvest as a significant touchstone for the turning of time and the change of seasons. In failing to recognize the existence of death, one simply encourages the Culture of Death in which we sanitize the end of life and demean life. This is evident in the language used to promote abortion and euthanasia.

The practice of popular expressions of piety surrounding life and death in general, and the feasts of All Saints' and All Souls' specifically do not demean life in anyway. Instead, life is elevated to a revered position and we warmly recall all those who have passed into their reward as well as honoring the reward itself. While it may not be a comfortable act for many Americans who are heavily influenced by the strongly Protestant and yet Pagan dominated culture here and the accompanying fear and avoidance of death, it is a helpful practice to explore. Not all manners of devotion provide the same meaning to all people, but people should expose themselves to all manner of devotion to determine if one may satisfy their spiritual needs. Above all, the rich and meaningful celebrations of Catholic feasts should not be feared but welcomed by the community of the faithful. Protestants fear Halloween because it is intimately Catholic and Pagans fear it because it recalls their empty lives void of the sacraments and this is true whether these individuals or associations realize it or not. Catholics should take back their Catholic holiday and celebrate it happily.

Last Sunday we heard the Gospel reading about giving to Caeser what is Caeser’s and to God what is God’s. Fr. James Doran, OMV preached an excellent homily, as always, which focused on the duties we have as citizens in working with the civil authorities for the common good. He quoted from the Catechism, especially the section on the 4th commandment and talked about how our duties to the state are similar to our duties to our parents. These are issues that I have thought about and struggled with for a long time.

Also recently, on two of the blogs I regularly read (la nouvelle theologie and Caelum et Terra), Justin Nickelsen has asked questions about the political philosophies of the blog hosts, and in one case spoke of an un-American tone. Over the course of this week, reflecting on the Gospel of Sunday, and reading about similar issues in the blogoshpere has given rise to some thoughts that I really need to flesh out better. So I’m going to use this space to do that.

A few weeks ago we went to a different parish, St. Therese, in Aurora, instead of Holy Ghost. We were privileged to have a newly ordained priest, Fr. Angel Perez, celebrate the mass. That week the Gospel was about the landowner who planted a vineyard and leased it to tenants, who refused to turn over the produce, and eventually killed the servants and the son of the landowner. Fr. Angel spoke about the Lordship of God over all things, and he particularly stressed the Lordship of God over goods we think of as our own: out homes our families, our bodies, our country and our money. He even brought up the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus taught us that you cannot serve both God and mammon.

To complicate matters more thoroughly, I read some of the materials linked to by Daid Jones on la nouvelle theologie by Eugene McCarraher. One of the articles, “Mammon’s Dealdly Grin: The New Gospel of Wealth and the Old Gospel of Life” dealt with these issues directly. He claims that we live in a Corporate-National-security-Entertainment state directed towards the un-holy triumvirate of mammon, mars and saturn.

Then Thomas Storck reported on the Caelum et Terra Blog that Stephen Kobasa had been fired from his job at Cathedral High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut for refusing to display an American Flag in his office. This story was mentioned again on Mark Shea’s blog. The Bishop of Bridgeport is William Lori, who is also the Supreme Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus. One of the four principles of the Knights is patriotism, the other three are charity, unity and fraternity. When you see knights dressed in their regalia (the fancy hat, cape and sword), you can rest assured that they have attained their patriotic degree. Only a knight who has attained the patriotic degree is entitled to wear the regalia; the Knights want their public face to be a patriotic one.

I am not a fourth degree knight, and I have not taken my patriotic degree. Yet, I have promised on several occasions to live according to the principles of Columbianism, the most notable instance being when I was sworn in as Grand Knight of my council for a term of office that ended a few months ago. Being grand knight during the Bush v. Kerry election gave me even more opportunities to think about the connection between serving God an my country. I even took the opportunity of using my position as Grand Knight to give a reflection on patriotism to my council last October. It focused on patriotism being rooted in a love of the land and neighbors, and came something close to what Daniel Nichols refers to as a “sense of place”, or what Caleb Stegall calls “practicing a discipline of place.”

However, the Sunday readings have been taking us through Matthew lately, so I have been looking for some answers there. The readings this coming Sunday are awesome. From Exodus we are going to get a admonition from the Father to be merciful to aliens, which is especially important as illegal aliens have been scapegoated in an election to raise taxes in Colorado this year. We are also going to get the command from Sinai against Usury. From Our Lord in the Gospel we are going to get the two commandments:

You shall love the Lord, your God,with all your heart,with all your soul,and with all your mind.This is the greatest and the first commandment.The second is like it:You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.

We are getting ready, through these readings for Christ the King Sunday, you can see easily that the Church is going to relieve us somewhat from the stress of pondering the tension between our duties owed to the state and those owed to God which was highlighted last Sunday. It will be a welcome relief. However, I notice that the Church, in her wisdom, confirms to us as we make this transition that the tension shouldn’t be there in the first place. After Jesus tells us the greatest commandment, he tells us that the second is just like it, and it is from this second commandment that we get the duty to render unto Caesar. Maybe the answer lies in the readings of a couple of weeks ago about the landowner and the bad tenants in his vineyard. Perhaps if we behave as if the state were God’s vineyard, our duty will take care of itself. We will cooperate with the government when they are doing what is right for the vine.

I don’t know where this leaves Stephen Kobasa though; perhaps he is with St. Francis and Brother Leo on the way to St. Mary of the Angels, learning about Perfect Joy.

Over the summer I sat next to a nice Indian woman at work. She was a faithful and practicing Hindu. I have not had much opportunity in my life to speak with people born into Hinduism; most of my contact has been with disaffected suburban American young people who have embraced Hinduism or the Hare Krishna sect as a part of their rebellion against their parents. But my co-worker was not like that. She was a Hindu from birth, from India and with Indian Hindu parents and had just recently come to America.

One day, when we were speaking of religion in India she told me, “You know Ben, not to be offensive or anything and you don’t seem like this, but in India, only the poor are Christians; all the Christians are poor—they are the people who have nothing.”

I thought to myself that sounded about right.

I wish I was more like that.

Psalm 93

The LORD is king, robed with majesty; the LORD is robed, girded with might. The world will surely stand in place, never to be moved.

Your throne stands firm from of old; you are from everlasting, LORD.

The flood has raised up, LORD; the flood has raised up its roar; the flood has raised its pounding waves.

More powerful than the roar of many waters, more powerful than the breakers of the sea, powerful in the heavens is the LORD.

Your decrees are firmly established; holiness belongs to your house, LORD, for all the length of days.


Last winter I participated in the Prayer and Life Workshop, which was created by Fr. Ignacio Larañaga, OFM Cap. The workshop was facilitated by Fr. James Doran, OMV, the parochial vicar of Holy Ghost. Fr. Doran learned how to teach the workshop while he was a missionary in South America. He served in Brazil for 18 years. The workshop lasted about three months and consisted of daily prayer exercises and a weekly meeting. It was valuable to my faith and prayer life in many ways, but one of the greatest benefits I received was learning how to pray the Psalms.

I had not previously given the Psalms too much thought. Of course I prayed the responsorial Psalm at Mass, and read through them on occasion. I knew that they formed the foundation of the Breviary and were the cornerstone on monastic and religions prayer. I knew their place in scripture and that they were prayed by Christ, the Apostles, Fathers and Doctors and all the Saints—but I didn’t really know them. I knew they were pious devotions, but I saw them fundamentally as part of the Old Testament and the Hebrew Scriptures, I didn’t see them as specifically Christian prayers. Now I do; and thanks to my closer relationship to the Psalms, I have come to appreciate more just how fundamentally integrated the Old and New Testaments are, and most especially, just how much the Old Testament is about Christ—He permeates every page.

Take a look at the Psalm above; I picked it at random. Ostensibly, it is about the dominion of the Lord over nature, it speaks of His power over the waters of the floods. Now this points very obviously to several events in the OT. First, it speaks to the creation where God separated the waters and called the dry land out of the flood. Then, it speaks to the Flood, and while we think of the Flood, we should recall the covenant with Noah. The Psalm also evokes Exodus, where the Power of God split the sea for the passage of Israel, and we should recall here covenant on Sinai. These three events, and these covenants, the Psalmist obviously had in mind when he composed the hymn to our God. However, this Psalm also speaks more directly and profoundly of Christ. Our Lord Jesus clearly demonstrated his dominion over water when he walked on the seas; however, He submitted to baptism by John. In this he showed a submission to the needs of His creation. In baptism the flood and the corresponding covenant are brought to their fullest expression. On the Cross, the Lord consented to die in the deluge with us and in baptism we die again with Him.

As we so recently witnessed in New Orleans, floods are frightening things. The natural world can be a terrible master, and we are subject to her. Despite the best laid plans of mice and men, the levees failed the Big Easy; nature reminded us of her dominion over us. It is good for the psalmist then to remind us that nature does not have the final say, that “The LORD is king, robed with majesty; the LORD is robed, girded with might. The world will surely stand in place, never to be moved.”

We need to remember that God is in command of all creation. At the same time we need to remember that in Our Lord Jesus, God establishes the eternal covenant whereby He suffers with us and defeats death; and through this defeat of death He unseats nature from her dominion over men so that nature is no longer Master but Brother Sun and Sister Moon.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Death,
From whose embrace no mortal can escape.

Woe to those who die in mortal sin!

Happy those She finds doing your will!
The second death can do no harm to them.

--St. Francis of Assisi

The above words are from the Canticle of Creatures by St. Francis, and they served as the basis for a reflection on the Feast of St. Francis that Fr. Tom Carzon, OMV, the Pastor of Holy Ghost Church in Denver gave to my Knights of Columbus Council at our regular meeting last Tuesday, which coincided with the Feast of St. Francis. Fr. Tom told us about a friend of his from back east, whom he had known since before he entered the seminary who was dying. This friend of his was still young (not yet 40), and did not believe she had the opportunity to become the great saint she had wanted to be; however, Fr. Tom reported that she was facing death with great courage, and was unafraid of her fate. We all have something to learn from her, he said. He invited us to consider the possibilities of our lives if we were unafraid of death. If we accepted the teachings of Fr. Francis and understood in our hearts that death was a part of God’s creation to be loved and praised, what would be left to be afraid of? We would be free to live great lives of Christian abundance.

Father’s meditation on death was prescient. On Thursday we lost Brother Knight Frank Kiernan. Frank was an institution in our council, and had been an active member longer than I have been alive. Unlike many of the older Knights in our Council, Frank still came to the meetings every month; he served on committees and volunteered to help at events. Everybody knew Frank. About half of our active members had their first degree conferred by Frank. He is going to be missed terribly. He lived a live of service as a Catholic Gentleman.

Death is the final means by which God shows His dominion over men. It is the final moment when we are called to an ultimate poverty before Him. In our death we become completely dependent upon Him and upon His Judgment. There is nothing left for us to do. Death is the ultimate poverty, because it is the state of the most extreme dependence on the Mercy of the Creator. It is not surprising that the Seraphic Father would praise Sister Death in the same way he praised Lady Poverty, his beloved spouse. However, Fr. Francis teaches us that we need have no fear for our brother knight Frank. Franks spent his life in service, turning himself over to God. In a way, all of that was practice for his final moment. If we can comfortably stand poor and dependent before our Father in death, we have no need to distress:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

I'm the father of six, the seventh is due in January. My son Raymond wants to say hello to everyone.

This is my first post on my new blog.