by Cardinal Stephen Chow, S.J.
November! For us Catholics, it is a special month before welcoming the Season of Advent. We celebrate All Saints Day on November 1 and observe All Souls Day on the next day. And there is a so-called pagan festival just before All Saints Day, that is Halloween Day on October 31. All three days have their own foci, either on life or death, pointing beyond this world, and the experiences of space and time continuum as we know them.
Halloween has its origins in Celtic traditions, which was celebrated around November 1. The Celts in England and Ireland believed the boundary between the living and the dead was rather blurred. As a result, the spirits of the dead could return to the world of the living. Therefore, the Celts would build large bonfires to ward off those ghostly spirits. They would also dress in creepy costumes so as to blend in with the evil spirits and avoid being easily identified by the spirits. And they would leave food and drinks outside their homes to appease those ghostly spirits.
The Chinese tradition also carries similar practices to appease ghosts in the seventh month of the lunar calendar, i.e., the Ghost Festival. Chinese who believe in and keep the practices will offer food, drinks, and burnt offerings to placate the wandering ghosts during that month, especially on the 14th or 15th day of the month.
In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III moved the celebration of All Saints to November 1. The evening before All Saints Day came to be known as “All Hallows’ Eve, which was shortened to “Halloween.” All Hallows’ Day on November 1 marks the beginning of the “All-hallow-tide,” a season in the Christian Calendar for commemorating the dead, including the saints and martyrs, and the souls of the faithful departed.
Therefore, even All Hallows’ Eve, i.e., Halloween, was somewhat assumed by the Church to be the time to celebrate death and life together in the context of our Christian faith. These celebrations have their ultimate interests lying beyond the limits of time and space as we know them in this world. Although the existence of time and space is necessary for us to experience and understand ourselves and our relationships in this world, they as known to us might not be required for existence in eternity. That is why we may have a glimpse of eternity when we are in a “state of flow,” when the experience of time and space seems to be an eternal moment.
What our Christian faith tells us is that our life in this world is a journey advancing towards a new state that will no longer be limited by time and space. The spatial-temporal concepts as we know them will not apply in the new state with an eternal Triune God—the Trinity in a timeless state of an internal life-giving and dynamic exchanges of love. Therefore, whoever is embraced by this one and only eternal God also enjoys in the same God the eternal love and the life that goes with it.
With eternal love, there is no fear of becoming nothing, but a big affirmative YES of who we are for God—a God who has embraced us in eternal love, i.e., God-self. For the DNA of God is Love.
With eternal love comes eternal life. Love and life are inseparable—like Siamese twins. The sting of death is powerless against God’s eternal love. It is the love of God that saves us from the curse of eternal death through the sacrifice of the Son. So, we can be very hopeful that as long as we are willing to let go of our inordinate attachments and embrace the authentic love, the Source of that love will embrace us after this life into eternity.
Finally, as we celebrate the triumph of life of all the Saints, we must also commemorate with faith and love those who have gone before us. Whether they are saints already living fully in God’s love, or souls under purification, waiting to be free from resentments, previous inordinate attachments, and unbelief. In other words, they must be completely free to allow God to embrace them ever so fully. We do so with the hope that raises us beyond the struggles of life and death in this world, and into the world of the eternal and triune God.
+ Cardinal Stephen Chow, S.J.
