Fall is for the Holy Spirits not the Evil Ones!

September has arrived! With the coming of September comes shorter days and cooler temperatures.. Kids will be returning to school, and we will all settle into a cozy and colorful time of year. With Fall, comes some of the most wonderful Catholic feast days of the year - feast days celebrating spirits, of all things. At the end of September we celebrate the Archangels (September 29) - but only three of them are recognized by name. The archangels who are specifically and only recognized by the Church are; Michael, Rafael, and Gabriel. That's it. So, please, we can't be tempted to delve into the New Age Practices of calling on any others, this is a dangerous practice, and can open doors to the Occult we may have trouble shutting.

The Feast Day of the Archangels is one of my favorite feast days, along with the Feast Day for our Guardian Angels (October 2). Recognizing this feast day should be a priority for all of us. We all have a guardian angel, and if we are not in constant prayer and petition to him, we are neglecting our own spiritual well being. Our guardian angels can help us tremendously but need our petition and recognition to exert full power and influence in our lives -we must get to know this wonderful guardian God has given us. Don't give your guardian angel a name though, this practice is strictly discouraged by the Church - for by naming our guardian angels we are inadvertently implying authority over them, and God has not granted us authority over our angels. They already have been given names, and those names have not been revealed to us for a reason, so we must respect this order of God's creation.

Once we hit November, we celebrate the feast day of All Saints (November 1). This is such an important feast day that it is a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics. On the day after All Saints Day, we celebrate All Soul's Day (November 2), when we remember the dead who have not yet aspired and reached the exalted order of Saint. These spirits are in Purgatory, and they are in desperate need of our prayers.

Unfortunately in our culture today, the souls in Purgatory are greatly forgotten. Satan and his minions have done a great job at convincing most people, even Catholics, that everyone goes to Heaven, so prayers for poor souls in Purgatory have declined tremendously. Satan has not only been tremendously successful at persuading us to ignore these Holy Souls, but he has inspired us, again even Catholics, to mock them, and the Saints, with a parallel occult celebration of Halloween that glorifies damned souls, demons and Satan himself. Instead of celebrating the great Feast of All Saints and All Souls at the end of October and beginning of November, most of us celebrate those who mock God and celebrate sin and Hell. It is truly revolting. The fact that most of us don't understand that we are aligning ourselves with tremendous evil and occult practices that could even open doors for our own spiritual danger demonstrates how ignorant we are, how negligent the Church has been, and how effective Satan is.

I'm sure I will get lots of backlash on this and will be accused of scrupulosity and over reacting. This way of celebrating Halloween is just for fun, and in some cultures dressing up as ghouls and ghosts is a customary Catholic practice. I admit there are very worthy and holy celebrations that do include the faithful dressing up as ghosts and demons, but these practices are an effort to mock and scare these evil forces away, not celebrate them, which is what most of us do at Halloween. We do this by dressing up and actually practicing and celebrating occult ceremonies and practices. There is no such thing as a good witch. Witches are real, and they align themselves with Satan, and their practices are just that -Satanic. The same is true for most of these characters we align ourselves with during Halloween, which is a perverted mockery of the true Feast of Halloween, which celebrates the Eve of All Saints Day and is hallowed, or holy. Profaning souls in Heaven and awaiting Heaven in Purgatory is a blasphemy and honors evil. We must reclaim our holiday, it has been stolen from us.

One of the most popular movies shown around the time of Halloween is "Hocus Pocus", a movie named with a term that profanes the Holy Eucharist and portrays witches, spells, curses and evil as fun, light and entertaining. Be wary of such things. Movies and practices celebrated by the culture should always be viewed with suspicion and trepidation, and thoroughly investigated before participation. There are so many hidden dangers in this world for us as Christians, take heed, stand out, and stand up against them. It will be unpopular, but who cares, I would rather be popular in the next life than this one. No one is popular in Hell.

Do you realize that Halloween is celebrated by occultist and Satanists with Black Masses and animal, and in some cases, human sacrifice? Do you realize that curses and spells are real, and can attack and savage the souls of those targeted? This is serious stuff, and dangerous. Way more dangerous than we can imagine - Hell is eternal and that is a very long time!

The other practice we will see on the increase is the showing and viewing of horror movies. According to exorcists, the viewing of movies which celebrate evil and the demonic can imperil our souls. Yeah, we might like to be scared, but this is different - movies celebrating witches, vampires, werewolves and demons is a mockery of the goodness God is and wants for us. These images and films should be something we abhor not seek out. What we should be seeking out is prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Honoring and praising our Lord and His Saints, we do this by attending Mass, adoration and Prayer Groups.

As we approach Halloween, my guess is that horror movies will be filled and adoration chapels will be empty. This is how we as a culture and a people demonstrate what we love and adore. We are what we worship. What we worship is revealed by a few different things: 1) how do we spend our time, 2) who do we hang around with in our spare time, 3) how do we spend our money, and lastly, 4) what do we post on social media? These are the aspects of our lives and our behavior that truly reveal what we worship. If the way we spend our time, how we spend our money, who we associate with and what we post do not reflect who we are as a Christian, then we certainly are not worshiping our Lord, we are worshiping idols. That is a mortal sin against the first commandment. The way we exert our energy, resources, time, talent and effort and what we seek out and pay attention to is what truly reveals what we love, adore and prioritize. It's time to get our priorities right and straight, and spend our time, effort, and energy on who truly deserves it - God, and not Satan and his demons.

There are so many ways to celebrate God and His Saints, and honor and pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, and they are ways that will lead us to holiness, not Hell and debauchery. It really is a choice we make and are making, it's an example we show to others as well. As St. Catherine of Siena once said, "If we are who God made us to be, we would set the world on fire." Instead we are glorifying Satan and we have set the world on fire, only it's a fire of damnation, not a Holy fire.. We can change all this - if we would only be Catholic, live Catholic and live as Children of the Light, instead of children of the darkness.

Happy Fall everyone, as we head into these holidays let us respect and celebrate in a fashion worthy of who we are as God's children, and not Satan's.