Hallowtide Is Great

This weekend is known as Hallowtide. It is the three days of celebrating the Christian holy days: All Hallows Eve (Halloween), All Saints, and All Souls. These days prompt us to reflect on “the last things”: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. With Hallowtide, we meditate on the reality of death so much that it traditionally evokes the Latin phrase “memento mori,” which translates into “remember that you must die.” Memento mori customarily displays a skull to engrave in our minds that our bodies will eventually become bones. Why such a dramatic display of death around Hallowtide?

St. Paul summarizes how both spiritually dying to ourselves and physically dying lead us to eternal life precisely because this is what Christ experienced. As he affirms, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:3-4).

To be sure, the spiritual concept that death leads to life might sound counterintuitive, as we’ve been trained to think that death eliminates life. But given that Christ has defeated death at the cross (Heb. 2:14-15), death takes on a new meaning—Christ has made death a bridge to eternal life. On the natural level, we can witness life emerging from perceived death. Take a glance at the trees this fall. As the leaves fall, the trees lose their life-giving fuel. Then, in spring, new life emerges, and the landscape radiates growth after its dying period.

The end of Scripture has Jesus announcing, “I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). Given this, we can look at death entirely differently. In our physical death, we become like the tree in the winter, stripped of life and naked precisely so we can experience a new life in Christ—our eternal spring. As your spiritual senses become locked-in, you'll be to see that out of the fragments of death much growth ensues; that beyond the grave, a whole new level of existence awaits you.  

 
To a fallen world, a skull presents an uncomfortable reality of one’s mortality or oddly becomes a source of worship in the world of the occult. But to a Catholic, a skull has us reflect on the reality of death, not to fear it, and to prepare for it by living for its eventual arrival. That is right. To see an image of the skull is to remind us and motivate us to live for Christ right now. As the movie Braveheart reminds us, “Every man dies, but not every man really lives.” Let the reality of death’s bridge into eternal life inject a holy urgency in living out Christ's teaching.

 
With the link of All Saints and All Souls, Hallowtide also serves as a vivid reminder that we must pray for the souls of the deceased who are being purified (All Souls) while also praying to the souls who have been perfected in Christ (All Saints). Hallowtide illuminates the chain reaction of prayer within the layers of the Church. We, who stand in the Church Militant (the faithful on earth) offer our prayers and sufferings for the Church Suffering (the souls in purgatory) while relying on the prayers and intercession from the Church Triumphant (the saints in heaven). In Hallowtide, God’s children pray for each other that we might embrace death of the body for life in Christ. This Hallowtide take time to ponder eternal life through death. Maybe the realiy of picturing your skull, will allow your faith to become alive.