The bottom line is that Halloween is a big part of Catholic culture and it is meant to be celebrated by all believers. Halloween means All Hallows Eve, the day before All Saints Day. Its focus is on death.

One day, we will all die and stand before the Almighty God. Do we see death from the world’s view or with eyes of faith in which death means that life has changed and not ended?

The Saints, Christians who have gone before us, have made themselves present to us in our lives. They encourage us and model for us a life in Christ and not apart from him. They model humility!

The world will play on this idea of death and the communion of saints by evoking our fears: ghosts, witches, and evil spirits. The world uses this holy day to stimulate our curiosity of the worldview of death.

Halloween has to be seen in a Christian perspective, namely, that we are all called to be saints. How do we become saints? Die to self, die to pride and ego, so that we can live in Christ. Only Jesus can make us saints and live with him eternally.

Halloween evokes a meditation on the Four Last Things: Death, Judgement, Heaven, Hell.

Death: the end of our earthly life. Death is the last enemy for it is the consequence of sin. We all must face death, but we can rest assured that Christ Jesus has conquered death by his own Death and Resurrection (CCC 1007-1009).

Judgement: Saint John of the Cross eloquently stated that at the end of life, we will be judged by love alone. Examples of our Judgement is found in the Parable of the Poor Man Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) or the words of Christ to the Repentant Thief (Luke 23:43). At the end of our earthly life, God reveals what we have earned as the final destination of our soul. Have we loved in Christ? Have we conformed our hearts to love others as Christ himself? Or have we rejected the Love that has provoked, enticed, and subtly revealed himself? (CCC 1021-1022)

Heaven: Heaven is perfect communion with God won for us by the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. We see God face to face and worship him with all the saints (CCC 1023-1029).

Hell: In the Gospel of John, we hear striking words, “He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (Jn 3:14-15). If we die with harden hearts, we die without God. Hell is the “definitive self exclusion from communion with God and the blessed ..” (CCC 1033). God predestines no one to go to hell and desires the repentance of every person. The who who goes to hell is the one who willfully turns away from God and is persistent in it (CCC 1037).

Halloween falls on November 1. We near the end of the year which provokes these ideas of the last things, death, and the life to come. As we celebrate Halloween, we need to reclaim it as a feast of Saints! God gives us the saints so that in our frailty we find strength and good example.

This is a feast where we re-stock our lives, look to the great models of faith, and welcome death as the moment we stand with loving hearts before Christ the Judge. Happy All Hallows Eve!