Christian Origins of Halloween

Image result for halloween


I have heard a lot in the press recently about the evil of Halloween and how the practice of dressing up and begging for sweets is encouraging devil worship. I think much of this is just the press trying to find something controversial to write about and as I think back to my childhood day I can’t see much wrong in the fun I used to have carving out turnips, dressing up and getting a few extra sweets from the few houses of friends my mum let me trick or treat at.

The one problem I do have with Halloween is that its Christian meaning is getting lost, much like Christmas and Easter with all the commercialism that goes with those holidays. Halloween is just the vigil of All Saints Day, All Hallows Eve. All Saints Day in the Catholic Church is a solemnity and a day of obligation, a day when we celebrate with all the Saints, a day when the church remembers and celebrates all those who are now in heaven. While the celebration often concentrates on known Saints, saint simply means someone who has made it to heaven and now resides with God. This is what all Christian aspire towards.

Looking back to the origin of All Saints Day, the first solemnity similar to All Saints was one to the Virgin Mary and All Martyrs and was originally establish in Rome on the 13th of May by Pope Boniface IV in 609 when he consecrated the Parthenon in Rome. This celebration was moved to November the 1st and changed to All Saints by Pope Gregory III (731-741) in the 8th century. Pope Gregory IV (795-844) made it a day of obligation throughout the whole church, not just Rome.

Following All Saints we have All Souls Day on November 2nd., and I think it is from All Souls that we can find some of the Chistian origins of Halloween. All Souls is a day of prayer for those who have died and not yet made it to heaven. The church prays to God for the souls of the departed that the may be united with God in heaven. This action of praying for the dead is linked to the Catholic doctrine of purgatory. Purgatory is a temporary place of preparation, a place where Christian can prepare to meet God face to face, while God has forgiven the sins, the person still need to take responsibility for them, or show remorse and accept the consequences. Purgatory is often described as punishment for sin, but it’s also worth considering it as an opportunity to prepare to meet God. A chance to shower and change into our best clothes, a chance to make sure our souls are ready to meet God. During All Souls and throughout the month of November we pray for all souls who are on their way to heaven.

If we go back 5-6 hundred years we can maybe find one of the origins of dressing up. At the time the Gospel and homily would have been spoken in Latin a language most of the congregation didn’t understand. Their Christian knowledge would have come from images and from passion plays and dance performed at certain times of the year. One such event was the Danse Macabre. History record examples of the Danse Macabre carved in cemetery’s, on walls of churches, and in the famous Hans Holbein's woodcuts from the 16th century.

The Danse Macarbe is most likely a visual homily. A reminder in stones, woods, glass and in performance processions and dances of the fleeting nature of life. That anyone, from Pope, Emperor, king, child and labourer can be taken at any time, and that Christ told us to be ready. During Novemver or particularly on All Soul people would dress as skeletons and lead others dressed as an Emperor, a Kings, the Pope, a child and a labourer into the cemetery, demonstrating that death could call anyone at any time and therefore you must be ready to face God. A have found two references the the word Macarbe the first saying the word maybe linked to the Arabic for Cemetary, the second saying that the Danse Macarbe may be Dance of the Maccabees.

Another Halloween tradition is Trick or Treating, and that too has strong Christian origins in the tradition of Souling. People used to bake Soul Cakes, a small round cake flavoured with Nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and allspice. They were traditionally marked with a cross to symbolise that they were alms (for giving as charity). They were made for Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. Children and the poor would go from house to house begging soul cakes in return for prayers for the souls of the deceased of that household. Practice common across England, Ireland and other parts of Europe, for example Portugal where it was called Pão-por-Deus (Translated Bread of God).



I was particularly fascinated when I stumbled across this Souling Song which was written down almost 200 years ago. The last verse can now be found in the Christmas Carol “Christmas is Coming”, funny how time can mix up everything up.
The Souling Song

Chorus
A soul! A soul! A soul-cake!
Please good missis a soul-cake!
An apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry,
Any good thing to make us all merry:
One for Peter, two for Paul
Three for Him who made us all.

1
God bless the master of this house,
the misteress also;
And all the little children,
that round your table go.
The cattle in your stable.
the dog at your front door;
And all that dwells within your gates,
we wish you ten times more.

2
Goi down into the cellar,
and see what you can find;
If the barrels are not empty,
we hope you will be kind.
We hope you will be kind,
with your apples and your beer;
And we'll come no more a-souling,
until this time next year.


3
The lanes are very dirty,
my shoes are very thin;
I've got a little pocket
to put a penny in.
If you haven't got a penny,
a ha'penny will do;
If you haven't got a ha'penny,
it's God bless you.
R

So in summary, next Halloween, before you get dressed up and send the kids out to fill themselves on sweets and treats. Remind yourself and them that in dressing up you are telling the world that life is fleeting and eternal life is with God and wouldn’t it be good to prepare, and the deal on asking for sweets is to pray for the family how have live and died in that house.

May God Bless your Halloween,
May the Saints remember us all to God,
And may the souls of the departed rest in peace.

Retreat – Who is the Holy Spirit?

This weekend I led a retreat for the parishioners of Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Bernadette, Kingswood. We based the retreat around the Holy Spirit. The day was divided into three sections, firstly Who is the Holy Spirit, then what does the Holy Spirit do? and then lastly encountering the Holy Spirit.

In the first talk we stepped through the bible looking at points where the Holy Spirit appeared.


  • Genesis 1:2 – Right at the start of everything the Holy Spirit is present at creation.
  • Exodus 32:12 – The Holy Spirit give the gift of craftsmanship.
  • Judges 16:2 – Samson is given strength to break the bonds he is tied with.
  • Ezekiel 36:24 – The Holy Spirit works through Ezekiel allow him to prophesise, but the prophesy in this verse is about the time when everyone will have access to the Holy Spirit not just the chosen, judges and prophets.
  • Joel 2:28 –Joel continues this prophesy saying the spirit will be poured out on everyone. Every race, women and men, old and young.
  • Luke 1:15, Luke 1:35, Luke 1:42, Luke 1:67, Luke 3:21, 4:1, 4:14 – As we move into the new testament we see the Holy Spirit getting very busy. Working through Zachariah, Mary, Elizabeth, John, and Jesus.
  • Act 2 – Then we jump to the time that all these passages in scripture had been leading to the giving of the Holy Spirit to us all. The Pentecost moment.


We finished by looking at a little more in depth at some of Ezekiel Prophesy and how it was fulfilled in Christ. We compared ourselves to the Bones in Ezekiel 37 and how the Holy Spirit breathes life in our bones when we ask to be filled with the Spirit. We compared Ezekiel 47 to John 7:37, Ezekiel describes a river flowing from the temple bringing life wherever it flows, Jesus after attending the festive celebrating this prophesy then announce that those waters flow from him. We compared ourselves when Spirit filled to those waters. It was a powerful and joyful session.
During the second session we looked at Baptism and Confirmation and spent some time discussing the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We finished the day with prayer, praying over people who wanted to receive the Holy Spirit into their live.

It was a joyful and God filled day.

Homily - 6th Sunday Easter - Year B - Love

Homily (Sermon)

Sixth Sunday in Easter Year B - 2015
"What I command you is to love one another.”




Readings
First  Act 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
Psalm Psalm 97
New  1 John 4:7-10
Gospel John 15:9-17

[These readings can be found at www.universalis.com for the next few week.]

I Love You.

Those were the words I finished my homily with three years ago when I last preached on these readings. So I thought I would start with them this time and tell you what happened after I gave that homily, after I told everyone in the church I loved them. They looked up, they seemed to look at me rather than the vested deacon. Some of them smiled, some of them mouthed the words I Love You, one or two actually said them. Some of the couples in the congregation turned to each other and kissed or said something.

After Mass as I greeted people as they left the church many more told me they loved me, several gave me a hug. We are a community built on Love, Love of each other, Love of God and Loved by God.

Most of the time we find it difficult to show our love, to tell those sitting around us right now that we love them. It’s probably three years since I told Fr Jim and Fr Frank that I love them. If you didn’t hear me preach three years ago you may never have heard me say it. I am after all British and we brits do our best not to show our emotions.

But that is not today's Gospel message, today message is beautiful and simple, todays message is Love. Jesus tells us that:

His Father loves Him,
He loves us and will continue to love us, His friends,
and we should follow His example and love everyone.

Before Christ came the very best of us called ourselves servants or salves. Moses called himself a servant of God, Joshua called himself a servant of God, King David called himself a servant of God. This was a high honour and these men were some of the greatest in our spiritual history.

Jesus changed this relationship, because of love, no longer should we be His living tools, his servants, used to do His work. We should be His friends, compelled through love and friendship to help him with his business.

In the Roman world at the time of Christ there was a title of Friend of the Emperor. A friend of the emperor had unrestricted access to the emperor, they could approach whenever they pleased and ask whatever they liked. They weren't the generals or leaders of the time, they were much closer to the emperor than that.

We have been called friends of God, allowed to approach Him whenever we like, with whatever request we care to bring before him. Through love we have been raised to friends, and it must be through love that we approach our God.

We are called, commanded and compelled to love each other. What a wonderful task that is. It's not always an easy task but it is wonderful. What would our world be like if everyone truly loved everyone?

This is the world we have been hearing about all through Easter, it's the world the apostles were building after Jesus left them. It's the story told in Acts, it's the story of the church, it's our story too, and it will be our children's and their children's until Christ comes again.

Jesus came to us, told us his plans, showed us how to live, and how to die. Showed us love is the only way. Then he commanded us as his friend to do his work. Not as servants just doing as we are told, but as friends, thinking and acting with love, bringing His kingdom of heaven to earth. Think about the worlds of our Lord's Prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.” By our love for each other that is what we are called to achieve.

Over the last few months a lot of our Children have been preparing to receive their first communion. They have been learning about Gods love, about forgiveness, about taking Christ into themselves, about living a Christian life. Well I have a challenge for those children today, I want you to remember what Jesus told us to do in today's gospel, He told us to love one another, so I want you to tell someone that you love them.

Today's message is beautiful and simple. “What I command you is to love one another.”

My friends, with that as our command, I am going to finish as I started, and I encourage all of you to do them same and tell someone, tell everyone.

My friends, I Love You!


Love

Readings
First Act 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
Psalm Psalm 97
New 1 John 4:7-10
Gospel John 15:9-17

If you prefer to list to the homily click here for the audio post.

Homily – 2012 Year B – 6th Sunday Easter

Today's message is beautiful and simple.

Jesus tell us that:

His Father loves Him,
He loves us and will continue to love us, His friends,
and we should follow His example and love everyone.

Before Christ came the very best of us called ourselves servants or salves. Moses called himself a servant of God, Joshua called himself a servant of God, King David called himself a servant of God. This was a high honour and these men were some of the greatest in our spiritual history.

Jesus changed this relationship, because of love, no longer should we be His living tools, his servants, used to do His work. We should be His friends, compelled through love and friendship to help him with his business.

In the Roman world at the time of Christ there was a title of Friend of the Emperor. A friend of the emperor had unrestricted access to the emperor, they could approach whenever they pleased and ask whatever they liked. They weren't the generals or leaders of the time, they were much closer to the emperor than that.

We have been called friends of God, allowed to approach Him whenever we like, with whatever request we care to bring before him. Through love we have been raised to friends, and it must be through love that we approach our God.

We are called, commanded and compelled to love each other. What a wonderful task that is. It's not always an easy task but it is wonderful.

What would our world be like if everyone truly loved everyone?

This is the world we have been hearing about all through Easter, it's the world the apostles were building after Jesus left them. It's the story told in Acts, it's the story of the church, it's our story too, and it will be our children's and their children's until Christ comes again.

Jesus came to us, told us his plans, showed us how to live, and how to die. Showed us love is the only way. Then he commanded us as his friend to do his work. Not as servants just doing as we are told, but as friends, thinking and acting with love, bringing His kingdom of heaven to earth. Think about the worlds of our Lord's Prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.” By our love for each other that is what we are called to achieve.

Over the last few months a lot of our Children have been preparing to receive their first communion. They have been learning about Gods love, about forgiveness, about taking Christ into themselves, about living a Christian life. Well I have a challenge for those children today, I want you to remember what Jesus told us to do in today's gospel, He told us to love one another, so I want you to tell someone that you love them.

Today's message is beautiful and simple.

“What I command you is to love one another.”

My friends, with that as our command, there is one thing I must tell you,

I Love You!

Homily 3rd Sunday in Lent Year B

Homily (Sermon) - The Ten Commandments

The Readings for Sunday 8th March 2015 or Third Sunday of Lent Year B:
Exodus 20:1-17
Psalm 18
Corinthians 1:22-25
John 2:13-25

Did you know that the Ten Commandments can be found in the Jewish Torah, the Muslim Quran and the Christian Bible. Four billion people, that is 54% of the world population believe that the Ten Commandments are divine instructions for us, helping us to lead good lives that move us closer to God.

God gave us these rules to help us, to guide us, to bring us step by step closer to Him.

The rules are simple, and on the face of it seem easy to keep. But they are also easy to bend, easy to forget once in a while, easy to ignore for the greater good. I doubt there is one person here today, that could honestly say they have always kept the Ten Commandments. That’s sad, but also in a strange way wonderful, because we are not able to always keep the commandments Jesus had to come to us, to help us. We know Jesus because we can’t keep Gods Law.

Jesus intercedes for us, He sacrifices Himself for us, He dies in our place and gives us back to God.

This however doesn’t mean we can just ignore the commandments. No, each time we break them we are driving a nail into the wrists and ankles of Christ. We are adding to the pain and suffering Christ went through for us.

So let’s take a look at Gods Ten Commandments:

1. You shall have no other gods: This seems easy in today’s world where we are not temped by Bale or Molech. But how often is our faith diluted and diverted by money, power, lust or greed. Maybe today's tempting faiths are shopping centres, advertising, credit cards, alcohol and pornography. Ask yourself what you put your faith and hope in most of the time.
2. Don’t use my name as a swear word: The most common and acceptable swear word in my office is also the name of my God. Jesus Christ should be shouted out in joy and worship not when you hot your thumb with a hammer or when someone pulls out in front of you at a junction. How often do you use God’s name to swear instead of to worship?
3. Sunday is a Holy Day: What comes first on Sundays, work, sport, shopping or God? You need time to rest, a day a week to stop. A day to spend time with God. How do you choose to make Sunday special?
4. Love your mum and dad: As a child or adult it’s often easy to get upset with our parents. We should do as they say when we are young and look after them as they grow old. What was the last wonderful thing you did for your parents? The church also teaches that this commandment includes respecting all in authority police, politicians and bishops. How do you respect authority? Will you vote later this year?
5. Don’t kill: This means respect life. Use your life well and help others live their lives well. Don’t allow people to be hurt by thing you do or don’t do. There is so much we don’t do, there are so many people dying or hurting in this world. Could you do one more thing that would help some live better?
6. Don’t sleep around: The church’s teaching and society’s norms are quite different here. God tells us to love one person, marry them and be faithful to them. Have you found that one person? Are you being faithful to them? Even if you haven’t met them yet, are you being faithful to them?
7. Don’t steal: We don’t like it when strong or clever people take what is ours. We shouldn’t take what belongs to others. Do you buy fair trade? Do you use the office photocopier or take the odd pen and pad of paper home from work? Do you copy music? Think what you may have taken and how you could give it back.
8. Don’t lie or mislead: Telling little white lies, being economical with the truth and deliberately misleading others is so easy to do. We are told to respect truth, how can you become more truthful?
9. Don’t lust after people: Do you look at others as sexual objects or God children? Expanding on the 6th commandment God tells us that just thinking about sleeping around is bad. What books do you read, what TV and films do you watch? What do you look up on the internet?
10. Don’t get jealous of what others have: Your neighbour may have the best car, TV, watch, house or donkey you have ever seen. Be pleased for them, don’t envy them. Modern advertising teaches us to want many things, but how easy do you find it to enjoy what you already have?

So this lent why don’t you take a look through the commandments, think about your life and what you may be able to do better and then this Easter, as we celebrate Christ’s sacrifice for us, make a change in our lives worthy of that sacrifice, worthy if the gift Christ died to give to us.

A Pentecost homily from 2011

Here is an early Pentecost homily from before I was ordained. A friend reminded me of it today and asked to see it hence digging it out and posting it here when we are all of Lent and Easter away from Pentecost.


Homily (Sermon) for Pentecost

Pentecost is a celebration of gifts from God. The disciples and Mary were gathered together in Jerusalem for the festival of Pentecost or as it is also known, The Festival of Weeks. The disciples must have been so confused on this day, they were celebrating the day that God gave Moses the Law on Mount Sinai, while they were still confused about the death, resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. The second meaning associated with The Festival of Weeks is thanksgiving for the first fruits of the harvest. The fields around Jerusalem would have been full of golden wheat and barley, and sheep and cattle fat on spring grass. It was harvest time and the huge crowds in Jerusalem would soon be moving back into the country side to bring in the harvest.

It's not chance that it was at this festival that Jesus appeared to the disciples with the gift of the Holy Spirit. A gift from Father and Son, a gift from God, of himself, as the Holy Spirit. Sent to us to support, strengthen, console, challenge and accompany us on our journey of faith. The Holy Spirit lives within us from our baptism, at conformation we ask ourselves, for the Holy Spirit to enter us, enter into our lives.

We talk about the gifts of the Spirit, gifts that allow us to carry out the work asked of us. Today we celebrate not just those gifts, but the gift of the Holy Spirit himself. When it was given that first Pentecost to the disciples, it was immediately visible in there actions. They started talking in many languages and all that heard them understood them.  We are not told what they said but I think it might have been stories of their experiences with Christ.

We hear stories often in scripture. They are used throughout the old testament to teach the faith, and Jesus uses them all the time in the gospels when teaching. Stories told in metaphors, historic stories, poetic stories, symbolic stories, prophetic stories, all told to convey a profound truth. The truth about God, us and our relationship.

Stories like the tower of Babel, of the journey through the wilderness, of the giving of the Law, stories of things and people to come, stories about sowing seeds, about workers collecting the harvest, about thirst and living water. Our story telling history is rich and there are new stories all the time. St Maximilian Kolbe's sacrifice during world war II, John Henry Newman's caring for and teaching the poor in Birmingham, Mother Teresa's compassion in the slums of Calcutta. Stories about you and your faith are a great way to spread our faith, to tell other people about the wonderful life we have with God.

So I have a challenge for you, in fact I have two. I want you to tell someone a story and I want you to ask them about their story. I want you to tell stories about the Holy Spirit. I want you to go out and tell someone how wonderful our God is and what he has done for you. I have a story to start us off, and I have another I'll swap with you after Mass if you tell me yours first.

Nine years ago, I volunteered to take part in the alpha courses we ran out of this church. I was still a very new Christian and was eager to tell others about my faith. Each week we had a meal, watched a video on a different element of our faith and then had a group discussion about it. The course was going well, we had a lovely group of people. We were all learning, and enjoying exploring the Christian faith. Then around the third week a new person joined. They were quite desperate for meaning in their life. I am sure they had had a few drinks before coming along, and as a result they were very direct and even a little aggressive. The language they use was very colourful to say the least and the atmosphere changed instantly. The group was on edge and I very quickly realised I was well out of my depth. As we put the video on and everyone settled down to watch it I disappeared out onto the stairs, I sat there for half an hour and prayed for help.

As the video finished I returned to the room and we started the discussion. What happened over the next hour was amazing. I found I had a command of the situation, when difficult question were asked I knew the answers and when I open a bible it was at a reading or story that perfectly dealt with the question. Then as I read the passages, I read clearly and faultlessly, which was something I was really bad at doing back then. When discussion became argument I was able with one of two words to defuse the situation. And because the challenges were real and the feelings intense we all gained an insight way beyond that of the previous couple of weeks. The group really bonded and some very personal problems were discussed, prayed for and I think healed in that evening. As the session ended and everyone left they were still talking about the evenings subjects. I went back and sat quietly on the stairs. I remember tears streaming down my face and having an unstoppable case of the shakes.

For that last hour I hadn't really been in control, I hadn't really know what to do, apart from the fact I had needed help and had asked for it. What I felt that evening and what took over was the Holy Spirit. I couldn't have done what I did by myself, but filled with the spirit, well wonderful things can happen.

Pentecost is the feast of the Holy Spirit, It's the feast at the start of the Harvest.
Are you ready to help gather the harvest?
Are you willing to use the gift give you by the Holy Spirit?



Homily Index

Homily The Baptism of the Lord

Homily (Sermon) – Baptism

The Readings for The Baptism of the Lord
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
Psalm 28
Acts 10:34-38
Matthew 3:13-17
[ All these readings can be found at www.universalis.com for the next few weeks.]

When was the last time you were at a baptism? Was it recently, can you remember what happened? Was it a long time ago, are you sitting there thinking I honestly can’t remember. Was it your own baptism? Can you remember it or were you just a baby?

The last baptism I went to was here only four weeks ago. She was a little baby only a few months old. Her name was Lily May. It was a wonderful occasion, lots of happy people, lots of joy. Very Christian!

Baptism is a Sacrament, it's the first sacrament a Christian can receive as it is the sacrament that welcomes the new Christian into the Christian family.

Sacraments are very special moments, they are points where heaven and earth touch. Where Gods full glory flows over us, where we can encounter our God and creator.

We have just heard Mathew describing the baptism of Jesus. Jesus standing in the water, heaven opening and the holy spirit, in the form of a dove, descending on Jesus.

That same thing is what exactly what happened at Lily-May’s baptism. I poured water over Lily-May’s head, I said the words “Lily May, I baptise you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

She shared that moment being held above our font with Christ as He stood in the Jordan. God was please and the holy spirit came to live in Lily May.

The baptism freed Lily May from sin. It's not a magical spell that means she will never be naughty again. But the gift of God's grace, a grace that will, through her whole life strengthen her to resist the bad things God hates and to do the good things God loves. Because of her baptism the Holy Spirit will live with her, and support her all her Christian life.

In December Lily May became a member of our Church, part of the body of Christ, part of our family, a family of over a billion Christians all taking their place and loving and serving their God and all those around them. You may never have met Lily May but she is your sister now, and I ask you to pray for her, her parents and God parents.

Baptism contains some of the richest signs and symbols of our faith.

First there is water, it represents purity, the washing away of sins. But the word baptism means plunging, the immersion in water. This descent into the water and return to the air, is the journey we share with Christ, as he died on the cross, descended into hell, defeated death and rose again to eternal life. Because baptism is sacramental, Lily May really shared that journey and that victory.

The white clothes are an unstained outward sign of Christian dignity. We wear white at Baptism, we also wear white at first communion, confirmation, weddings, father and I wear white robes to serve here at the alter, and we will cover the coffin at a funeral with a white pall. Baptism and death are linked; both are the start of a Christian life. Baptism in this life, death is the start of our eternal life with Christ.

Another symbol is light, for Baptisms we light the Pascal candle, the candle we first lit on Easter Sunday. It signifies the light of Christ returning to the world, and during the Baptism we light a candle from the Pascal candle, so that the newly baptised may always walk in the light of Christ.

We also use oils for anointing, just as priests and kings are anointed with oils at their ordination or coronation. Lily May was welcomed as an adopted daughter of God the Father and sister to Christ, part of the royal priesthood, that is our Christian family.

The greatest joy at a baptism is knowing that anyone and everyone can be welcomed into Gods family at Baptism. Cornelius said it well in Acts when he said, “The truth I have now come to realise is that God does not have favourites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him.”

The one odd thing about our Gospel today is that it’s Christ who is Baptised. There has only been one man who didn’t need the gifts of baptism, and that was Christ. John realised this as well and tried to dissuade Jesus. What John missed and that Christ knew was that the Baptism was for us. That moment in the Jorden has been shared billions of times, each of us at our baptism was also with Christ in the Jorden.

Baptism is a gift, it’s a joy, it’s a moment shared with Christ that enables us to live a life filled with Christ’s joy. You, all of you, are brothers and sister of Jesus. Go out into the world and share that joy.



Homily Index