30th Sunday in ordinary time, Oct. 24, 2010
Fr. Anthony Brankin
Gospel: Luke 18:9-14. The Pharisee and the tax collector
MP3 Audio
Summary: The reason for children dressing up for Halloween is that before Christianity, pagan tribes would placate the dead during November so that they wouldn’t be tormented by them. But today, we don’t pray to the dead, we pray for the dead to speed their way to heaven.
Consider a life of prayer and teaching. Saint Francis de Sales’ “little virtues” of gentleness, kindness, humility, and cheerful optimism shape our monastic life. Washington, DC
Full text of homily: Alright, let’s go back to Adam and Eve. Not the Adam and Eve in the old catechism books that look like blonde movie stars—but lets not go with the cave man thing either—where they look like half-monkeys and half-humans. Whatever Adam and Eve looked like—it was pretty much like us. No matter what the people who believe in evolution say—they haven’t found anything that is half one species and half another.
It is interesting—the more research they do—the more scientific investigating that takes place, the biblical belief, the Catholic belief that we are all descended from one pair of humans seems to be more and more vindicated.
In fact you might remember that about ten years ago—right around the time that the scientists figured out how to break the genetic code—how we physically become who we are, they discovered that every human being alive today has the genetic material—the DNA they call it—of a woman who lived in Africa about a million years ago.
I don’t know how they do it, but they can trace this little gene that all humans have and they can trace it back to one common ancestor. That means when the Church says that we are all brothers and sisters—this is not poetry—this is not flights of spiritual fancy—it is physically and genetically and historically true.
Everyone sitting in this church today—whether your people come from Asia or Africa or Europe or Mexico or South America—are related—-really and truly. We are cousins. We are from the same family—that is why we are all one— and the differences between the races and nationalities are truly superficial-they consist mostly of skin coloring and hair texture. That’s about it.
So the Catholic church was right when she taught for two thousand years the story of Adam and Eve. Yes God created, male and female he created them—and we are their descendents.
One of the interesting things that link all people—besides their DNA—is that they all tell the same stories. Now I am exempting modern people from this—because in our modernity—we have destroyed all our stories and traditions. We are the smart set who don’t have any children and don’t believe in God.
But everybody else had stories of how humans came about—and amazingly—all early cultures and tribes and nationalities had stories they told around the fire at night about how there was a God who made us—and how we used to be close to that God—how we were God’s friends. And they all tell the story of how one day we did something terrible and broke the bond between God and us.
Now you and I call the first two humans Adam and Eve—which is simply Hebrew for Man and Woman—but everyone had the same stories—and why not? After Adam and Eve were kicked out of Eden and sent into the wilds of the world— they had children and their children had children and pretty soon the population of the world is increasing and they are all trying to remember what their parents so many years before had told them—about God about the Garden—-about the punishment—about the promise of a saviour.
About heaven and hell.
And I don’t care what group is telling those stories a million years later—the details change—the facts get a little jumbled—but everyone is talking about a Supreme Being who made all things—and how we need to live our lives in accordance with His will—so that when we die—we can live happily with him.
Think about—there is no group anywhere—except in modern America and modern Europe—that does not believe that we humans have an immortal soul, and that that soul lives on after we die. Every body knows this. Only when you have allowed yourself to be pummeled by modernity do you ever doubt this.
So all of this is to say that everyone who has ever lived—has believed in life after death. But it is only when Jesus comes with His revelation and through the church do we finally get the story right—about what happens after we die. Only when our people became Catholic did we learn the truth about heaven and hell and in fact—purgatory.
Now I come to the point. This is the church named after St. Odilo. And you know that this is the National Shrine of the Poor Souls—that we are the only church in the United States named after him. And if you were ever wondering about his connection to the poor souls—it is this. St Odilo established the Feast that spread to all the Church whose official title is the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed. We call it by other names as well—the Feast of All the Souls in Purgatory—the Day of the Dead. But was St. Odilo who first proclaimed November 2nd day as the day par excellence of Christians praying for the dead and getting them out of purgatory and into heaven.
Now who was Odilo? Well, he lived about a thousand years ago and was a priest—an abbot in fact—in France. And he was a good and holy abbot—very well-known and loved. Even the popes used to ask him questions. Well, at some point in his life, Odilo had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and as he was returning home to France, his ship was wrecked off a desolate island somewhere in the Mediterranean, and Odilo was washed up on shore. Now on that island lived a hermit who saved Odilo and took him to his cottage. One day the hermit brought Odilo to a rocky fastness in the middle of the island and showed him a chasm—a huge gaping separation in the mountain that—according to the hermit— opened up to purgatory.
And from this yawning chasm, coming out of it like wind and waves from a million miles away, you could hear the groans of the dead moaning for prayers. Odilo said you could also hear the shrieks of the demons complaining about the efficacy of those prayers.
Odilo was so stunned by what he experienced—that when he was finally able to return home to his monastery, he immediately established November 2nd as the Day of the Dead—All Souls Day—that we might have an opportunity to pray for all those in our lives and families who have died—and get them released from Purgatory.
But why November? And why all the connection with goulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night? Well it seems that even though a good part of Europe was Catholic—not all of it was—and near Odilo’s abbey lived a population called the Belgae—these were Celts—related, shall we say to the Irish.
And they—children as they were of Adam and Eve—-had heard always and believed in the fact that there was life after death—eternal life. This is what I meant to say in going on so long about Adam and Eve and all their descendents.
Just as there is a commonality in our humanity—our DNA and genes—so too there is a commonality in belief. So everyone—including the Celts—believed in an afterlife—but until they were converted to Catholicism it was a kind of uncontrolled belief—a little under the influence of satan—a little confused—-with no rhyme or reason—just the souls of the dead roaming about scaring people—and especially for the Celts this took place around the end of October and into November.
In fact they spent most of the month of November celebrating the dead—in shall we say—a riotous manner—and they did this as their way of trying to make nice with the dead souls—to make sure that the dead left them alone. This is the origin of all our Halloween silliness. This is the point of “Trick or treat.” And we have it in America because so many Celts came here.
And it was St. Odilo who determined that praying to the dead as if to placate them from doing evil deeds to us was wrong and not Christian and not Catholic and needed to be replaced by praying for the dead to release them from purgatory.
And so day after day, month after month year after year we Catholics pray for the dead and ask that by our prayers these whom we loved so dearly here will be cleansed of all their sins and be brought to heaven. How beautiful of God and Jesus and the Church to explain to us about the next life and to tell us that we are still able to do good things for those we love—even though they have died. It is a wholesome and holy thought to pray for the dead–and we really get into it around now.
Well is it un-Catholic and against our faith to do spooky stuff on Halloween? Actually no—certainly not little boys and girls dressing up as ghosts and goblins and looking for a bit of candy. I kind of think that even though this is a hangover from some of our pagan days we are not worshipping Satan and all his minions but kind of mocking them. As if our little 6 and 7 year olds were saying, ‘You don’t scare me!” And they aren’t scared—because they have Jesus who gives us the promised land.
I do have a problem however with Halloween becoming our second biggest holiday of the year. When some family spends thousands of dollars duplicating in blood and gore on their front lawn some Hollywood horror fantasy—I have to ask myself—What is that all about? What is that supposed to mean? And truth to tell I don’t know what it means. I would imagine that they do not think they are placating the dead by all these evil horrible figures. And it is a cinch that they are not praying for the dead either.
If it is just harmless fun—well maybe they can think about toning it down a bit—and maybe even praying the rosary with their children for their deceased family member—maybe even having a Mass said for them.
Yes we are all children of Adam and Eve, and we believe in so many things that Adam and Eve passed on to our Ancestors, but those beliefs were corrupted by time and the devil. So we don’t want to go back to all the darkness and errors and fears of our ancestors. We don’t want to lose the brightness and hope that Jesus brought to us in the Catholic faith that we now have.
Next week we shall continue this discussion with some details about heaven and hell and purgatory—and in case you thought we got rid of it—Indulgences.