Many good Catholic families now gather on All Saints Day or its eve with children dressed in costumes of their favorite saints. I’ve seen this done for years now with good Catholic families and find it most enjoyable as do the children who are then educated into the lives, the Christian virtues of the Saints who become their heroes.
Rather than go on “tricks or treats” journeys through the neighborhood, good Catholic families with growing children gather at one another’s homes with their small children, even teenagers, and come dressed in costumes known to describe some saint. The older children give clues from the lives of the Saint they are impersonating or imitating. At first historical facts from their Saint’s life are related as others attempt to state or guess who the Saint is. The facts become clearer and clearer as more and more is related from the life of a Saint. - More evidence is given - until someone, or sometimes many, suddenly shout the name of the Saint. For the very little children dressed as saints some adult will reador state the clues to help identify the particular Saint the child has chosen. The children, often weeks in advance, sometimesmonths before - are found reading about Saints. They are studying the lives of Saints trying to decide which Saints they should come in costoms to the Halloween gathering for others to discover. Older children can usually give their own clues. The clues attempt to educate in the Christian virtues and invite the intercessory prayers of the Saints.
After all the Saints have been identified, the young people have a party with the treats which the adults provide.
The children are then well prepared to observe ALL SAINTS DAY with the proper spirit.
It is all part of the gradual re-emerging Catholic culture among young families today. Did you know it is again becoming fashionable to have larger families??? Almost all the Catholic families I know through the Fatima Family Apostolate International believe in having children, large families. That is true of the Catholic families which have moved to Alabama to be near the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Monastery of Our Lady of the Angels - where I offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass each day. Interesting that it was the Child Jesus who asked Mother Angelica to build a Temple in His honor. It is a privilege for me to know so many good and large families through the Fatima Family Apostolate and the Shrine here which honors the Child Jesus.
The Fatima Family Apostolate - on this website - has available four volumes of SAINTS AND HEROES SPEAK. Pope John Paul II said we must return to instilling in children and youth knowledge of and devotion to the Saints. That is why I wrote the four volumes for young people.
Father Robert J. Fox
Director of FATIMA FAMILY APOSTOLATE INTERNATIONAL (FFAI).
5 comments:
Amen!
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Every blessing
MARIA IN THE UK
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I wrote a little different take on the whole Halloween issue on my blog. I have no problem with dressing like a saint. I do, however, think there's nothing wrong with letting kids have a little fun one night a year that's all about them. I'm not big on all the spooky stuff, but I don't think every thing has to have a serious message either.
great post!
Deb and Maria: Glad you liked and it thanks for commenting.
Nancy: I look forward to reading what you posted. As kids we had a lot of fun dressing up and I don't think we ever dressed up as a saint. However, Fr. Fox message was food for thought for parents too.
I see from your site you like Fr. Fox and Mother Angelica as well, I have been down there 5 times and feel very blessed to meet Mother once, she could'nt speak, but her eyes spoke volumes. I read the book too, it's really a network of Miracles, I really enjoyed reading it and in fact I read aloud to lady I visit in a nursing home, we both liked it very much.
I have been helping out an artist freind of my named Mark Sanislo and he has a painting he did of Mother and it's hanging down in Hanceville, AL.
Many do not know about this so just wanted to pass this on to people like yourself.. There are prints and magnets, here is a little link to a store through an artist site, if you have some time take a look.
Mother Angelica "Nun of the Media" an original oil painting by Catholic Artist Mark Sanislo of Minneapolis Minnesota.
In 1981 a cloistered nun named Mother Angelica, using merely entrepreneurial instincts and a steadfast faith in God created what would become the world's largest religious media empire in the garage of a her monastery located in the hills of Birmingham, Al.
The Eternal Television Network grew at a staggering pace, both in people tuning in and in sharing the message of God, to where it now reaches over a hundred million viewers in hundreds of countries around the globe.
This portrait "Nun of the Media" tries to capture the story of this extraordinary nun, Mother Angelica, who is known and loved by the many that tune into "Mother Angelica Live" on the EWTN Network.
The portrait also manifests the power of prayer which comes from the Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration who have backed up Mother's global media work. Mother herself is seen at the switchboard of Eternal Word Television Network with her Rosary in hand.
The painting also encompasses the satellite dishes and shortwave radio towers of EWTN that make it Global Catholic Network.
Behind the nuns, in the center of the piazza stands the The Monument of the Divine Child Jesus (El Divino Niño). It Serves as a symbol of the eager love of our God, the Child Jesus offers His Heart to all who approach Him, "Prophecy of Isaiah (11:6): ". and a little Child shall lead them"
Behind El Divino Niño is the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a Temple consecrated to Almighty God, open to people of all faiths.
Visitors often remark that this Temple is "a true oasis of silence and peace." Mother Angelica explains that "when you come into the Temple you are in the Presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." She prays that each person who enters will be aware of this great and wonderful reality
The original oil painting can be seen by the public, down in Hanceville, AL at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
To purchase prints of Mother Angelica "Nun of the Media" visit Mark's Number1Artist Online-Store
See Mark and Fr. Fox and the Nuns with the new oil painting of Mother Angelica
Mother Angelica Nun of the Media
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