E
Eucharisted
Guest
At the Mass, we celebrate the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In the early Church, a Christian who died rather than give up his faith - a martyr - was honored on his birthday, that is, on the day he was born into Heaven, i.e., the day of his martyrdom. This is based on the paradox of the Cross: in death, life. A Christian who dies for Christ dies not in vain but receives eternal life. Hence, the day he is killed is called his birthday. And because of his faithfulness unto death, he is honored by fellow Christians. The blood of martyrs is the Blood of Jesus Christ; the more Christians die, the more the Church is lives on, for the Church is in Heaven and anticipates the glory that is to come.
The practice of honoring martyrs was extended to honoring all the saints in Heaven. This includes those whom the Church recognizes as saints - the canonized - and those whom she dose not yet recognize as saints. God performs miracles through His saints so some can be honored as saints, and this He dose for His inscruptible reasons. The practice of honoring the whole Church Triumphant was turned into a Holy Day, called All Saints’ Day.
All Saints’ Day is also known as All Hallows Eve, or Halloween for short. Halloween dose not find its roots in paganism but in the Church’s practice of honoring martyrs, as shown above. The pagan practice was not turned into a Christian holy day, ethier. Rather, Mother Church assiimulated into herself certain cultural practices, purifies them of evil (if there is any), and consecrates them, i.e., sets them apart to serve God. For example, the practice of dressing up as a demon was changed into the practice of dressing up as a saint. The only reason Halloween is considered to have pagan origins is because it falls on the same day as an ancient pagan holy day and because of similar practices performed on this day and on Halloween. But the reason the Church chose this day as Halloween was to consecrate the day and the cultural practices performed on it to the Lord. Not all the same practices take place around the world, so it can hardly be said that said cultural practices are universal, in an attempt to link them to paganism, and thereby link Christianity to paganism.
But linking Christianity to paganism is an ancient attack, one rooted in Judaism in fact. The Jews were accused of stealing holy days and practices from naturalist religions, and many gentiles linked Judaism to paganism. But Judaism had its own reasons for said holy days and practices, one of the reasons being the commadment of the Lord. So the rites and holy days of the Jews were not naturalist but Jewish, only similar to their neighbors’ rites and holy days given that they were cultural. This is seen in the Temple of Solomon, which resembles pagan temples. This is further seen in how people of a certain culture act similar, for example, how most American businesses build office buildings and how most Americans celebrate holidays and take the weekend off from work.
I’m posting this here because I know when Halloween rolls around, people will be talking about the pagan roots of this Holy Day.
In the early Church, a Christian who died rather than give up his faith - a martyr - was honored on his birthday, that is, on the day he was born into Heaven, i.e., the day of his martyrdom. This is based on the paradox of the Cross: in death, life. A Christian who dies for Christ dies not in vain but receives eternal life. Hence, the day he is killed is called his birthday. And because of his faithfulness unto death, he is honored by fellow Christians. The blood of martyrs is the Blood of Jesus Christ; the more Christians die, the more the Church is lives on, for the Church is in Heaven and anticipates the glory that is to come.
The practice of honoring martyrs was extended to honoring all the saints in Heaven. This includes those whom the Church recognizes as saints - the canonized - and those whom she dose not yet recognize as saints. God performs miracles through His saints so some can be honored as saints, and this He dose for His inscruptible reasons. The practice of honoring the whole Church Triumphant was turned into a Holy Day, called All Saints’ Day.
All Saints’ Day is also known as All Hallows Eve, or Halloween for short. Halloween dose not find its roots in paganism but in the Church’s practice of honoring martyrs, as shown above. The pagan practice was not turned into a Christian holy day, ethier. Rather, Mother Church assiimulated into herself certain cultural practices, purifies them of evil (if there is any), and consecrates them, i.e., sets them apart to serve God. For example, the practice of dressing up as a demon was changed into the practice of dressing up as a saint. The only reason Halloween is considered to have pagan origins is because it falls on the same day as an ancient pagan holy day and because of similar practices performed on this day and on Halloween. But the reason the Church chose this day as Halloween was to consecrate the day and the cultural practices performed on it to the Lord. Not all the same practices take place around the world, so it can hardly be said that said cultural practices are universal, in an attempt to link them to paganism, and thereby link Christianity to paganism.
But linking Christianity to paganism is an ancient attack, one rooted in Judaism in fact. The Jews were accused of stealing holy days and practices from naturalist religions, and many gentiles linked Judaism to paganism. But Judaism had its own reasons for said holy days and practices, one of the reasons being the commadment of the Lord. So the rites and holy days of the Jews were not naturalist but Jewish, only similar to their neighbors’ rites and holy days given that they were cultural. This is seen in the Temple of Solomon, which resembles pagan temples. This is further seen in how people of a certain culture act similar, for example, how most American businesses build office buildings and how most Americans celebrate holidays and take the weekend off from work.
I’m posting this here because I know when Halloween rolls around, people will be talking about the pagan roots of this Holy Day.