PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
HALLOWEEN – THE CHRISTIAN CONNECTION (Bishop Peter Ingham)
Halloween is growing in popularity but its roots are lost on most people. It is observed on 31 October, the "een" or "eve" of All Hallows Day (All Saints Day) on 1 November.
“Hallow‟ occurs in the Lord's Prayer – "hallowed be thy name" (may God's name be held holy) – so to celebrate Halloween without connecting it to All Saints Day would be like celebrating Christmas Eve without a Christmas Day.
If you take away the Saints from Halloween, along with our Christian beliefs about the dignity and destiny of human beings, then all you have left is a pre-Christian Celtic celebration held at the end of summer in the northern hemisphere.
As days shorten and winter nights lengthen, the spirits (goblins and ghouls) have more dark time to be mischievous and haunt. The pagans appeased them with treats so as not to suffer their tricks. The “trick or treat” tradition comes from people disguising themselves as evil spirits, both to fool them into leaving them alone, as well as to steal the treats left by people to appease the evil spirits. Halloween, like Christmas, is becoming very commercial. As a result, we do not even come close to thinking of it in terms of faith and religion.
ALL SAINTS AND ALL SOULS DAYS.
As we move into the month of November we especially remember All Saints Day (1 November) and All Souls Day (2 November). Although we celebrate the Feast Days of the well-known Saints it is not possible to know all the names of those who have given their lives in the service of God. Many of these could be our family or friends.
All families are invited to attend Masses in their local Parishes on these special days and pray for their lost loved ones.
SENIOR STUDENT WORKLOADS
I was a recently talking to a senior school student about their progress in their studies and we talked about the work they had to complete during the week. The workload of a successful senior student is significant, we cannot change that, but if managed well it is reason to celebrate and not become anxious. We talked about the hard work that has to be put in that prepares us for tomorrows work with a greater likelihood of success. It reminded me of something I had read once –
"The day before today is YESterday and not NOsterday".
So we talked about maximising time and focusing the effort that they were applying to their studies. Working hard is an excellent start, but working smart maximises the results obtained. While shopping recently I saw a sign that would hang on a wall –
Think of your future as toMOREow.
