All Saints Day - 2014

Each saint has his or her feast day and together they share All Saints Day.  I do not know all the names of the saints of the Catholic Church but am certain that some are far more saintly than others.  However, in deference to all the saints regardless of the extent of each saint's holiness, I have looked forward to their gathering on November 1st to pray away the darkness of secularization embraced by those around the world who celebrate Halloween the nights and days before.

Assuming that the saints do pray, their prayers have not been all that effective since the human race is still bent toward the darkness of secularization.  Not only is it largely oblivious to the Feast of All Saints, it has turned Christmas into a holiday that has little to do with celebrating the birth of Christ, but rather a time to indulge in shopping, feasting, drinking, gifting and refunding or exchanging of presents received.  More sinister is the human race spending more time dressing up as bunnies and Easter-egg hunting on Easter Sunday than reflecting on the meaning of Christ's resurrection, not to mention the many people who treat Good Friday merely as another holiday, and who do not give a moment's thought to the suffering and crucifixion of the Sinless Christ for the forgiveness of Sin and the salvation of souls.

How the Catholic Church has determined November 2nd to be All Souls Day when Halloween seems to be a day for all souls already is a mystery to me.  Is the Fatima prayer that is to be said at the end of each of the five decades of the Hail Mary ("Ave Maria ") prayer insufficient?  Perhaps not.  Since more and more people are hell-bent on being unsaintly, their souls would require their special day, so that those who are living can pray for them since the dead can no longer pray themselves, not until their souls enter Heaven.

On the Feast of All Saints, both the living and the dead would be glad to have the benefit of the prayers of all the saints.  All should be thankful for their prayers on their shared feast day and those who have the luxury to pray ought to pray that they continue praying.