Photo courtesy of: www.planeteu.com
Crowded streets and cemeteries are the common scenes we can see wherever we go today because it has been our tradition to visit and pray for our loved ones who has went back to the arms of our Father.
But let us not confuse All Saints’ Day with All Souls’ Day which is observed every 2nd of November. Today we celebrate All Saints’ Day or All Hallows’ Day, a day commemorating all the saints, known and uknown who have lived a holy life and attained heaven. The Feast day of all martyrs is observed in different days around the world but it was formally started by Pope Boniface IV, who consecrated the Pantheon at Rome to the Virgin Mary and all the Martyrs on May 13 in 609 AD. Pope Gregory III later changed the date of the celebration to todays’ date – November 1.
Have you ever asked why are we celebrating Halloween on the day before All Saints’ Day? Hallow in English dictionary means “holy” or “sacred”, Halloween means “evening of the holy person.” Halloween was originally a holy celebration, people used to prepare for this celebration with a night of vigil on the Hallows’ eve which many Christians in some parts of the world had continue to observe.
The festival of all saints started with the conviction that there is a strong spiritual connection between those in heaven and earth. All Saints’ Day can also mean expressing gratitude to God for the lives and deaths of His saints, known and unknown even for the lives of people who led someone else to their faith to God.
You may think of a saint as a statue we see inside the church every Sunday, but the bible teaches us that the saint is in you, in someone who strongly believes that God, alone is our hope and salvation. May this day remind us about our connectedness as Christians, our connectedness to saints and find inspiration in their faithfulness to God.
