Without a doubt, the best Halloween costume I ever had was the uniform I wore at my first job. I was 15 years old and lied about my age to get a job as a tourist attraction. I love telling people my first job was as a tourist attraction. I was one of the young high school and college-age guys who dressed as a 1777 British Grenadiers and put on a show for the tourists at Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown, NY. The Fort is at the mouth of the Niagara River where it flows into Lake Ontario. We marched in formation, stood guard, shot old cannons and civil war muskets. There were about 18 of us, and we had a great time. Check out “Old Fort Niagara” for more info.
It’s amazing that Halloween is now the 2nd most popular holiday for adults in the United States (Christmas is the first). And, Halloween is the one holiday where we don’t celebrate who we really are. Instead, we put on costumes and go door-to-door begging for treats; disguising ourselves in order to get something good.
What a metaphor for real-life: we disguise ourselves to get what we think is good: what will make us feel affirmed and liked, powerful and in control, secure and safe. And, we do it all by wearing and celebrating our costumed selves. Being ourselves, being the people God has created us to be is hard. The poet E.E. Cummings said it best: “To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody but yourself - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight - and never stop fighting.”
That’s why we celebrate the Feast of All Saints. It is the feast of those who don’t wear costumes. Of those who lived lives free of artificiality and pretense. Of those who are, as Jesus says today: “The pure of heart.” who had the courage, in this harsh world to be their authentic and loving selves, to stand up for what was right even when it was tough by living lives that were merciful instead of vengeful, humble instead of hypocritical, gentle instead of vindictive, seeking justice instead of personal power, and peace instead of division.
How did the Saints get this way? The same way we can. They approached the door of God’s grace and mercy every day. They saw and acknowledged their sinfulness —the costumes we often wear to “trick” others and ourselves into seeing us not as we are but as we’d like to be seen. And, they saw God’s mercy and grace, God’s constant presence in their lives (and in ours) that invites us to take our costumes off, to humbly knock on God’s door as we are, and accept his “treats” — the grace God always offers us. St Francis de Sales would say, “Be who you are, and be that well!”
May God be Praised!
Fr. Jack Loughran, OSFS
Provincial
Toledo-Detroit Province
