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October 28th, 2009
Saints and All Hallows Eve
What does All Saints Day have to do with Halloween?
Father James Martin, SJ, author of My Life with the Saints, talks about the connection between Halloween (October 31) and All Saints Day (November 1). As part of our ongoing series Googling God: Resources for the Spiritual Seeker, Fr. Martin answers FAQs such as:
- How saints get made?
- What is a patron saint?
- Is praying to the saints considered idolatry?
In addition he discusses the lives of three of his favorite saints, Francis of Assisi, Therese of Liseaux and Isaac Jogues.
To purchase a copy of My Life with the Saints click here.
This video was originally posted on 10/29/08.
This is an awesome video! Thanks!
Great video, Jim and BustedHalo Folks. I’m posting the link on my blog http://ANunsLife.org on Halloween.
What a wonderful video! Great information presented with humorous inflections. Thank You…I’m giving you web address to our youth!
Father Martin – as usual terrfic, full of holiness and humor. Now I am trying to figure out a way to give the video to the people I continue to give your book to.
See you on Facebook!
aren’t we all resurrected at judgment and then possibly given a spiritual body or burned in hell like it says in revelation and in 1st and 2nd Corinthians? How then can we pray to saints in heaven if they are dead until resurrection?
and a question for “we just have to be the best we can be?”
– When does the sin stop?
I’ve read that the original all hallowed saint’s day was on the 29th of October, Just wondering why the Change from the 29th to November 1st ? also would like to exspress the Term of vocabulary title hallo-ween seams rather self explanatory,are children being weaned from hallowedness mocking the spiritual darkness in the pagan celebration of Texts and date’s altering ?
There’s actually an “awesome” connection between Halloween and All Saints! As Father Jim said, it was the “thin time” for the ancient Celts, a time to fear the dead, as nature was “dying” all around them. Christianity brought the light of faith to this time: neither the dead nor death itself are to be feared, we live in loving communion with the holy ones in heaven. Halloween/All Saints helps us face the reality of death, and then laugh in its face because of our faith in resurrection and communion.
Would really like to show this clip to my students but the streaming is very choppy? Any other way to show this?
Yes! You can go to our blip.tv channel, http://bustedhalo.blip.tv, pull up this video, and change to format from “web” to “source”, which is a QuickTime version. Here’s the direct link.
why doesnt most jesuits have “Fr.” in their by-lines with the articles they write ?
Can’tbelive it…
Jesuits as a community sign their names James Martin, S.J. for society of Jesus. Many leave the Fr title out because their other other Jesuits who are brothers or are in formation and this separates them from one other in the insular religious community.
Some religious orders simply prefer to identify themselves by their community abbreviation and then most assume their priesthood. Brothers and those in formation usually have their designation so people will not assume that they are a priest.
Lastly, some people just don’t like titles.
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