_{Holy Spirit Catholic Church
Homilies}

 _{Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time (c) 2010}

Halloween is not what it used to be.  Trick-or-Treating has fallen off due to concerns for the safety of children, which points to serious flaws in our culture.  That aside, just four years ago a survey by the National Retail Federation found that, in the United States, 54% of American households bought Halloween costumes.

Halloween seems to have come from a Celtic festival in Ireland that celebrated the end of summer.  It was called the Celtic New Year because of the shortening of daylight at this time of year.  The Celts celebrated this "in-between day," the end of the "lighter half" of the year and the beginning of the "darker half" of the year.

It was believed that on this day the border or wall between this world and the "other world" was at its thinnest, allowing spirits to pass through.  Some were harmful spirits, but many were good spirits, so households prepared celebrations for the good spirits that they hoped would come to their homes. 

Because this time of year was harvest time, produce such as turnips, corn, and wheat became symbols of the feast.  The colors, black (for the evil spirits) and orange (for the protective bonfires) also became associated with the day.

The evil spirits had to be driven away.  Turnips (plentiful in Ireland) were carved into votive candle holders and placed in windows to ward off the evil spirits.  Masks and costumes were also worn to scare away the bad spirits.

As the Celtic/Irish traditions entered the United States, pumpkins, which are plentiful here, replaced turnips.  As Ireland was converted to Christianity, the Catholic Church did what it was good at.  It used the existing festival, baptized it, and turned it into a way to teach traditions of our Christian faith.  Thus we ended up celebrating All Saints Day and All Souls Day.  The last reminders of the old festival are found in the name Halloween, of All Hallows Eve which refers to All Hallows Day (All Saints Day).

Perhaps this annual celebration can suggest a few things to us.  The first is that, while a pagan celebration became a Christian celebration, that Christian celebration has now become a secular celebration.  How many other celebrations have we let the secular world take over?  We certainly see the secularization of Christmas and the slower but still obvious secularization of Easter.  How do we stop this within our own parishes and homes?  How do we once more teach about the saints whom we will celebrate tomorrow?

Bonfires, carved pumpkins, and costumes were once used to ward off evil spirits.  The good spirits, which the Church calls saints, had meals prepared for them in homes.  Now we dress up not as protection from things that scare us; instead we dress up in order to create fright.  What originated as a thanksgiving celebration for a good harvest and for the saints is now an occasion for horror movies, haunted houses, and by many parties for adults that can get out of control.

How do we re-Christianize this festival?  How do we again use it to teach our children about the saints, about our beloved dead?  How do we again show gratitude for the harvest given to us by God and welcome the saints into our homes?

Today's Gospel shows Jesus allowing a man to set the record straight.  As a tax collector Zacchaeus was identified as a sinner and was "wealthy."  To be wealthy contained many bad connotations.

In the Jewish belief there were only so many material things in the world, and to possess more than your share kept someone else from having their rightful share.  To have more than he needed created a dangerous label for Zacchaeous.  Also it was believed that becoming wealthy, especially for a tax collector, involved fraud, cheating, and outright theft, and these indicated yet another mark against Zacchaeous.

Finally, to be a tax collector was to work for the Romans and was equal to being a traitor to your people.  This alone was enough for the people to label Zacchaeous a sinner.

Jesus, however, set the record straight.  He created an opportunity for Zacchaeous to let everyone know who he really was.  Zacchaeous made a pledge that if he had cheated anyone he would repay that person four times what he was accused of extorting.  Only someone who has not extorted can make that kind of pledge!  The man's heart was good, and as proof he promised to give half his possessions to the poor.  Braggarts don't do that.  Only a good heart who trusted in God could do something so radical!

Jesus set up an opportunity to let the crowd see how far it had strayed for the truth and kindness.  Maybe reviewing Halloween can do that for us!