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BY TIFFANY ANNE TAN
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BACOLOD City – If you think Halloween is all about the scares, a Roman Catholic church leader wants you to think again.
Halloween really means holiness, according to Reverend Father Felix Pasquin, rector of the San Sebastian Cathedral.
And all those masks of scary faces used in trick-or-treating and costume parties are “distortions” of the faces of saints, also known as hallows, and a “mockery” of the real meaning of Halloween, Pasquin stressed.
“It’s never fun to be with the devil who deceives us,” the priest said.
In the Philippines visiting the dead on Nov. 1 (All Saints’ Day) and 2 (All Souls’ Day) is a time-honored tradition.
It is also during this week when Halloween costume parties — where attendees don costumes to present themselves as scary characters in local literature or pop culture or the dead — are being held.
But Pasquin said the All Saints’ Day is when “God reminds us of his invitation to be holy and imitate the saints in their love and obedience to God.”
The All Souls’ Day, on the other hand, “reminds us of our duty to pray for souls or offer masses for them,” the priest said. “Praying for the departed actualizes our belief in communion of the saints.”
Through these commemorations, “people are reminded of their journey in life that should end in God,” and “this requires us to live according to His will,” he said.
Pasquin also called on everyone to “provide an environment for the growth of a Christian culture,” especially among children. “We owe it to the children.”
Citing a Bible verse, the San Sebastian Cathedral rector said, “Those who have done good will rise to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.”/PN
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