Thirty-first Sunday Ordinary Time
October 31, 2021 •
How can putting on make-up and a costume and going to people's houses and basically asking for candy be objectively evil? It's not, there is nothing objectively wrong with dressing up.
But does it matter how you dress up or what costume you wear? The trend typically in this secular celebration is spooky and scary.... ghosts and witches, zombies I'm sure are a big thing too. All these scary things, even little demons sometimes. Should we participate in those kind of decorations? Have those kind of decorations at our house?
You have to think about what it means.
If you don't believe in ghosts and witches and demons, then go right ahead. Because they're just fictional imaginary creatures, like any costume you could wear.
The problem is, as Christians we don't believe they're imaginary things. We know them to be real and we know what they are. And they're no joke. It's not something you play around with. You don't dress your kid up in a little satan outfit. "Oh look at that little devil. How cute." Really? That's what you want to teach? The message you want to express with your costume?
It's one thing for us as Catholics to dress up as something innocent or innocuous, and go trick-or-treating, and there's nothing wrong with participating in these holidays if you want to, but you have to be careful not to be sucked into the midst of the world that does not appreciate what we know....
As adults we almost have to be more discerning in regards to Halloween because the parties that adults throw are usually quite sinful.... It becomes an excuse for drunkenness, an excuse for dressing up in lewd and immoral costumes. As Catholics, we have nothing to do with that. That is of the world.
Father uses costumes as a jumping off point for a talk on daily attire, especially at Holy Mass. Modesty in dress means not only covered so as to protect others form lust, but also to make sure your clothing is appropriate to the circumstances and place in which you find yourself. Please listen to this important topic, and discover what any of this has to do with why God asks the Israelites to offer animal sacrifices for sin.
Dt 6:2-6; Ps 18:2-4, 47, 51; Heb 7:23-28; Mk 12:28b-34
Due to technical issues, we were unable to live stream and record the Mass this Sunday. We apologize.
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