Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As we approach the end of October, all of attention is paid to the cultural phenomenon that is Halloween. Decorating the house, getting costumes ready, enjoying some candy, attending Trunk or Treats, and many other things are all part of the Halloween experience. And despite its more religious origins, today’s version of it is very much its own thing. However, I’d like to highlight something that is happening just after the holiday that is more faith related in my letter this week.
This year, with the way the calendar falls, there’s a little bit of a change that will occur. As most of us know, November 1st is the day in which the Church celebrates All Saint’s Day. This solemnity, which is a chance to consider and rejoice with all the saints in heaven, includes both the universally recognized ones as well as the personal saints within families and our parish community. It is also so important of a celebration that it is typically a Holy Day of Obligation, meaning there is an expectation for all the faithful to attend Mass that day.
Following All Saint’s Day, the Church commemorates All Soul’s Day; an opportunity to recall our loved ones who have passed from this world and to pray for the souls of the faithful departed and all those in Purgatory. While there’s no obligation to attend Mass typically on November 2nd , meaning it doesn’t quite rank as high as All Saint’s Day, it’s still an important and worthwhile thing to recall the spiritual good that is praying for the deceased, which has been done in the life of the Church since very early on. This year, however, there’s been a slight flip in how the celebration of these two days comes to us.
Given that November 1st is a Saturday and November 2nd is a Sunday, the normal celebration of these two days have a slight variation to them. I apologize if this seems a bit wonky, but it just happens to be how things unfold for us this year. When a Holy Day of Obligation falls on a Saturday in the US, the Conference of Bishops ordinarily lift the obligation to attend Mass, with the understanding that it’s challenging and burdensome to require families to come to church two days in a row like that. Likewise, liturgically, when a Feast Day falls on a Sunday, provided it’s not during Advent or Lent, then the Sunday celebration is replaced by the Feast instead. Bear with the mumbo-jumbo here, I’m about to explain what that all means.
And so, for the following weekend, All Saint’s Day is not a Holy Day of Obligation and there will not be any additional Masses offered because of it. And for all the weekend Masses, we will be celebrating All Soul’s Day, since it will be replacing the 31 st Sunday in Ordinary Time. I apologize for any confusion, but I hope this provides some explanation!
Peace and Goodness,
Fr. Dan
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