The Hallowed Ones

Winning the culture wars with Christianity

11/1/2017

Revelation 7:2, 11-14 I, John, saw another angel come up from the East, holding the seal of the living God. After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, "Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?" I said to him, "My lord, you are the one who knows." He said to me, "These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb."

       Do you know what the word “philologist” means? Well, you would know it if you were a philologist! Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a “philologist” as “someone who studies human speech as the vehicle of literature and as a field of study that sheds light on cultural history.” Put a little more simply, a philologist loves how language can convey culture; how one word can hold a whole world.

       Today, I’d like to look briefly at the word “Halloween,” and examine it like a philologist might do, that is, look at this word as a conveyor of culture. And what I’d like to suggest to you is that Halloween is the tip of the spear of a culture that is at war with itself. What do I mean? Well, Halloween highlights that we are experiencing a modern “culture-clash” or “culture war” between liberal and conservative, between traditional and progressive, and between religious and atheist. If you haven’t seen this culture war, just turn on the television and you will.

       What do we all immediately think of when we hear the word “Halloween”? Well, we probably think of Jack-o-lanterns, trick or treating, scary movies (which by the way are very cheesy), ghost stories, goblins and witches and so forth. But a philologist would dissect the word “Halloween” and discover it is really a compound of two words, “Hallow” and Eve.” “Hallow” is an old English way to say “holy,” and “Eve” is a poetic abbreviation of “evening” like “Christmas Eve.” But the philologist wouldn’t stop there, he would go even further and discover that since the following day – November 1st – was traditionally celebrated as the feast of All Saints, then “Halloween” really means (at least it did originally) “Hallows Eve,” or the “Evening before the Feast of All the Hallowed Ones.” In other words, the original meaning of Halloween had nothing to do with ghosts and goblins, with witches or warlocks, but it had everything to do with Christianity and honoring the Saints, the Hallowed Ones. You see how Halloween is the tip of the spear in this culture war: sometimes this spear of Halloween is thrown by one side (ghosts and goblins), and at other times it is hurled by the other side (angels and saints). One word can hold a whole world; but in the case of “Halloween” one word can hold two worlds. 

       Today’s first reading from the Book of Revelation helps us understand the original meaning of Halloween as “All Hallows Eve,” that is, as the evening before the feast of All Saints. John sees a great multitude of people standing before God’s throne in heaven in white robes, and he asks an elder standing nearby who they are. (By the way, “elder” is a translation of “presbyter” or “priest.”) So, John is conversing with a heavenly priest, Fr. John. Listen carefully to the elder’s answer, he says: “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”  In other words, these saints, these Hallowed Ones, have suffered on earth in union with Christ, and Jesus’ Blood has made them pure and holy and spotless. Those who suffer and unite their sufferings with Jesus on the Cross are the Hallowed Ones that we honor on Halloween, and on the following day, the feast of All Saints.

         Now, I know this sounds all heady and pie in the sky, so let me bring it back down to earth for you. I think you may know some of these Hallowed Ones. For example, you may know Scott Koch, who for the last several years of his life could hardly breathe but he loved to receive Holy Communion at home almost daily. He had survived his “time of great distress” and been “washed in the Blood of the Lamb.”  Communion.  You might remember Dr. Henry Udouj, who suffered from lung cancer, but he never missed Mass. He united his sufferings to Jesus on the Cross, survived his “time of great distress” and was “washed in the Blood of the Lamb.” Communion. There was Mary Sargent, who became blind in her last years of life, but never missed listening to Mass on EWTN, even when the Mass was in Italian or Latin, because she wanted to unite her suffering to Jesus on the Cross. She survived her “time of great distress” and “was washed in the Blood of the Lamb.” Or Brian Schluterman, who suffered serious disabilities virtually all his life, but he loved Jesus and united himself to him. Brian survived his “time of great distress” and “was washed in the Blood of the Lamb.” Or do you remember Sally Frick, whose face lit up like a Christmas tree when she go to receive Holy Communion? She survived her “time of great distress” and “was washed in the Blood of the Lamb.” These are just a few examples that I know of the “multitude” that John is talk about in the book of Revelation. You will each know personally many more these “Hallowed Ones.”

         In the years to come, I don’t know who will win this culture war in our country, that is, what the word “Halloween” will mean for future generations of Americans. But I do know what “Halloween” should mean for Christians. And I know what “Halloween” will mean in heaven. Hopefully, we, too, may one day be among those “Hallowed Ones” after we have survived our “time of distress” and been “washed in the Blood of the Lamb.” Only in heaven will all wars will cease, even these culture wars.

Praised be Jesus Christ!