All Hallow’s Eve. Be Not Afraid.

It’s been a pleasure to see more Catholics discovering the truth about Halloween over the last few years.  Namely, that it isn’t a pagan holiday, but a Christian one–and primarily, a Catholic Christian one.  The always illuminating Mark Shea  points us to a great summary of why Christians don’t need to avoid Halloween like some satanic plague.

For my part, I think Halloween is a fascinating celebration.  While the popular traditions around the holiday aren’t Church-sanctioned per se, I think that they represent a powerful statement of popular piety and a belief in the power of infant baptism.  What do I mean?

Just this.  The truth is, the smallest baptized baby is more powerful than Satan because that child has Christ within him.  Recognizing this, Catholicism is the faith that inspires people to let their children run around in costumes that make fun of the devil!   How badass is that, really?  Let the pagans fear the devil (and our Protestant brothers and sisters who do not avail their children of the gift of baptism).  Christ has conquered! And because we know Christ has the victory, we have so little fear of Satan that we can even let our children taunt him without fear.

As far as I’m concerned, Halloween is just a celebration of one more reason it is awesome to be Catholic.