If you were not able to attend the All Saints’ Day Children’s’
liturgy at Holy Family, you missed a truly “holy experience.”
The children walked in procession led by the bumblebee cross
bearer. At the sanctuary, twenty little ones sat on the steps and shared their
favorite treats from Halloween night. “Hershey’s chocolate” was the kids
favorite! Then Spiderman and Bumblebee read from the scriptures, while I shared
the story about the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes.
Each of our little ones shared how they came dressed for
this special All Saints’ Day Mass. Some were princesses, a clown with a large
red nose, Olaf (snowman character from the 2013 film Frozen), and my favorite a
cowgirl. They learned that "Hallow" means holy and the word Halloween
refers to the night before the feast of all holies, or All Saints Day. And then
I shared that each of them is a “child of the light” and they are to walk in
the light of Jesus.
At the beginning of Mass, I told all our parents,
neighbors and many visitors that our children’s smiles, laughter and joy are
simple gifts that God gives us to erase our sadness and fear.
We then walked to the side altar where our parishioners
had placed photos of loved ones who have died. When I asked the children where
are these people who walked on this earth with us, they shouted together “in
heaven!” Once again these children became a light to the grownups in the pews
and taught us that their smiles can erase hatred, evil, pain and sadness. The
light in us is just like Jesus' light. This is the blessing prayer for all our
children and you are encouraged to offer this blessing for your children at
home.
“God who created pumpkins and people, bless our
beautiful Halloween light.
This light reminds us that Jesus is the light of the
world. Jesus shines through the darkness and turns the night into day, sadness
into joy, hate into love and tears into smiles. Bless the candies that we
gathered on Halloween night. Let them be a reminder that we are your sweet
creations, lighting up the smiles and hearts of our friends and family. Bless the happy pumpkins we have carved so that everyone
who sees them might never be afraid of the darkness because your wonderful
light is with us. Our choir then sang a rendition of "This Little Light of
Mine.”
If you ever get discouraged again, I ask you to come
back to this Sonshine message and spend a moment looking at the following picture
of a little elephant peaking over the edge of the pew saying in so many words:
“Do worry, I will be with you always.”
