***
Halloween is my least favorite holiday.
It’s amazing how many people decorate their yards with goblins, ghouls, and monsters. In some cases, people are having fun; in others it seems like they’re literally trying to scare us!
I for one get spooked, even disturbed, at how obsessed people have become with violence and the darker side of reality.
***
At it’s core, Halloween reminds us that life can often be scary.
For example, I can think of a young mother who was recently diagnosed with cancer, a young man who was nearly incinerated in a car accident, a young child who’s depressed.
Scary things – real things – that happen to us in life.
***
But Paul reminds us in our first reading that nothing – no event, no person, no diagnosis, no demon can separate us from the love of Christ.
Rather, God stands ready to extend his loving help to anyone who calls upon his name.
This is the mark of a true believer, as Saint Paul says, one who knows that in the end the victory is ours, for “we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.”