October 18, 2026, 12:00 PM
Caesar was told to “Beware the Ides of March.” The ides, the half-way point of any month, do remind us that time passes, and seems to pass more quickly with every day.
Here, just past the Ides of October, we’re reminded of the cluster of days that end this month and begin November: Halloween, All Saints Day, All Souls Day.
These days have natural connections. Halloween is, after all, the Eve of all Hallows. However much we’ve crowded it with ghosts and goblins, it’s roots lie in the Catholic celebration of all the saints, those whose lives have endured and conquered the powers of death. And All Saints leads us to prayerfully remember our beloved, asking God to gather them to himself and bring them to the dwellings of the saints. We have any number of ways of passing through these sacred nights and days. Two of our churches host Halloween events (note the site change in the 5:30pm Mass that night to St Boniface Church). All Saints Day pushes out the Ordinary Time Sunday. All Souls Day gives us four opportunities to gather for Mass—including the evening Requiem Mass with Mozart’s brilliant setting. (Any of those days we could make a visit to the cemetery to pray for our deceased.)
But, let me highlight one aspect of our prayer for the dead this weekend: The Book of the Dead. This custom prevailed, at least at one time, in all our churches. When I arrived, you all already owned beautifully bound Books of the Dead. We’ll have them out beginning this weekend. Please write the names of your deceased friends and family members to be included in our prayers. Now, we will write in the names of those buried from our churches in the past year. If you’ve put names in during previous years, they’re still there and they’ll still be remembered before God. You’ll have other opportunities to list these names—the All Souls Day envelopes, an emailed name to include in the Requiem program, a candle lit in memory. But the Book of the Dead echoes a lovely image from sacred scripture: in St John’s Revelation the Book of the Living contains the names of the faithful who share in eternal life. The Books of the Dead, prominently displayed in our churches throughout the month of November, call us to pray to God to write their names in that precious and eternal Book.
Fr. McCreary
Here, just past the Ides of October, we’re reminded of the cluster of days that end this month and begin November: Halloween, All Saints Day, All Souls Day.
These days have natural connections. Halloween is, after all, the Eve of all Hallows. However much we’ve crowded it with ghosts and goblins, it’s roots lie in the Catholic celebration of all the saints, those whose lives have endured and conquered the powers of death. And All Saints leads us to prayerfully remember our beloved, asking God to gather them to himself and bring them to the dwellings of the saints. We have any number of ways of passing through these sacred nights and days. Two of our churches host Halloween events (note the site change in the 5:30pm Mass that night to St Boniface Church). All Saints Day pushes out the Ordinary Time Sunday. All Souls Day gives us four opportunities to gather for Mass—including the evening Requiem Mass with Mozart’s brilliant setting. (Any of those days we could make a visit to the cemetery to pray for our deceased.)
But, let me highlight one aspect of our prayer for the dead this weekend: The Book of the Dead. This custom prevailed, at least at one time, in all our churches. When I arrived, you all already owned beautifully bound Books of the Dead. We’ll have them out beginning this weekend. Please write the names of your deceased friends and family members to be included in our prayers. Now, we will write in the names of those buried from our churches in the past year. If you’ve put names in during previous years, they’re still there and they’ll still be remembered before God. You’ll have other opportunities to list these names—the All Souls Day envelopes, an emailed name to include in the Requiem program, a candle lit in memory. But the Book of the Dead echoes a lovely image from sacred scripture: in St John’s Revelation the Book of the Living contains the names of the faithful who share in eternal life. The Books of the Dead, prominently displayed in our churches throughout the month of November, call us to pray to God to write their names in that precious and eternal Book.
Fr. McCreary
