Hallows Points

There was a cake in the narthex at All Saints Church in honor of All Saints Day! There was also a table where parishioners could place a small statue of a favorite saint. In the sanctuary, icons of the Virgin Mary and Blessed John Paul II were displayed. The icons are traveling to all the parishes in the diocese because they represent the patrons of the Diocese of Knoxville.

This evening’s bilingual Mass was technically trilingual because one of the songs was in Latin. My wife served as cantor and sang in all three languages. I served as lector but I only read in English. When I volunteered, I noticed that one of the readings was from the Book of Revelation, which made me think of Dr. Scott Hahn’s speech at the Eucharistic Congress in September. He talked about attending many Bible study classes that started with Revelation.

As I enjoyed a piece of  cake after Mass, the mother of a Catholic school student told me that several other mothers allowed their kids to be late for school today. They stayed out too late on Halloween and the moms decided that sleep was more important than attending the 8:00 a.m. Mass. Some of the families are probably non-Catholic. The others have no excuse.

When I was young, we would be off from school on holy days. On All Saints Day, my sisters and I walked to the 11:30 a.m. Mass. Along the way, we would meet up with classmates who were eager to discuss the things they saw on Halloween. There was one house on Westchester Avenue that always had talking jack-o-lanterns. I remember seeing cars that had been covered in shaving cream and maybe one or two trees festooned with toilet paper.