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Thursday, November 23, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving



I would like to wish everyone a very

Happy Thanksgiving!

Don't forget to Thank God for all the Blessings He has bestowed on us in this past year.

I know that I have a lot to be thankful for.

For the safety and well being of my family and friends.

Through illness and accidents, my family has been protected and cared for, watched over by God, and The Angels and Saints to Whom I pray. Through the careful nuturing from our Blessed Mother.

I am grateful for the intercession by The Sacred and Immaculate Hearts which I place all my trust

For bringing very special people into my life this year

For a new job that I obtained about 7 months ago after being out of work for about 5 months.

For all the other things that I may neglect or have forgotten I thank God for

For everything I take for granted

Remember to:

Thank God for all the saved lives this year

Thank God for all the strength to overcome
tragedies, hardships and illness

Thank God for The gift of Faith

Thank God for the grace to endure All

posted by Ginny @ 9:44 AM   4 comments

Thursday, November 02, 2006

All Souls Day


History Of The Day of the Dead


All Souls Day, is an official holiday of the Catholic Calendar.




All Souls Day is on November 2nd , following All Saints Day.


The choice of November 2nd is traditionally attributed to St. Odilo, the fifth abbot of Cluny (city of France famous for the Abby), because he wanted to follow the example of Cluny in offering special prayers and singing the Office of the Dead on the day following the feast of All Saints.


The day was founded to honor all the faithful departed and along with the offerings and the Office of the Dead, there are three Requiem Masses that are said by the clergy to assist the souls from Purgatory to Heaven.

The modern view of death derives in part from Pre-Hispanic times. The Aztecs played a very important role in the development of this tradition. Through their history this festival emerged as one of complexity and varied interpretations
.
The Aztecs had various perceptions of their world. Perceptions as simplistic as a "flat disc" surrounded by water, to a toad floating in a water-lily filled sea. In this world were contained different directions with various associated colors and symbols to each direction and level. One of the most important of these interpretations is that of the terms of a person's death.

The Aztecs believed that after a person died, his/her soul would pass through nine levels prior to their final destination, Mictlan - the place of the dead. They also believed that a person's destiny was founded at birth and that the soul of that person was dependent on the type of death rather than the type of life lead by that person. How a person died would also determine what region they would go to. Once they arrived to their specific region a person's soul would either await transformation or linger, awaiting the next destiny.

Two months of the Aztec calendar were devoted to the dead. The ninth month was dedicated to infants, and the tenth month included a great feast for dead adults.

The Spanish Conquest of 1521 brought about the fusion of Catholic attitudes and indigenous beliefs. The Day of the Dead was revealed as a result of amalgamation of Pre-Spanish Indian ritual beliefs and the imposed ritual and dogma of the Catholic Church.

Spiritual SignificanceThe "Day of the Dead " is celebrated by many catholic countries, worldwide. This celebration originated with the Roman Catholic's, and was established in the Catholic calendar as an official holy day. The Catholic religion is based on works, and the theological idea of Purgatory has been accepted as a means of paying for sins, and buying your way into Heaven.

Those believers who died in a "state of grace" were promised "heavenly rewards", after paying for their sins in purgatorial flames, while those who did not die in a "state of grace", were to spend eternity suffering in Hell. Catholics did, however, believe that they could pray their loved ones out of Purgatory. This practice gives us an idea of the spiritual significance of honoring the deceased.

November 1st , is the official All Saints Day, which honors all saints who attained Beatific Vision, followed on November 2nd , All Soul's Day honoring the faithful departed.

Generally, people celebrating this holiday will attend mass, sometimes exhibiting the relics of saints on a catafalque, and assist the souls of their loved ones from Purgatory to Heaven. They will then proceed to the cemetery to visit, bless and decorate the graves. This tradition is universal among Catholic countries and accepted by the church.

TraditionsMany customs are associated with The Day of the Dead celebration. In the home an altar is made with an offering of food upon it. It is believed that the dead partake of the food in spirit and the living eat it later.

The offerings, are beautifully arranged with flowers, marigolds which are the traditional flower of the dead.
There is a candle placed for each dead soul, and they are adorned in some manner. Incense is also used. Mementos, photos, and other remembrances of the dead are also adorned.

posted by Ginny @ 7:00 PM   2 comments

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

All Saints Day



Origin of All Saint's Day as a feast of the Church

The Church has always honored those early witnesses to the Christian faith who have died in the Lord. During the first three hundred years Christians were serverly persecuted, often suffering torture and bloody death -- because they were faithful . They refused to deny Christ, even when this denial might have saved their own lives, or the lives of their children and families.

The early history of the Church is filled with stories of the heroic faith of these of witnesses to Christ's truth. The stories of these saints -- these baptized Christians of all ages and all states in life, whose fidelity and courage led to their sanctity or holiness -- have provided models for every other Christian throughout history.

Many of those especially holy people whose names and stories were known, the Church later canonized (that is, the Church formally recognized that the life of that person was without any doubt holy, or sanctified -- a "saint" who is an example for us.) The Church's calendar contains many saint's days, which Catholics observe at Mass -- some with special festivities.

But there were thousands and thousands of early Christian martyrs, the majority of whose names are known only to God -- and throughout the history of the Church there have been countless others who really are saints, who are with God in heaven, even if their names are not on the list of canonized saints.

In order to honor the memory -- and our own debt -- to these unnamed saints, and to recall their example, the Church dedicated a special feast day -- a sort of "memorial day" -- so that all living Christians would celebrate at a special Mass the lives and witness of those "who have died and gone before us into the presence of the Lord".

This feast that we know as All Saint's Day originated as a feast of All Martyrs, sometime in the 4th century. At first it was celebrated on the first Sunday after Pentecost. It came to be observed on May 13 when Pope St. Boniface IV (608-615) restored and rebuilt for use as a Christian church an ancient Roman temple which pagan Rome had dedicated to "all gods", the Pantheon. The pope re-buried the bones of many martyrs there, and dedicated this Church to the Mother of God and all the Holy Martyrs on May 13, 610.

About a hundred years later, Pope Gregory III (731-741) consecrated a new chapel in the basilica of St. Peter to all saints (not just to the martyrs) on November 1st , and he fixed the anniversary of this dedication as the date of the feast.

A century after that, Pope Gregory IV (827-844) extended the celebration of All Saints to November 1 for the entire Church.

The vigil of this important feast,
All Saint's Eve, Halloween, was apparently observed as early as the feast itself.

Ever since then the entire Church has celebrated the feast of All Saints on November 1st, and, of course, Halloween on October 31.

It is a principal feast of the Catholic Church. It is a holy day of obligation, which means that all Catholics are to attend Mass on that day.

posted by Ginny @ 7:00 AM   0 comments

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