Heavenly Connections – All Saints Day

One of the most beautiful traditions of the Catholic Faith is the celebration of the lives of the Saints. Not only do these men, women and children give us inspiration by the way they lived their faith, and often died for it, they also continue to offer us help in our daily lives. Though it is common to say ‘rest in peace’ to someone who has died, for saints there is no rest after death! They are expected to keep busy and many of them are credited with hundreds of miracles.

The Communion of Saints is our Heavenly family. Like any loving family, the saints are always ready to pray for us and with us for our needs. There are saints for every kind of occupation, country and circumstance. In fact we really get a great taste of some quirky Catholic humour when we study the lives of the saints: who else would be the patron of BBQs but St Lawrence who reportedly told his torturers as they roasted him over a fire, to turn him over as he was done on that side!

Ways to celebrate All Saints Day

• Have an All Saints Day party: Dress up as your favourite saint. Make party halos instead of party hats for all to wear.
• Patron Saint Charades: Can you guess what each saint is a patron for? Look up ‘patron saints’ and make a list for a game of charades.
• Saintly trivia: Devise a trivia game based on the saints: Who is the patron of bee keepers? How did Saint Andrew die?
• Night of Light: Make Halloween (literally, Eve of All Holies) a joyful celebration of the saints. Make a friendly ‘Melo-latern’ from a watermelon to greet trick or treaters. Give your trick or treating children something to give to the homeowner (eg a holy card, prayer card or book mark) instead of just greedily taking sweets.
• Pray the Litany of Saints and be sure to include your own favourite saints.
• Saints in Waiting: Learn about the canonisation process and find out who is on the short list.
• ‘Sanctify’ your social media: Check out our Inspiring Saints post featuring lovely meme-y quotes from the saints to share on your social media site of choice.

Over to you! How have you celebrated All Saints Day? Tell us in the comments below.