Hallowtide: how to actually "reclaim" it, and what the Brown Scapular and Rosary have to do with purgatory and your death...

Quite a title, but I promise you it all comes together. Welcome to Hallowtide, one of the most controversial weekends of the year among Christians (protestants and Catholics alike). Let's tap in and join the conversation, shall we?

There are two things we know for certain at this point. One, the roots of Hallowtide go back to the 3rd or 4th century and are very Catholic. Two, the way Halloween is celebrated by the world today is not very Catholic. Skeletons, skulls, and memento mori have a rightful and necessary place among Catholics, but with a reverence or sobriety towards that holy death which awaits us all. Skeletons, skulls, and the glorification of death that is intended to fill you with fear and a sort of thrill that you will be dragged into their restless graves is not a practice in reverence towards that holy moment of death, a sobriety toward the truth of Satan and hell, or a spirit of intercession of the souls in purgatory which we pray for this weekend. As Catholics we are called to remember the realities of The Last Things (death, judgment, heaven, and hell), not relish in the power of death as the end, or to thrill ourselves with fantasies of the paranormal.

So if you plan to "reclaim" Hallowtide, I urge you to celebrate it for what it is, not what it has become by a quite godless culture. There are three things we can do this weekend to celebrate Hallowtide as a Catholic: meditate (on the Last Things), pray (for those in purgatory), and then celebrate (those who have won their crowns in glory with Christ). Gather your friends, your children, dress as the Saints, celebrate and read about their great victories with Christ over death, ponder the mystery of living in such a way that we can die with peace and joy and not in fear of hell, and pray for the souls of the dead. If you want some of the sobriety of memento mori and don't want to give up a good Catholic skull, there are many ways to do this in a truly Catholic way. Visit a cemetary on All Soul's Day in the evening and meditate on death while praying for those who have died. Find some stories of the martyrs and reflect on those who were willing to undergo the gruesome tortures and deaths they did for the glory of Jesus Christ, knowing that death had no power or sting in the power of our Resurrected Lord.

As Catholics, as Christians, we know that death is never the end. We reflect on the reality of the Last Things with a living hope in the Merciful Love of God and His resurrection which has swallowed sin and conquered the finality of death.

So now, as promised, I have to tie in the brown scapular and the rosary. They do relate, if you stay with me.

Mary, as a good and tender Mother, is never far from a suffering soul. Knowing the mystery and even fear of death we can hold in our hearts, she pledges her presence to us in beautiful, sweet ways. Here are a couple promises she had made over the years in regards to both death and purgatory:

The Rosary: In her 15 promises to those who faithfully pray the Rosary, arguably eight of them pertain to death, purgatory, heaven or hell. Notable, no? Here are a few examples:

#5 - "The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish."

#6 - "Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries, shall never be conquered and never overwhelmed by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death (unprepared for heaven). The sinner shall convert. The just shall grow in grace and become worthy of eternal life."

#7 - "Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church."

#8 - "Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have, during their life and at their death, the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise."

#9 - "I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary."

#13 - "I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death."

Don't underestimate the presence of Mary at your hour of death. This is baked into the very prayer of the Rosary, asking for her intercession and presence "at the hour of our death".

The Brown Scapular, beyond the general devotion, also has a promise attached to it called the "Sabbatine Privilege". On March 3rd, 1322, Pope John XXII issued a papal bull called Sacratissimo Uti Culmine in which he writes of a vision he received from the Blessed Virgin Mary in which she said,

"I, the Mother of Grace, shall descend on the Saturday after their death and whomsoever I shall find in purgatory I shall free so that I may lead them to the holy mountain of life everlasting"

The general promise of the Brown Scapular, for all of those who wear it daily and are enrolled, is already a great gift. Here, Mary promises even more to those who go a step deeper into this practive. To obtain this Sabbatine Privilege the Church asks the faithful to:

1. Be enrolled in the Brown Scapular and wear it daily

2. Live chastity according to one's state in life

3. Pray the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary daily or pray the Rosary daily with the permission of a Priest

It is important that as we meditate on the mystery of death, purgatory, heaven, and hell, that we do not forget the merciful love of God and the presence of our tender, merciful Mother. If this is helpful, feel free to share it with friends or family to spark further discussion and the pursuit of truly loving Jesus Christ and His Kingdom above all.

And enjoy 20% off all brown scapulars and rosaries in the shop through this weekend in the hopes that you or your loved ones can be wrapped more tightly in the folds of your Mother's mantle, slowly draping more and more of this world in her mantle.