circle of prayer 19. fall into winter: all saints& spring into summer: pentecost

the times half-way between the equinoxes and the solstices are called cross-quarter days. they are important events in the celtic calendar. all saints and pentecost correspond, approximately, to samhain and beltane. (since pentecost's date, fifty days after the pascha, is controlled partly by the moon, it wanders around the may first date of beltane.)

these are thin places, times when the veil separating the worlds of flesh and spirit is transparent. these are times for bonefires (bonfires), when the bodies of the dead are returned to the elements. these are times to ponder our ultimate fate. the november first date for all saints day seems to have originated in the celtic church. in older english it was called "all hallows' day," using the word for holy or sainted we are most familiar with in the our father. from that name for the feast we get the term that describes all that is left for many people of what is really a very holy time: hallowe'en--all hallow's eve--reflecting that the day properly begins with the evening. october 31st is not, for the church, hallowe'en. rather all hallows still begins on the evening.

as i mentioned above, all saints had its beginning in rome where there were so many martyrs there were not enough days for each to have his or her own date. what was celebrated was their deaths, their falling to sleep, as paul had written in the first letter to the corinthians (15:18), understood as their entry into life in the world to come. at first the celebration occured just after pentecost, as it still does in the eastern church, but gradually in the west the november first date was adopted pretty much everywhere.

it is important to know that all saints day is considered a feast of the lord: "the lord is glorious in his saints." what is celebrated is the work of god in christ jesus through the holy spirit in anyone who says to him, "yes, let it be unto me according to your word" (luke 1:30). prayer is often offered "in the communion of the blessed virgin mary and all the saints," recognizing that it is our "yes, let it be" that like mary's opens the door to the holy one in our hearts and lives. especially do we remember this as the nights are getting longer, the days are getting colder, and the world seems to be returning to the elements. we pray:

"you, o lord, have made us from the dust of the earth and to dust our bodies shall return; yet you have also breathed your spirit upon us and called us to new life in you: have mercy upon us, now and at the hour of our death; through jesus christ, our mediator and advocate. amen.

of course the big celebration of the spirit "breathed upon us" comes six months later, or came six months before, depending upon which way we look. looking forward we see that the life which seems to be ebbing on the earth on all hallows will indeed be renewed at pentecost. "the spirit of the lord renews the face of the earth." looking back we recognize that it was the gift of the spirit which empowers all the saints to triumph in death.

the gift of the spirit is the climax towards which all salvation has been headed. in the church's celebration of pentecost the ancient jewish agricultural celebration of the grain harvest becomes the harvest of the first fruits of the resurrection, the fulfillment of the parable of the sower. in the words of psalm 126,

"when YHWH brought zion's captives home,
at first it seemed like a dream;
then our mouths filled with laughter
and our lips with song.

"even the pagans started talking
about the marvels YHWH had done for us,
and how overjoyed we were!

"YHWH, bring all our captives back again
like torrents in the negeb!

"those who went sowing in tears
now sing as they reap.
they went away, went away weeping,
carrying the seed;
they come back, come back singing,
carrying their sheaves."