Light and Darkness! The Hallowed Evening!

This weekend, the clocks are turned back so that our evenings become dark earlier as we begin to slide from Autumn to Winter. At this time of the year in farming culture, we gather the last of the harvest and put it away to last through the winter until new growth comes. At Hallowe'en (the Hallowed Evening) we remember those who have departed from this life to enter into the new life with God.

Nature and the spiritual world have great symbolic expression in this part of the northern hemisphere where the image of light and darkness is very vivid. This time of the year involves a letting go. It also involves a remembering of our departed loved ones as we stand on the threshold of November. There may be both light and darkness in the remembering with a whole wide range of feelings and thoughts.

If we were to take Hallowe'en as a gathering of our harvest of experiences, of love, of our treasured friends and family members, of the hopes that gave us the momentum to keep going when life was tough, it might give us what we need to face whatever challenges will emerge in the next few months. What has grown in our lives since Springtime? What husks do we need to shake off before we move gently into winter time?

Lucan was once a small village in the countryside where the Hallowe'en experience of gatherings, dance, music and harvest sharing was the same as in rural Ireland. It is now different, as is every village and town. The difference is appropriate for the time. However, despite all the change in the world, the basic needs of every person has not changed. We need one another and need connection to bring us through the darkness and light of life. For those who find the time of winter darkness particularly difficult there is light to be found among us.

Lucan is alive with wonderful community and parish groups, always open to new membership. Each of the groups add to the sense of community and belonging, contributing towards its' building and sharing of ideas that make a difference. For every individual involved in all of the groups, members experience a local belonging and a knowing that they matter. While we cannot change the darkness of the natural season, except artificially, we can change the light that we bring into the lives of others or into our own lives by taking advantage of the gifts of our local community.

This Hallowe'en let us hold hope and light before us knowing that Spring will come and that even in experiences of challenge or loss, that some glimmer of light is offered to us. Let us stand tall and lift our eyes up to the stars of night and to people and beliefs that offer us hope.

Cathy Burke
Catechist in the Lucan Partnership of Parishes