31/10/2024
Prayers for Halloween
Halloween is never about ghosts and ghouls but the living. The old prayers are all about Christian souls going to the land of the living and not the dead. As the tradition originated in pagan Europe, where people venerated the dead, the Christians venerated the living. Catholics look towards heaven in prayer and remember their brethren who are being purified by the fire of God's love in Purgatory.
Antiphons
From the Anglican Book of Common Prayer
Blessed are ye, O all ye Saints of God, who have been worthy to become companions of the heavenly powers, and to rejoice in the brightness of glory; therefore, we pray you, that mindful of us you would vouchsafe to intercede for us unto the Lord our God.
From the Latin Breviary before the prayer books were reformed after the Second Vatican Council
”I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living” Psalm 116:9
From the 1662 Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England
O ALMIGHTY God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord: grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living; that through their intercession we may come to those unspeakable joys, which thou hast prepared for them that unfeignedly love thee; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
From the Latin Breviary (Prayerbook) before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council
O Lord, our God, multiply Thy graces upon us, and grant that joy may follow in the holy praise of those whose glorious festival we anticipate. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.
