Today is All Saints Day and is celebrated in many parts of the world
My latest video is just below and it is simply called ‘A Halloween Prayer’
On This Day
On November 1st 1755 the Lisbon earthquake kills more than 50,000 in Portugal
On November November 1st 1993 the European Union came into being
On November 1st 1997 the film “Titanic” directed by James Cameron, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet makes its premiere
On November 1st 2012 Scientists detect evidence of light from the universe’s first stars, predicted to have formed 500 million years after the big bang
On November 1st 2021 Global death toll from COVID-19 passed 5 million, with estimates the true toll is at least twice as high
Birthdays Today
Toni Collette (actress) is 52
Mark Hughes (ex Man Utd Striker) is 61
Tim Cook (Ceo of Apple) is 64
Rick Allen (one-armed drummer of Def Leppard) is 61
Saint For Today
Today is All Saint’s Day and is also known as All Hallows’ Day and is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the church, whether they are known or unknown.
As we celebrate the feast day of All Saints the one word that is common to all known Saints is love. Their lives were unique, different, exciting, ordinary and sometimes complex. All did their best to give expression to God through love. It is what makes them stand out today. We ask their many blessings on us today.
Significance of Today
Today is World Vegan Day. It is estimated that veganism has probably been around for at least 2000 years and the idea of vegetarianism (not eating meat) was perhaps around for even 500 years prior to that.
Quote For Today
“Let us shine with the light of Jesus and become like saints.” ~Author Unknown
Did You Know
Did you know that All Saints’ Day celebrates all the Christian saints. Saints are holy people who are believed to be very close to God. Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians believe that saints have special powers to help people. People celebrate the saints by lighting candles and going to church.
My Latest Video 🎥
This is my latest video and it is called ‘A Halloween Prayer’
The video below I had up last week and it is called – ‘The Floods 1 Year ago – Then and Now’. If you would like to see a selection of my other videos on Youtube you can click this link here. https://www.youtube.com/@JamesMcSweeneyFr/videos
Thought For The Week
We celebrate Halloween today. So why do we have Halloween and why is it so popular? Halloween has its origins in the pre-Christian festival of Samhain which was always celebrated on November 1st. It was a sacred day where the spirits of those who had died were allowed and given permission to pass safely on to the next world. Bonfires were lit and gifts of food and drink were provided so that any wandering spirits did not wander or go hungry.
Samhain was mainly a pagan festival and it marked the Celtic New Year, the end of summer and the end of the harvest season. For farmers this time of year was a time to celebrate, to bring the cattle indoors, dig the last of the potatoes and make sure all the oats were in dry storage before Halloween.
Christianity then put its stamp on all of these activities by bringing in the feast day of All Saints on November 1st and All Souls on November 2nd. Halloween puts us very much in touch with the mystery of life and that there is often a struggle between light and darkness, between good and evil and between life and death. It puts us in touch with the passage of time and the cycles of nature which we so often take for granted.
Halloween reminds us that we sometimes need to respect mystery and the unknown. We won’t always have the answers to everything we would like to know. The start of November allows us to remember with love all our loved ones who have gone on before us. It is a sacred time, it can be a sad time but it can also be a hope filled time too.
Thought For The Week is updated each Monday
