As a child, I was filled with excitement to engage in the worldly custom of “trick or treat.” The question was asked annually -- what do you want to be this year? That question prompted finding a costume to mask my true identity, and then going door-to-door to get candy from neighbors. I remember coming home, sorting all the treats, making piles of my favorites, and giving what I didn’t like to my Dad (we both have sweet tooths!). Unfortunately, I was never educated that October 31st was once a day of fast in preparation for the Feast of All Saints. Even sadder is that I continued this horrid custom by taking my son to “harvest festivals” at Protestant churches to engage in the same indulgence of fantasy and sweets.
Fast forward about 20 years…
I had a conversation with my parents in an effort to explain that the Catholic Church lacks valid priests in our days. To make my point, I asked them that if by dressing up on Halloween, it made any of their daughters, angels. My mother replied “no,” while smiling and chuckling at the same time. I commented thereafter that just because a man puts on a chasible, that that in itself, doesn’t necessarily make him a priest. I don’t know if this analogy made any headway with them, but the reality is that ordination rites must take place by valid Catholic clergy, and without a true Pope, all current “clergy” (both Novus Ordo and Traditionalist) are an illusion – the greatest “trick” of all time!
CALL TO ACTION: Read the attached comparison of ordination rites and see how the devil is continuing to prey on the adults he once deceived as children.