Dear Quincy, Have you ever wondered why everybody likes to celebrate Halloween so much?\u00a0 I\u2019m not talking about the origins of the holiday \u2013 there are as many legends about that as there are languages to tell them in.\u00a0 Rather, I am curious as to why so many people like to dress up in costumes.\u00a0 Probably nothing to it, really, just an excuse for a party.\u00a0 Speaking of parties, I hope you and your friends are continuing the tradition you began last year of offering alternative parties \u2013 where the laughter is sincere, the fun is clean, the light is bright, and the music intelligible.\u00a0 I can hardly think of a better contribution you could make to social life on campus.\u00a0 The devil has succeeded in convincing too many people that a \u201cgood time\u201d requires sin.\u00a0 The truth is just the opposite.\u00a0 The best times are had by the saints, believe it or not, whose joy not only fills their own hearts and minds, but overflows into everyone around them.\u00a0 That happened to be the downfall of today\u2019s saint, by the way. Quintinus embraced Christ and the Catholic faith in Rome, then joined St Lucian of Beauvais on a trip into Gaul (modern France) where they set to evangelizing the pagan natives.\u00a0 Quintinus, with his deep spirituality and outgoing personality, was so successful in winning converts to Christ in the city of Amiens and its surrounding area that he was rounded up by the authorities.\u00a0 The prefect used bribery then threats to try and get him to compromise his faith and sacrifice to idols, all to no avail. \u00a0Finally he was subjected to hideous tortures, but remained placid and refused to abjure, so they cut off his head.\u00a0 The legend says that a dove emerged from the severed neck and flew up into heaven.\u00a0 Perhaps not true in fact, it is still quite true, since the holy martyr\u2019s spirit remained vigorous and lively even while they tormented and destroyed his body. So keep on spreading smiles as the best way to spread the faith.\u00a0 And as you pursue holiness, never forget that, as St Theresa of Avila put it, \u201ca sad saint is a bad saint.\u201d God bless. Uncle Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Quincy, Have you ever wondered why everybody likes to celebrate Halloween so much?\u00a0 I\u2019m not talking about the origins of the holiday \u2013 there are as many legends about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n