Last Sunday as I saw many families in costumes, carving pumpkins, and eating candy -- all celebrating the Halloween traditions -- I could not help but smile and giggle (in a very masculine way) . "Do they realize they are behaving like good Catholics?" I chuckled to myself. When you peal back the layers of the traditions that we now associate with this holiday, the deeper meaning of Halloween comes alive. It goes back centuries, to the earliest days of the Church, all rooted in the universe-altering power of the cross. We no longer have to fear death; it does not have the final word.