"Walk with the dead"

Last night, we had another great night with our youth group, thanks be to God. The teens made their "walk with the dead" in preparation for Halloween. For this "walk", we constructed a make-shift cemetery behind the religious ed building. The groups of teens walked through the path marked with headstones and were met by 'visitors' amid darkness, fog, and sounds of Heaven and Hell. Here are some of the things that the visitors (roles played by teens) said:

1) a priest: "...this is the night that the dead come out among the living. That’s right, the souls of the dead mingle with us who are alive on this night. This is the night when evil spirits come out, too. But, don’t worry, there are just as many good spirits in the world, if not more, to overcome the bad ones... Tonight, you will encounter five visitors as you walk with the dead. You will see people who have died. You will see an angel. You will see a demon. In fact, you will see the head demon. If I were you, I would have a holy fear of him. As Christians, we are to fear evil, but believe that Christ has power over it. He has power over all things. Having a great fear for the things of Hell leads us to have a great love for the things of Heaven.

2) one of the Fatima chidren:
"(The Lady) opened Her hands once more, ... and we saw, as it were, a vast sea of fire. Plunged in this fire, we saw the demons and the souls [of the damned]. The latter were like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, having human forms... The demons were distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. That vision only lasted for a moment, thanks to our good Heavenly Mother, Who at the first apparition had promised to take us to Heaven. Without that, I think that we would have died of terror and fear."

3) an angel: “Don’t be afraid. I am God’s messenger, one of his angels. I’ve been sent to you tonight from heaven to be with you, just like your guardian angel is. Do you know that you each have a guardian angel who protects you? Your angel is with you every minute of every day. He protects you from evil spirits who want to bring harm to your soul. He is not just your bodyguard; he is your soulguard.” To a specific teen: “Your guardian angel just told me how much he loves you”. To another teen: “Have you ever seen your guardian angel? He is watching over right now, and praying for you, just like the saints do.”

4)St. Theresa of Avila: "Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end"