Should We Be Uneasy About Skeletons and What They Represent?

One thing Mr Kosloski doesn't mention is that there is an entire chapel constructed of bones in Sedlec, Czechia, a suburb of Kutná Hora.

From Aleteia

By Philip Kosloski

During the Halloween season, skeletons seem to be everywhere. For some, this is disconcerting.

Some of the tamer Halloween decorations that many have purchased in the last few years have been skeletons, some small and some as big as your house. Most of the skeletons are simple, featuring a normal skeleton body, while others are more frightening, and are designed to scare the small trick-or-treaters who stop by on Halloween night.

It's an interesting trend, as it implies that skeletons are meant to be scary, and that their presence should remind us of the creepy Halloween season. Yet, for Christians, should skeletons really scare us? What's so frightening about them?

Skeletons and death

The main reason why skeletons are associated with Halloween is because of their association with death. A human skeleton is something unnatural, as it means that someone has died and that the rest of their body has decayed.

For some people, this alone is a frightening fact, as it subconsciously reminds us of our own future death. When we see a skeleton, it points to the reality that life is short and that we will end up like that skeleton.

This can be a scary reality, as many of us don't like the fact that we will die. We don't know with scientific certainty what happens after death, or where we will end up.

This is one of the reasons why so many AI developers are hoping that they will be able to upload their consciousness into a robot in a few years. They don't want their life to end and hope to achieve some sort of "immortality" on earth.

Christians, while we may have some of the same fears of death, should also look at it with hope.

At the end of St. Thérèse of Lisieux's autobiography, Story of a Soul, there are some reminiscences given by a few of the sisters. Here is a conversation she had with a few of them about death.

“We do not yet know of what disease you will die. . . .” “But,” she answered, “I shall die of death! Did not God tell Adam of what he would die when He said to him: ‘Thou shalt die of death?'”

“Then death will come to fetch you?”—"No, not death, but the Good God. Death is not, as pictures tell us,a phantom, a horrid spectre. The Catechism says that it is the separation of soul and body—no more! Well, I do not fear a separation which will unite me for ever to God.“

She firmly believed that death would unite and not separate her. It would lead to an eternal union with God.

In many ways we should look forward to death, seeing in it the gateway to life, a life that will never end.

Some saints and individuals have even placed skulls on their desks, reminding them of their death, which in turn shapes their everyday actions.

While skeletons may be used as a modern decoration for Halloween to scare individuals, for Christians, the skeleton we see on our neighbor's lawn should remind us of our future.

As St. Thérèse said, it is not death, but "the Good God" who will seek us out at the end of our lives, bringing us into his loving arms for all eternity.