Fr. David Convertino, OFM
Executive Director of Development
Halloween is the season of masks. Children put them on for fun, but sometimes, as adults, we wear masks all year long. We hide behind success, money, position, prestige, control, a smile that says “I’m fine” when we’re not. Or maybe we pretend to be who others want us to be.
But the truth is God doesn’t ask us to be anyone but ourselves. The famous Rabbi Zusya once said, “In the coming world, they will not ask me: ‘Why were you not Moses? Why were you not David? Why were you not Abraham?’ No. They will ask me: ‘Why were you not Zusya?’”
This wisdom invites us to put down our masks. To step out from behind pretense. To allow the light of Christ to shine through the person God uniquely created each of us to be.
Our Franciscan tradition reminds us that each life—yours and mine—is a sacred gift, meant not to be hidden but to be lived fully, joyfully, and honestly.
That’s the real challenge. Not to imitate someone else. Not to live behind a mask. But to be who we truly are—the person God created, loved, and called by name. If we can simply be the person we are without being afraid of not pleasing others, if we can find the courage to be ourselves, then we will be the good person God created us to be—not perfect—but true to ourselves.
In the beginning process of his conversion, St. Francis began to realize who he was and didn’t try to continue to be a prince, a knight, or even another saint. He became Francis. He was true to himself, and in doing so, he changed the world.
Friends, when Halloween is over and the masks are put away, remember: the world doesn’t need a copy of someone else. The world needs you. The real you.