Settle back with a cup of hot apple cider and enjoy a minute reading a vintage tale with a moral...repent!!!
In order to earn money to spend at the local pub, he looked for an "easy shilling" from gambling, a pastime at which he excelled. In his whole life he never made a single enemy, never made a single friend and never performed a selfless act for anyone.
The devil snorted at such child’s play and instantly changed himself into a shilling. Jack grabbed the coin. He held it tight in his hand, which bore a cross-shaped scar. The power of the cross kept the devil imprisoned there, for everyone knows the devil is powerless when faced with the cross. Jack would not let the devil free until he granted him another year of life. Jack figured that would be plenty of time to repent. The devil left Jack at the pub.
The devil threw snake eyes—two ones—and was about to haul him off, but Jack used a pair of dice he himself had whittled. When they landed as two threes, forming the T-shape of a cross, once again the devil was powerless. Jack bargained for more time to repent.
The devil hadn’t showed up and Jack soon found out why not.
Before he knew it Jack was in front of the pearly gates. St. Peter shook his head sadly and could not admit him, because in his whole life Jack had never performed a single selfless act. Then Jack presented himself before the gates of hell, but the devil was still seething. Satan refused to have anything to do with him.
The devil tossed a burning coal into a hollow pumpkin and ordered him to wander forever with only the pumpkin to light his path. From that day to this he has been called "Jack o’ the Lantern." Sometimes he appears on Halloween!
Repent. Now is the day, the time is at hand. "And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man." --Genesis vi. 3
Some super articles on reclaiming Halloween found here : http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Halloween/jack-o-lantern.asp">ttp://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Halloween/jack-o-lantern.asp
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Halloween/
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