Praying for our Saints and our dearly departed

Today all the Catholic faithful will troop to all the cemeteries for the traditional observation of All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day tomorrow. Though it is only a one-day holiday, it is enough for us to take time to honor our dearly departed dead. First of all, I hope that with the ugly robbery done at the Visayan Electric Company (Veco) offices in Mandaue City the other day, should be a reminder to our readers that criminals are very around us and would strike whenever we are unawares.

For sure, we can expect a lot of snatchers in our cemeteries, even with the tight security around. But the most vulnerable place is actually your own homes, where if you do not have anyone taking care of the house, you have a higher risk of getting a burglar clean up your house. This is why it is very important to make proper precautionary measures. Remember, your own security begins with you. By the time you need to call the police that means, something wrong has already happened to you. So always be on the guard.

Meanwhile, I would like to make an appeal to all motorists to show some consideration for others. Great for you if you find a good parking space near your family plot. But this will not be the case for most of us, who will have to walk far away from where we park our cars to the burial site of our dead. Look at this as a good way to exercise and meet people. I just hope that we would not encounter boorish or rude drivers who park their vehicles anywhere they like. During our stint in Citom, we made sure that these ill-mannered drivers have their cars towed so they won't block our cemeteries.

Through the years, our observation of "Todos los Santos" has become more festive than solemn. I just hope that you did not forget the very reason why you are in the cemetery and that's to pray for our friends and relatives who have gone to the great beyond. What they need is really not your physical presence, but your prayers, especially for our brethren who are still languishing in purgatory. Some people do not even believe in purgatory!

Throughout the 2,000 years of Christianity, we have been taught about the Resurrection of the dead, exemplified by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. Before this Holy event, many people believed in life after death, but all of them had different ideas of what life was on the "other side". This is why the tombs of the Pharaohs in Egypt contained many luxurious items to be used in the departed King's afterlife. We commemorate All Saint's Day because as we recite in Our Creed, "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints" which therefore means, the Saints in heaven are in spiritual union in praying for the living; after all, the church is a community of Christians who are the mystical body of Christ. We here on earth pray for those already in heaven so they can in turn pray for us to comfort our souls or us. But those in purgatory need the most prayers from us.

I'm sure that you must have encountered the question, why we pray to dead Saints? The answer to that question is, "Who told you that the Saints are dead?" It is only the body that dies and gets corrupted, while our souls would continue to exist… but where? That depends largely on how you lived your life here on earth. After the final Judgment, body and soul are supposed to be reunited together, which is why the Catholic Church shunned cremation for a long time. But times and practices often change for some convenience.

When our Lord Jesus Christ resurrected on Easter Sunday, he gave us a better picture of life in eternity, that we shall bask in the glory of God. Of course with the condition that we obeyed the teachings of Jesus Christ or the Decalogue, better known as the Ten Commandments. These are the parameters we must achieve in order to gain a chance to be in heaven.

While we remember our dearly beloved brethren, fix their tombs, place flowers or wreaths before their names, we should ponder and ask ourselves if the soul of person inside the tomb is now in paradise. Whatever is the answer in your mind, you should also take the time to reflect about the state of your own soul. I'm sure that when the time comes, you already have a general idea of where your body would end up, either in a cemetery or in an urn. But what about your soul? Surely you must care about your soul?

By now, you must have learned that the body needs nourishment in order to stay healthy. I hope you also know that our soul too needs spiritual nourishment to stay in tune with God. All Saints Day and All Souls Day should be a time to reflect on our past and to ponder for our future and most importantly to accept the reality that we too will end up in the cemetery.

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