Anniversary celebrations of whatever milestone we have in life should not just be some de rigueur events that we simply go through because they happen to be the days of the anniversary.
Thanks to God, I'm sure that that is not mainly the reason why we celebrate anniversaries. That we ready ourselves for them, sometimes going through elaborate preparations, can only mean we attach special meaning to these anniversaries. They occupy a special place in our heart and in our memory.
It's just that often, we also get lost in the preparations, and get too concerned about how things would turn out, that we miss the real reason for celebrating these landmarks as well as the implications and consequences of such celebrations.
Anniversaries are very special occasions. At the very least, they are days of deep thanksgiving for the many graces and blessings we received from our Father God through the years. It's important that while we unavoidably meet difficulties, failures, setbacks, etc., in life, we should not forget that God continues to take care of us.
It's important that we be quick to acknowledge these graces and blessings, and give due thanks for them, especially through prayers, sacrifice and, of course, the celebration of the Holy Mass which is the best way to give thanks, since our gratitude would be coursed through Christ's supreme act of offering of his life to his Father for our sake.
Anniversaries should remind us of many fundamental things in life. They remind us of the beginning and the reason of such anniversaries which could be the gift of life, the commitment of marriage, the charism granted to a person or to an institution, etc.
Anniversaries remind us of the past and of how it is connected to the present and even to the future. In fact, if we have a more theological understanding of time which we should try to cultivate and have, we would realize that there is an organic unity and direction of time past, present and future, all of which coming from God from all eternity and directed to God also in eternity.
Time is therefore connected to eternity, and the fullness of time, which is an expression used in the Bible, refers to when time is vitally reconnected with eternity through the redemptive work of Christ. In short, anniversaries should remind us that we are in a journey through time toward eternity, toward God from whom we come and to whom we belong.
Even the commemoration of some sad events, like the killers Yolanda and the big earthquakes, can still give us reason for thanksgiving and joy, because we know that God is in control of everything and knows how to derive good from evil.
As the Book of Ecclesiastes puts it, "all things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die…a time to destroy and a time to build…a time to weep and a time to laugh…" There's always meaning in everything, and a reason to hope and to be happy in the end.
Anniversaries should bring these truths to the fore, and should elicit in us the proper response. Aside from thanksgiving, we should be filled with desires for renewal, for another conversion, for sustained continuity and fidelity.