Always.remembering Is Loving

Column: Always (DCHerald November 2-8, 2008 issue) Singing and Dancing with the Dead by Erwin Joey E. Cabilan

Remembering is not just recalling significant persons, places, things and events. It allows us to connect to the past, to relish most treasured moments and to absorb those life-giving experiences that highlight our journey. With the gift of memory, we bring into present what we value most in our past. Why? With all humility, I don’t have an exact reason to give. But I would like to share one reason: a person who loves never forgets. In our Church’s liturgy, we celebrate what we love to remember. Usually, we remember those that we see, touch, feel. We hold in our memory those experiences that are life-giving. What about those who are already dead and those who are confronting death? Are the dead worth remembering? How can we, as Easter people, sing and dance with the reality of death? Love is what we celebrate I cannot think of a catechetical strategy in order that the faithful can better understand and appreciate death. Usually, we don’t want to talk about it. We have the difficulty to humbly accept it because it is a painful reality. This is a human struggle. But when the Church incorporates the All Souls’ Day, we, as a people of faith, admit what we can hardly imagine. We try to articulate what we can hardly conceive. In silence and in deep trust to the Lord, we look upon Him in whom our souls can be at rest. What is the essence of the annual celebration of the All Souls’ Day? Merry-making is not the real essence of celebration. It is love that we celebrate! It is love that makes us remember the dead. God’s love is not just for the living but also for those who have died. Gratitude as an attitude for a lifetime Personally, I consider the month of November as a moment in which God, through the Church, is catechizing me about the reality of death. Together with my family and relatives, we go to cemeteries and pray for our beloved dead. One time, my grandmother made a list of those members of family who have died. I asked my parents and relatives about their background. This has led me to discover my own Family Tree. This means that my existence was made possible by means of mediation. Yes, God has given me life and He gave it to me through others. Tracing our origins enables us to learn two things: 1) to see our existence as a mystery and just a complexity and 2) to be grateful for the wonders that God has done to each of us through others. Gratitude is a language of a heart that is full. Thank God for through the All Souls’ Day we can thank our beloved dead. Mercy and generosity as balms of healing Every year, the parishes distribute envelopes in which we can write the names of our beloved dead and with an amount of money, we offer a Mass for the eternal repose of their souls. There are two key virtues that we try to develop namely 1) mercy and 2) generosity. Our beloved dead in purgatory are in need of our prayers. The highest form of prayer and worship, the Holy Eucharist, is the best gift that we can give to them on this sacred day. By acting as their intercessors, we hold them in our hearts and entrust them to God. For all their failures, it is our responsibility, as relatives and friends, to pray for their forgiveness. Aside from prayers and offering a Eucharist, works of mercy, charity and justice can also be means in which God will grant them eternal rest. It is not too late to help our beloved in purgatory. Mercy and generosity serve as a balm that heals their brokenness and that fills their emptiness. On November 2, we are asked to celebrate the All Souls’ Day not just as a mere ritual. By singing and dancing with our beloved dead, we cry out to the living God, “Lord, this is the people that longs to see Your face!” Remembering is not just an art of recalling; it is the power to love beyond borders.