Reunion with the Family during All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day
Celebrating life with other people in many ways was my earlier reflection as soon as I arrived here in Mindanao. Part of the celebrations is visiting my family. My nephew, Nico, always give us a reason to smile and be full of hope with my whole family. I even volunteered to take care of him for while since his parents were quite busy with our preparation for the All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days. We became closer to one another and we play more than what I always do with the children in my apostolate.
The most important thing I did was to clean my father’s grave in the cemetery. It was quite a long time since the last time I visited him. I had no enough time last summer so it’s time for me to stay longer with him this time. I miss him a lot. I started painting his simple pantheon and cleaning the surrounding for the feast. I was with my mother who in turn, cleaned also the place of my great-grandparent, lola “Puraw.” Beside my father’s grave is my grandfather who died of ulcer and uncle who died of cardiac arrest. All of them died of sickness. There is a big probability that I and my sister might also die with sickness. It was analyzed during our Genogram processing.
My father died at his young age, 45. Both kidney failed to function which became cause of his death. It was a very sad moment for me during my canonical noviceship. I was not around during his last breath. I can still remember that it was during our “desert day” when he died, Friday at three in the afternoon; meaningful for me. My great-grandmother died when I was eight-years old. It was my very first experences of awareness about death. My sister and I used to call her lola Puraw because of her gray hairs (Puraw means white; an Ilocano term).
Indeed,my visitation was quite worthy to be with my family again especially in celebrating life with my father, his memories and legacy left to us.
On this day..
