I'll Remember

It is only after loved ones have left us that we see what was best in them and understand their lives in a new way.

Their absence is the source of another mode of presence because it is in the time of absence that presence becomes real and, being condensed, reaches its true reality.

~Jean-Francois Baudoz, Breaks, Chapter 1, With Christ: the Gospel under the guidance of Saint Benedict. (Minnesota, USA: Liturgical Press, Saint John's Abbey), pp. 2-3.~

We have lost several lives in the mission areas where I was assigned ~ in school, at the hospital, in our neighborhood ~ most of them through terminal illnesses, some by accidents, still others because they have reached old age. And yet, in whatever age we might have lost them, since we cannot predict the time and hour when they will depart, we always assert that " life is (very) short." 

I was struck by the Sunday homily a week ago which spoke mainly of "remembering" ~ commemorating our lost loved ones. The priest said that it is not the beautiful flowers that we bring nor the number of candles that we burn that marks the 2nd of November ~ the essence of visiting tombs is "to remember how our loved ones have affected our lives (in whatever manner)." That person we lost is irreplaceable ~ unrepeatable. And that "uniqueness" is brought forth by the love that we have shared with him/her.

I am extending my reflection to those I have lost not only through death but through separation ~ remembering how my life has changed profoundly because of the people I have encountered along my journey. 

I remember how I held on to security and how changes brought fear. But the priest said we need to look at the whole picture... the story in its completeness. 

And we could only understand the meaning of our suffering ... of breaks, separations, loss, death and the different passages and seasons of our lives after undergoing them (that includes the choices that we make ~ our mistakes and weaknesses)...

I'll remember... and I am very grateful... there is LIFE after death.

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