Feast of the Saints

Mama and Mama Sol at the family crypt in Cempark

Mass for loved ones who passed on...


Group shot


Family shot

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The mass was set at 430PM. There was no rush in the morning as we all just thought it best to leave the house by 230PM. On the way, we bought 2 baskets of flowers for P200 and P300. Parking wasn't allowed inside Cempark near the entrance. However, parking was okay in areas near the exit. It helped decongest the already crowded cemetery.

Monsignor Kintanar officiated the mass in native Cebuano dialect. Some of us understood the conversational Cebuano dialect but not too much the really deep and formal Bible verses. Anyway, our replies were mostly said (softly) in English. The important thing is we participated in the mass and prayed for our loved ones.

By 530PM, dinner was served. With Mama Sol at the helm of this annual family activity, we were not surprised to see lechon, kinilaw, fried lumpia, siomai, chicken, budbud (suman), giant crabs (flown in from Siargao Island), prawns, etc. It was an early dinner that actually lasted us till breakfast the following day.

To us, November 1 is not just for remembering our dearly departed. It is also a time for us to re-connect and reunite with our living loved ones.

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Below is a beautiful prayer shared by Cathy

AN IRISH FUNERAL PRAYER
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Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Everything remains as it was.
The old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no sorrow in your tone.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effort
Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was.
There is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner.
All is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.
One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting, when we meet again.

Source: derived from a sermon written by Henry Scott Holland and delivered in St. Paul's (London) on 15 May 1910, at which time the body of King Edward VII was lying in state at Westminster. Although not originally derived from Irish writings, versions of this sermon have been used at many Irish and Catholic funerals over the years.