Doubt is the beginning, not the end.
– George Iles
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Man’s most valuable trait is a judicial sense of what not to believe.
– Euripides
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The skeptic does not mean him who doubts, but him who investigates or researches, as opposed to him who asserts and thinks he has found.
– Miguel de Unamumo
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When you see the depth of energy that people can put into such evil, then of course, yes, there is a flicker of doubt. It would be inhuman, I think, not to react that way.”
-Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury
Commenting on his faith in God
after the 2004 tragedy at Beslan’s School
Today is the start of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights which is celebrated for 8 days and nights to commemorate the Holy Temple, the second one during the Maccabean revolt of the 2nd century BC.
This song is based on the KJV Bible (1611), which is 400 years old this year!
(Ecclesiastes 3:1)
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sow; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
This is beautiful message based from the KJV Bible. It means that one just have to be patient as everything has its alloted time.
I remember reciting a more biblical version of this verse when we had our novena prayers every Wednesday night when I was still a child living in the Philippines. Ā We used to play up a little bit and my mother would pinch us into attention. Hehehe, love those memories.
Todos Los Santos is celebrated in the Philippines in a big way. This is the day when most people would go to the cemetery to sit by the graves of love ones who had passed.
It is not a day of mourning but a happy family get together. Candles are lit, flowers are arranged beautifully by the headstones and around the cleaned and newly painted graves. Prayers are said, stories are told, there are even singing. This get together usually culminate by dining on delicious food and snacks right there by the grave. š
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Some people live with the dead. Families with young children have made the cemetery their abode on a permanent basis. These people are mostly the dispossessed; no home to go to. Instead they trespass into the beautiful ornately crafted mausoleum, some are not securely locked. Sometimes they would build a shanty out of cardboard boxes, bit of pieces of woods, rugs and leaves between the graves.
These people usually earn a little money from cleaning, clearing and maintaining the graves for the busy people or those who live out of town.
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The last time I visited the North Cemetery was when I went home to the Philippines in 2006. My father’s grave was different from how I remembered it. It was taller as my beloved grandfather was interred right on top of my father’s grave.
It also made me remember an incident at the North cemetery in 1985. It was another Todos los Santos. It started raining, really pouring. Everyone, at that moment, decided to go home, so out we trekked into the fast flooding cemetery. It was a slow progress as there were a lot of people and the flood was fast turning into a knee-deep red sticky, slippery muddy water. After 10 minutes the queue of people walking out stalled altogether. Suddenly like a wildfire, whispers had come to pass that the huge gates of the North Cemetery had been shut closed so no one can get out – not before each one had signed a petition for Cory Aquino to run for presidency. she let it be known that she would only run for the top office if she gets a million signature.
That was one dark moment in my personal history. It was an abomination of the All Saints’ day. Ā I have never been so frightened as the throng of people had suddenly turned into a stampede. My quick thinking younger brother dragged Marilou and I next to a wall to get out from all the confusion. To this day I thank God that my mother and youngest brother had decided to go home a couple of hours earlier.
We did not have to sign the petition because the huge gates were opened at the eleventh hour, probably because any longer the gates were closed the angrier the people would have become and there would have been a bloodbath for sure.
All Saints’ Day (also known as All Hallows’ Day or Hallowmas) is the day after All Hallows’ Eve (Hallowe’en). It is a feast day celebrated on 1st November by Anglicans and Roman Catholics.
It is an opportunity for believers to remember all saints and martyrs, known and unknown, throughout Christian history. As part of this day of obligation, believers are required to attend church and try not to do any servile work.
Remembering saints and martyrs and dedicating a specific day to them each year has been a Christian tradition since the 4th century AD, but it wasn’t until 609AD that Pope Boniface IV decided to remember all martyrs. Originally 13th May was designated as the Feast of All Holy Martyrs. Later, in 837AD, Pope Gregory IV extended the festival to remember all the saints, changed its name to Feast of All Saints and changed the date to 1st November.
“We celebrate today the solemnity of All Saints. This invites us to turn our gaze to the immense multitude of those who have already reached the blessed land, and points us on the path that will lead us to that destination.”
