Last
week I went to Donaldsonville, Louisiana to visit Fr. Ayo, MSP. In Donaldsonville, there
are many things that provoked thoughts in me. The Street behind the Church has
a big cemetery. Not quiet five minutes walk from the cemetery is a catholic
school. About three minutes walk from the school there is another Catholic
Church. You see, Fr. Ayo ministers to people of African descent at St. Catherine
of Sienna Church while Rev. Paul Yi, pastor of Ascension Catholic Church and
St. Francis parish, ministers to Caucasian Catholics. Both Churches can now
minister to people of any race, but in the past it was not so.
This
reflection is focused on the cemetery that is within a walking distance between
the two churches. As we walked pass it I observed absolute quiet and silence, a
kind of serenity and peace. I wonder who the residences of this facility were.
Were they peace loving or militant? Happy or sad? Racists or accommodating? White,
black, Asian or the ‘other’? Rich or poor? Does anybody care now the type of
car they had or not? Were they Christians or not? Catholics or Protestants? May
be they had no religious affiliation. Did they posse firearms? Were they
Democrats, Republicans or Independents? May be they had no party affiliation. Were
they Straight, Gay, Transgender or bisexual? And finally, what is the state of
their souls? Are they in heaven or hell? These and many more questions went
through my mind as we took our daily walk around the neighborhood and had the
privilege of passing the cemetery.
We
all should take a long loving walk around the cemetery every now then. This
will give us an opportunity to reflect on life and the lessons we could glean
thereof. You see, death is a great leveler, it doesn’t matter who you are or your
status in life, when you die you are not different from an animal, your
archenemy or your best friend. You will come to the same end and your
destination is the same six feet down mother earth. Here is how the Psalmist
sees it, “Why should I fear in evil days, the malice of the foes who surround
me, men who trust in their wealth, and boast of the vastness of their riches?
For no man can buy his own ransom, or pay a price to God for his life. The
ransom of his soul is beyond him. He cannot buy life without end, nor avoid
coming to the grave. He knows that wise men and fools must both perish and
leave their wealth to others. Their graves are their homes for ever, their
dwelling place from age to age, though their names spread wide through the
land. This is the lot of those who trust in themselves, who have others at
their beck and call. Like sheep they are driven to the grave, where death shall
be their shepherd and the just shall become their ruler”, Ps. 49. If we know
this then we should take St. Paul’s words to heart and behave accordingly.
Listen to him, “There must be no competition among you, no conceit; but
everybody is to be self-effacing. Always consider the other person to be better
than yourself, so that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody
thinks of other people’s interest instead. In your minds you must be the same
as Christ Jesus” Philippians 2:1-11. Let us learn our lesson from the cemetery
for the people there have so much to teach us just by their silence. This
indeed is the wisdom of the dead! Where we are today, they were and where they
are now we shall be!
I have done what you did on the few times I have visited my mother's grave site. I too have walked among the tombstones and wondered who the residents were. I guess I did not think so much as to whether they were rich, poor, Catholic, Protestant as to their status in this life. I wondered what their status was in the next life. Death, as you say, is the great equalizer. The millionaire of this day can find himself/herself in eternity of peace or damnation by tomorrow's passing. When a person dies, I don't think too much of their bodily death, I am always more concerned with the state of their soul when they died. A walk in a cemetery can make us seriously consider our own mortality. It can be a time of quiet and reflection for our souls as we reflect on those who have gone before us. It is time to consider the state of our own soul and ask God how we can separate the wheat from the chaff in our life before we find our own name among the tombstones.
ReplyDeleteAs a youngster we used to walk to the cemetery after Mass on a Sunday afternoon. My parents would tend family graves while my brother and I went off looking for wildflowers or berries. Later on I found that cemeteries were interesting in that there are famous people buried there among those who may be poor or not known to everyone. As a humorous note, our plots are in Loudon Park in the Azalea section. We are at the top of a row and Melvin and his wife are at the end of the same row. As I grow older, I think of death I used to be afraid but not now as I know we all have to go that route some day We will be among those rich, poor, etc. but we all have one goal and that is to be with God in Heaven.
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