A few weeks ago, I received a call from our senior pastor in Pampanga asking me to preach in their congregation on November 10 because the one scheduled to give the sermon, Pastor Carlos Castro got sick again and was in the hospital. It was serious this time, he was brought to the ICU.

Last Saturday morning, I was with our church members in San Pedro. We had a Discipleship Class and we continued with our discussion on how to study the Bible — how to really read the Bible well. We also discussed the importance of having a Christ-centered lens in interpreting and understanding Scripture.

The following day, early morning of Sunday, my family and I were preparing to go to Pampanga and drive for some 2 hours or so in order to attend worship services there when I received a message from one of our church leaders that Pastor Carlos Castro had already passed away at about 5:30 a.m. As the media guy in our church, I immediately announced the sad news to all our church members through our Facebook group.

I preached the message about “The Truth and the Way of Our Being in Christ” that morning to our Pampanga church members and the atmosphere was a bit joyous because I was there (their former pastor) but sad at the same time because Pastor Carlos Castro, also their former pastor and an elder, passed away already. He had been a long time member of the church since the 70s. He was loved by many. He was fondly called, “Tatang Carling,” “Kong Carling” and I fondly called him, “Kuya Caloy.” I was their pastor for some 4 years beginning sometime in 2008 and we lived in Pampanga for some 7 years so I really got close as well to Kuya Caloy and the church members in this area. We alI felt the loss of someone we highly respected and loved.

Later in the afternoon, our current Pampanga senior pastor and other church members (along with our church members from our Urdaneta congregation) were able to visit the wake of the late Kuya Caloy at their residence. There we met the grieving wife, Ate Linda and Charles, one of their sons. It was a really sad occasion when we visited after the passing of just some 10 hours or so ago when Kuya Caloy died.

I first got to know Kuya Caloy in 1986 when I was assigned in Pampanga as a ministerial trainee for some six months. He was back then a deacon along with the late Tatang Pio (Pastor Pio Umlas), another much loved elder and also their former pastor. Kuya Caloy was a dedicated Christian, passionate for the Lord. A loving person. He was loved by many. In the province of Pampanga, he was given the honor of being a “Poet Laureate,” an honor given only to a few poets in Pampanga. He really loved poetry and he expressed himself a lot in poems: in English, Tagalog and of course in Kampampangan. I have one of his poems in Tagalog that I really liked and you can read it right here in my blog site at this link.

During the worship service last Sunday, I reminded our church members about our hope in the Lord. Though we may grieve when a loved one dies, we can at the same time rejoice because all is not lost. We will see our loved ones once again. The apostle Paul comforts and encourages us with these words:

“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.” ( 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

Traditionally, Filipinos visit their dead loved ones every year on All Saints Day, November 1. It’s an official public holiday in the country. Families would usually gather at the cemetery or memorial park to clean and beautify the graves or gravestones of their dead loved ones. The whole family would spend the whole day bringing food and drinks and have fun while there beside the grave of their dead loved ones. Some kind of family reunion happens there during the holidays. Aside from flowers and candles, other people would also leave food for their dead loved ones. I would suppose this particular practice about food for the dead comes from the Chinese tradition, if I’m not mistaken.

Of course, we’ve heard of outrageous practices done as well on this day like bringing huge loud speakers and people singing the whole day loudly with their karaokes, partying and drinking without regard for others. That’s the bad side of this Filipino cultural practice. But I guess cemeteries and memorial parks have stricter rules nowadays knowing this problem.

I think that this is a good Filipino cultural tradition to remember our dead loved ones once a year and clean the graves, repaint the tomb or restore the gravestones. It’s a good tradition for families to have a reunion and remember their dead loved ones. I have just learned that “All Saints Day” is actually a Christian tradition of remembering the dead Christians (known and unknown, famous and not famous saints) who died in the Lord as they served the Lord all their lives.

Project: Gravestone cleaning and restoration

My father-in-law died exactly on November 1 but we decided not to go there and join the crowd on “All Saints Day” at the memorial park. We decided to go there today instead. My mother-in-law’s grave is just beside her husband’s grave. My wife have one thing in mind. She wants to clean the gravestones of her parents and restore it to its original good condition. We visited today and found out that we needed to buy a few things to do just that. So we bought some elastomeric paint, steel brush, sand paper and masking tape. We hope to be back tomorrow and in the coming days to complete this project.

We realized it may take several visits before we can complete this gravestone restoration. That is what my wife would want to accomplish at this time.

Hope for the Dead in Christ

Visiting our dead loved ones remind us as well that there is hope for the dead as well as for us who are still living. All is not lost. We will see them all again! Christ has risen! He has conquered death! When the Lord Jesus comes back, the dead in Christ shall rise first. And then those who are in the Lord who are alive will also rise up to be with the Lord forever. That is our hope. That is our future — for both the living and the dead.

Visiting our dead loved ones once a year remind us of the Lord’s promise. All is not lost. There is hope for the dead. We have a glorious future in Christ!

A few months back, my 87-year-old mom asked me on the phone when I would come to visit her. I felt the tone of her voice that she longed to be visited and so I said I will plan to do just that. I guess it’s hard to refuse a mother who longs to see her children after a long while. After living in the US for some 30 years or so, she has decided to go back home and live in the province a couple of years ago.

I was finally able to visit my mom and I spent several days with her. She was happy to see me in person and the first thing she asked was how long I would be staying there with her. When I said that it’s only for a few days she replied that it should have been two weeks hahaha! Oh well…

In one of our conversations, she complained that she was not happy with her beautician because of the wrong color for her hair. She always used black. Interesting conversation haha! My mom is a great lady. She raised 9 children — yes, I’m the eldest of 9 kids! — and she’s still healthy at her age.

One night, while we were chatting, I took some photos of her without her realizing it. I even took videos but she was unaware of it haha! Here are some of my snapshots.

If you have parents — I’m sure you do! — love them. In their old age, take care of them well.

Yesterday, October 22, 2019 was our 40th wedding anniversary. Would you believe it? My wife and I have been happily married for forty years now! Isn’t that amazing? I thank the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit for allowing us to enjoy life and love for all these past 40 years.

Once in a while for all those 40 years of married life, my wife and I would go out for dinner along with our kids to celebrate our wedding anniversaries and that’s it. But this time last night, it was somewhat different. We invited some friends and family to join us in the celebration. Just a simple dinner with friends and family at Barcino, a Spanish restaurant.

Joy, happiness, love, these are things we want to have. Just like in Walt Disney’s fairy tales where the story ends with “…and they lived happily ever after!” we also want that dream to come true in our lives. But the reality is, there are many broken, unhappy marriages all around us. Such is our fallen human condition.

Where does love come from anyway? Well, it comes from God who is love. Our Triune God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit is a community of love. God’s purpose in creating man is so that we can participate and share in that life and love that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have been enjoying for all eternity.

In marriage as well as in the family, we experience and feel that love. Why do fathers enjoy their little boys? Why do mothers enjoy their babies? Why do they love their kids? Did it just happen out of nowhere? Of course not. It comes from God who is love. He gives us his love through Jesus Christ in the Spirit so that we may enjoy life and love together in a loving community of persons at this present time and for all eternity as well. Isn’t that great?

I thank my God for this wonderful blessing. Thank you Lord for allowing us to enjoy life and love now on this side of life and onwards to eternity in the afterlife.