Death where is your sting?

Death na naman ang topic ko. Kasi last week ko pa iniisip May pa lang ngayon wala pa tayo sa kalagitnaan ng taon, ilang tao na, na kakilala ko na ang namamatay, isama natin ang mga kilalang tao, hindi pa kasama diyan ang mga kakilala ng mga kakilala ko. Ito ang mga kakilala ko na namatay na pagpasok ng taon.(not in order)

1. Daisy David - ahead ako ng one year sa highschool at best friend ng crush ko sa high-school.
2. Angel Andan- kilalang businessman sa Pulilan
3. Tita Perlie- asawa ng pinsan ng Ama ko na taga-Bongabon. Dinalaw pa namin siya
4. Tata Piling- pinsan ng lolo ko. Medyo takot ako sa kanya nuong bata ako kasi medyo duling siya.
5. Pope John Paul II- lahat nakakakilala sa kanya. Nakita ko siya sa Luneta nuong World Day '95
6. Daddy ni Sem. Larry Rustia at kapatid ni Fr. Toti Rustia. Magkausap kami last year December 8, sa open house ng Immaculate Conception Seminary
7. Fr. Paul Jackson, OP.- Dominican na pari na nakilala ko sa nursing home nuong 2002. Pinakita niya sa akin ang Doctoral Thesis niya in Latin na isinulat na sa Roma nuong bata pa siya. Di pa uso ang computer nuon. Inaabot daw siya ng 4am. Minsan tinawanag niya ako habang nakaupo siya sa wheelchair sabi nya (in English), "tignan mo yun madre na iyon, wala siya Doctorate in Theology pero alam niya ipadama ang pag-mamahal ng Diyos sa kanyang kapwa."
8. Ciara Marie Abalos- Anak ni Benhur Abalos, apo ni Comelec Comm. Benjamin Abalos; namatay siya dahil sa e-coli virus. Nabasa ko ang blog niya. Tulad ko nagsusulat din siya blog.
9. Reymundo Punongbayan- dating Director ng PHILVOCS
10. Mrs Tadeo- grade 3 teacher sa Pulilan Central School

Merong pang iba pero di lang maalala sa ngayon.

Nasasaan na kaya sila? Ano ang saysay ng buhay? Para saan ang relasyon natin ngayon? Ano ang mangyayari sa kahuli-hulihang panahon o sa katapusan ng mundo (eschaton)? Eto ang hinanap kong kasagutan sa aking sa seminar paper last week sa Theology of Human Person.

In Christian tradition, eschatology is understood as a belief in the last things when everything in the world will finally reach its fulfillment according to the divine plan of God, who is both the Origin and the End. To develop a deeper understanding of eschatology we cannot ignore the reality of our ‘individual eschatology’ that is the death of every human being, our loved ones, friends and including our own deaths. The inevitability of our own death leaves us with two important questions: How are we going to make sense of the mystery of death? How can we approach the reality of the darkness, the destruction and annihilation that accompanies the experience of death at the end of life?

In his article, “In the End Love,” Gerald O’Collins introduces his experimental essay on the application of love in seeking to understand better the mystery of eschatology (amor qaerens intellectum eschatologicum). O’Collins expresses his discontent about the post-conciliar and modern understanding of the theology of eschatology because the theme of love has apparently been neglected and not given its due importance. Although he admits that his version of rethinking eschatology in the key of love is obviously incomplete, he argues that the theme of love has advantages and could well be adapted and applied to eschatology – the human mystery of death, the life after death and the end of all things.

O’Collins presents eight characteristics of love drawn largely from human and Christian experience. Each aspect of love equally corresponds with a clearer Christian view of eschatology. These characteristics are as follow – the creativity of love; the love as beyond reason; the acceptance and approval of love; the redeeming love; the self-manifestation and self-revelation of love; the reconciliation and unity in love; the joy of love; and the link between the beauty and love. Since the essence of God is love, it is appropriate to anticipate the coming of the eschaton more particularly from the perspective of love. O’Collins describes it best saying, “the final coming of Christ will be nothing more and nothing less than the definitive coming of divine love.”

O’Collins’ theory of “love seeking eschatological understanding” perhaps could be seen by an analyses of a short article “Always Easter” written by Jim Green. Jim is a father who lost his 25 year-old son Dominic from an accident which he describes as a “sudden and violent death.” Jim expresses in his essay the trauma of his son’s death and the depth of the wound that it had left him. He recalls the memories of Dominic when he was still alive, as a young boy, and those important family occasions they shared together. This recollection has brought Jim to raise existential questions regarding the death his beloved son, and ultimately the meaning of the Resurrection. He asks, “Where is Dominic? What is he doing? Whom is he with and is he happy? Most of all, is he all right?” These words obviously are expressions of love and care of a parent to his child. Would the love between a parent and child vanish forever after death? Would the love that we share to other people never make sense at all when we die? What about the love that binds us with our parents, brothers and sisters? What about the love and affection between a man and a woman? Does our human love including its joys and sacrifices will perish at the second coming of our Lord?

The response of O’Collins according to what he has set out in his essay would be that our human love and the divine love will be the key to grasp the consummation of human life and the world. On the last day the mystery of love will be brought into completion, the love that we share with God and with one another will show its real joy and this is all because the redeeming love of God will finally reach its ‘climax’ and fulfillment. The love of God which has brought everything into life is far greater than the anguish of death and the bitter separation it causes us. Through our hope in love the difficulty and uncertainty in facing the reality of death diminishes, most especially when we take seriously and apply in our life the message of Christ’s glorious Resurrection.

Most of us today prefer not to think of death too seriously because death is always associated with pain, distortion of our dreams and goals in life, separation, and many other trials that we hope will not happen either to us or to our loved ones. But no matter how hard we try to avoid the thought of death we are aware that sooner or later each of us will encounter death. Because death is the final universal phenomenon: no matter how wealthy, influential, powerful, beautiful, healthy and holy we are, we all must die. Jesus himself did not escape the reality of death. However, his own experience of death reveals the love of God to humanity, even if we are all tainted with sin and evil desires. Christ’s Resurrection from the dead is God’s self-manifestation and revelation of his love to humanity. Thus a foretaste of our human destiny at the coming of the Last Day is available for us. It is because God loves us.