Grieving

Today is the third day of mourning for the families who lost their loved ones in the Glorietta 2 bombing. Some of those of who died may be buried tomorrow. And I can't imagine the extreme pain of those who lost their loved ones as their dead slowly descend 6 feet below the ground. Such loss is just too abrupt and inexplicable. Of the many people who could possibly be there in that particular spot and time of the bombing, why their loved ones?

Losses even when they are justifiable can already pain us. How much more when they are incomprehensible? Why these innocent people? Why now? Why such a gruesome death? There seem to be no acceptable answers to these questions. It's so easy to say that all these pain and losses are bearable when seen under the light of faith. But I guess before one dives with an act of faith, he must jump from a steady spring board of reality. The reality of experiencing the pain from a sudden loss of a significant person.

Grieving is the process of washing away, literally with one's tears, the pain of loss. Only after then can one accept and embrace with faith the painful and harsh reality that the people we dearly love can be taken away from us anytime and sometimes with no apparent reasons.

I remember being told by my sister that the pastor who officiated the burial of my uncle last year told the people present not to shed tears as my uncle is being buried because it is "un-christian" to cry for someone who will go to heaven. According to him, people must be happy that their loved ones will be re-united with their Creator. It was so inhuman of him to tell people that. I was so infuriated hearing that story. Didn't he know that Christ himself wept when he learned that his friend Lazarus died?

Let us pray, not only for the souls of the innocent victims of the Glorietta bombing, but also for their kin who will have to grieve for the coming months or years. God have mercy on us.