Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
These two prayers have been said every day at mass since we arrived in Wexford as part of the petitions. I remember thinking one of the first times that I heard those prayers in mass of how great it was for the parish to always think about and pray for the deceased members of the parish community. Each of those times the name of the person(s) of the parish community that died on that day were named even if it had been more than a couple of years.
The parish has had several funerals over the past weeks and each time there is a funeral for a parish member the church fills with the friends and family of the deceased and one can hear them speaking fondly of the person and telling us stories about them. It is because of moments like these that my mind starts to think about the Hispanic tradition of Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
Día de Los Muertos has become something important to me in the past couple of years because of my learning to have a greater appreciation for the customs and traditions of my culture. The celebrations of the Day of the Dead, while secular in origin, have been a way for me to remember those that I care about that have passed away from this world. In a way, by putting up pictures of loved ones that have passed away and remembering things about them makes it feel like they are still with me even if they are not.
Because of how Day of the Dead has become important to me in the past few years I’ve always tried to celebrate the day by taking part in the celebrations going on around where I was, so when I was at Holy Cross that involved going to mass and attending the cultural events that were put on by Notre Dame. I thought that since I was in Ireland this year I was not going to be able to find something like that at all, but life has a funny way of making things work and I found that in Dublin there were different events going on during the weekend of the Day of the Dead. So, I jumped at the chance to see and experience something so familiar to me in a setting that was foreign to me. It was great to take part in the events put on by the Latino community in Dublin and to even learn a bit more about how other countries in Latin America celebrate the Day of the Dead.
One of the altars that was at the Día de Los Muertos celebration in Dublin
In a way, the parish here in Wexford does something similar in the Remembrance service. The remembrance service gives the families of the people who passed away during the previous year to commemorate their loved ones and to pray for them. Those that attend are able to honor, pray for and remember their loved ones with the whole church community.
The Tree of Remembrance at the parish with the names of those that passed away in the previous year.
As Christians, we believe that death is not the end for us, that Christ redeemed us and conquered death, and because Christ did so we can say with confidence “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55)
