We light candles

Growing up, my mother told me to go to Mass on November 2 for all the souls who are not yet in heaven.  But I wasn’t paying attention.  I was too caught up with Halloween, the fun of dressing up and scaring people with masks and ghost stories and the long holiday, especially when November 1 and 2 fell close to the weekend.

I didn’t know the word “Undas” until a few years ago when it became common usage.  And I didn’t realize the true meaning of the holidays until last week when I read Caloocan Bishop Pablo “Ambo” David’s homily delivered in Filipino at a Mass for the victims of extrajudicial killings. I thank the good Bishop for inspiring this column.

Undas comes from the Spanish word “honras” which means honor and respect for the dead. During Undas, said Bishop Ambo, we light candles in recognition of their innate worth and dignity as persons created by God in His image. 

Bishop Ambo explained that Undas is made up of two holidays. The first, All Saints’ Day, honors all those who have died in peace and are now united with God in heaven; while the second, All Souls’ Day, honors those souls that are not yet resting in peace. 

He explained:  Saints are not only those who have been declared such by the Church. Many have not been recognized or honored, but they tried to live exemplary lives, in spite of their human weaknesses. They are those whose lives were taken back by God, who merely lent us our lives. He observed that most people light their candles on November 1, in the belief (or hope) that their loved ones who have gone ahead are now saints in heaven.

But on November 2, the day of all souls, said Bishop Ambo, “We light candles because we want to make sure no one is left behind or forgotten. We believe that not all who have died are resting in peace, so we pray for them and light candles on their behalf.”

These are the souls of those who didn’t lose their lives because God took them home, but whose lives were forcibly taken by bad elements acting like gods. There are victims of crimes, those killed during armed conflict, and more recently, those who have been murdered in the war against drugs.

Bishop Ambo intoned: We light candles for the many “drug suspects” who, while they were only suspects, have been meted the punishment of death, those who were supposedly found in possession of a sachet or two of planted drugs, or were said to have fought back — “nanlaban” — even if witnesses, who are too afraid to testify, saw that their hands were raised in surrender, or they even pleaded for their lives.

We light candles for those who have been slain summarily by killers riding in tandem wearing helmets and face masks, and those who have ended up wrapped in packaging tape and labelled “Adik. Huwag tularan.” Said Bishop Ambo: “Ang dugo nila’y humihiyaw mula sa lupa, nananaghoy, humihingi pa rin ng katarungan.”

We light candles for them, to declare that they are victims, not the enemies, in the war against drugs.

He also enjoined the faithful to light a candle for the “buhay na patay,” those whose bodies are alive but whose consciences are dead, those who kill without compunction, believing that addicts have no right to live, that criminals have no hope for reform, that prisoners should rot in jails unfit for human beings, and that the death penalty should be restored.

Bishop Ambo said: Let us light a candle not to give them peace but to disturb their souls and awaken their consciences, so that they repent, admit to their crimes, and change their ways. 

When we light our candles during Undas, especially on the second day, let us remember the dead who are victims of the bloodshed, and find it in our hearts to pray for the living dead who are the perpetrators of the bloodshed in our country.

We must make sure, with our prayers and actions, that no one is left behind. Maybe then we can rest in the peace, not of the graveyard, but of unity and healing.