Burial or Cremation?
Burial or Cremation?
01. When Mama was still alive, her birthdays would be reason for our Family's Get-togethers - and everybody was expected to be present despite tight schedules. Oftentimes, our Family Reunions would be good occasions for getting updates on each other's lives. But I cannot forget one Mama's Birthday, sometime in the mid 1970s - when the concept of a well-planned Memorial Park was so novel such that the talk of death was unspeakable to many people and that the over-crowded Public Cemeteries were expectedly the only place to bury the dead. On this particular birthday, she insisted that each of us (Sons & Daughters) along with our own respective families go to mass with her at the San Jose Seminary Chapel (Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights Compound) - and to proceed, right after mass, to the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina. She pointed to us the spot where she wanted us to bury her. Mama chose 4 Burial Lots (double internments each) in Loyola's Garden-of-Peace which she envisioned to become the hallowed burial ground for herself - and her Children. She was proud to show us her choice of a Family Burial Ground which she painstakingly paid on installments - and which she had just then paid in full. On this one happy occasion, all of us, all in good health, felt eerie about the thought of dying. Nevertheless, she said: "Here, I shall rest and shall be at peace". The emotional pain and financial burden occasioned on the deaths of my youngest Brother and my Father (while our Migrant Family was yet fighting for survival in the Manila), could have made Mama even more determined to prepare for death long in advance. Mama lived on for another 25 years. Mama died of Old Age in Yr 2002.
02. As the cost of Urban Space has become expensive for the Living and the Dead, Columbaries (a sacred secured repository of cremated human remains - otherwise known as cremains) are now a felt need in the city. Moreover, other attendant costs have made Burial less and less affordable to many. As reverential Cremation has for a long time been accepted by the Catholic Church as an alternative to its preferred traditional Burial Option, some new Parishes in the Philippines have secured their respective Bishop's Permission to build their Churches-with-Columbaries.
03. As I cannot tell where the future lies for my very own Children, I will to be cremated and for my cremains to be buried in my Choice-of-CryptVault at the St Gabriel Columbary Marikina. By having my remains cremated and my cremains reverently interned in the sacred and secured St Gabriel Columbary (located beneath the St Gabriel Parish Church), it becomes conveniently practical for them to carry along my cremains wherever they so decide. I trust my Children to handle me with care.
04. Mama is not wrong - nor am I right. It is simply not a case of Right and Wrong. As Catholics believing in the Resurrection of our "perfected" bodies upon the Second Coming of Jesus on Judgment Day, our Church instructs us to handle the Deceased with respect and dignity. In any case, I believe that I shall be with Mama in heaven.
05. What is your choice: Burial or Cremation?
01. When Mama was still alive, her birthdays would be reason for our Family's Get-togethers - and everybody was expected to be present despite tight schedules. Oftentimes, our Family Reunions would be good occasions for getting updates on each other's lives. But I cannot forget one Mama's Birthday, sometime in the mid 1970s - when the concept of a well-planned Memorial Park was so novel such that the talk of death was unspeakable to many people and that the over-crowded Public Cemeteries were expectedly the only place to bury the dead. On this particular birthday, she insisted that each of us (Sons & Daughters) along with our own respective families go to mass with her at the San Jose Seminary Chapel (Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights Compound) - and to proceed, right after mass, to the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina. She pointed to us the spot where she wanted us to bury her. Mama chose 4 Burial Lots (double internments each) in Loyola's Garden-of-Peace which she envisioned to become the hallowed burial ground for herself - and her Children. She was proud to show us her choice of a Family Burial Ground which she painstakingly paid on installments - and which she had just then paid in full. On this one happy occasion, all of us, all in good health, felt eerie about the thought of dying. Nevertheless, she said: "Here, I shall rest and shall be at peace". The emotional pain and financial burden occasioned on the deaths of my youngest Brother and my Father (while our Migrant Family was yet fighting for survival in the Manila), could have made Mama even more determined to prepare for death long in advance. Mama lived on for another 25 years. Mama died of Old Age in Yr 2002.
02. As the cost of Urban Space has become expensive for the Living and the Dead, Columbaries (a sacred secured repository of cremated human remains - otherwise known as cremains) are now a felt need in the city. Moreover, other attendant costs have made Burial less and less affordable to many. As reverential Cremation has for a long time been accepted by the Catholic Church as an alternative to its preferred traditional Burial Option, some new Parishes in the Philippines have secured their respective Bishop's Permission to build their Churches-with-Columbaries.
03. As I cannot tell where the future lies for my very own Children, I will to be cremated and for my cremains to be buried in my Choice-of-CryptVault at the St Gabriel Columbary Marikina. By having my remains cremated and my cremains reverently interned in the sacred and secured St Gabriel Columbary (located beneath the St Gabriel Parish Church), it becomes conveniently practical for them to carry along my cremains wherever they so decide. I trust my Children to handle me with care.
04. Mama is not wrong - nor am I right. It is simply not a case of Right and Wrong. As Catholics believing in the Resurrection of our "perfected" bodies upon the Second Coming of Jesus on Judgment Day, our Church instructs us to handle the Deceased with respect and dignity. In any case, I believe that I shall be with Mama in heaven.
05. What is your choice: Burial or Cremation?
posted by manilaman at 4:17 AM
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