ANNIVERSARY celebrations of whatever
milestone we have in
life should not just be some de rigueur events that we simply go
through because they happen to be the days of the anniversary.
Thanks to God, I’m sure that that is not mainly the reason
why we celebrate anniversaries. That we ready ourselves for them,
sometimes going through elaborate preparations, can only mean we
attach special meaning to these anniversaries. They occupy a special
place in our heart and in our memory.
It’s just that often, we also get lost in the
preparations, and get too concerned about how things would turn out,
that we miss the real reason for celebrating these landmarks as well
as the implications and consequences of such celebrations.
Anniversaries are very special occasions. At the very
least, they are days of deep thanksgiving for the many graces and
blessings we received from our Father God through the years. It’s
important that while we unavoidably meet difficulties, failures,
setbacks, etc., in life, we should not forget that God continues to
take care of us.
It’s important that we be quick to acknowledge these
graces and blessings, and give due thanks for them, especially through
prayers, sacrifice and, of course, the celebration of the Holy Mass
which is the best way to give thanks, since our gratitude would be
coursed through Christ’s supreme act of offering of his life to his
Father for our sake.
Anniversaries should remind us of many fundamental things
in life. They remind us of the beginning and the reason of such
anniversaries which could be the gift of life, the commitment of
marriage, the charism granted to a person or to an institution, etc.
Anniversaries remind us of the past and of how it is
connected to the present and even to the future. In fact, if we have a
more theological understanding of time which we should try to
cultivate and have, we would realize that there is an organic unity
and direction of time past, present and future, all of which coming
from God from all eternity and directed to God also in eternity.
Time is therefore connected to eternity, and the fullness
of time, which is an expression used in the Bible, refers to when time
is vitally reconnected with eternity through the redemptive work of
Christ.
In short, anniversaries should remind us that we are in a
journey through time toward eternity, toward God from whom we come and
to whom we belong.
Even the commemoration of some sad events, like the
killers Yolanda and the big earthquakes, can still give us reason for
thanksgiving and joy, because we know that God is in control of
everything and knows how to derive good from evil.
As the Book of Ecclesiastes puts it, “all things have
their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven. A time
to be born and a time to die…a time to destroy and a time to build…a
time to weep and a time to laugh…” There’s always meaning in
everything, and a reason to hope and to be happy in the end.
Anniversaries should bring these truths to the fore, and
should elicit in us the proper response. Aside from thanksgiving, we
should be filled with desires for renewal, for another conversion, for
sustained continuity and fidelity.
They should remind us of the bigger, more comprehensive
picture of our life, removing us from our tendency to be restrictive
in our view, understanding and attitude to things.
In fact, we need to learn how to relate the here and now
to our beginnings as well as our ultimate end. More than that, we need
to learn to relate the temporal to the eternal, the material to the
spiritual, the natural and to the supernatural, etc. Anniversaries
should somehow occasion these considerations in our mind and heart.
We should help one another to understand and conform our
mind and heart to the true nature, character and purpose of
anniversary celebrations. Especially these days when we are bombarded
with things that tend to chain us to the present and to the externals,
desensitizing us from the other important considerations, we need to
be more active in highlighting the true meaning of anniversaries.
The youth especially are most vulnerable to miss the
significance of anniversaries by the many intoxicating developments we
have now. They feel that a theological consideration of anniversaries
is a spoiler to the enjoyment of anniversary celebrations, if ever
they care about these things in the first place.
It’s time to make the true meaning of anniversaries mainstream.
life should not just be some de rigueur events that we simply go
through because they happen to be the days of the anniversary.
Thanks to God, I’m sure that that is not mainly the reason
why we celebrate anniversaries. That we ready ourselves for them,
sometimes going through elaborate preparations, can only mean we
attach special meaning to these anniversaries. They occupy a special
place in our heart and in our memory.
It’s just that often, we also get lost in the
preparations, and get too concerned about how things would turn out,
that we miss the real reason for celebrating these landmarks as well
as the implications and consequences of such celebrations.
Anniversaries are very special occasions. At the very
least, they are days of deep thanksgiving for the many graces and
blessings we received from our Father God through the years. It’s
important that while we unavoidably meet difficulties, failures,
setbacks, etc., in life, we should not forget that God continues to
take care of us.
It’s important that we be quick to acknowledge these
graces and blessings, and give due thanks for them, especially through
prayers, sacrifice and, of course, the celebration of the Holy Mass
which is the best way to give thanks, since our gratitude would be
coursed through Christ’s supreme act of offering of his life to his
Father for our sake.
Anniversaries should remind us of many fundamental things
in life. They remind us of the beginning and the reason of such
anniversaries which could be the gift of life, the commitment of
marriage, the charism granted to a person or to an institution, etc.
Anniversaries remind us of the past and of how it is
connected to the present and even to the future. In fact, if we have a
more theological understanding of time which we should try to
cultivate and have, we would realize that there is an organic unity
and direction of time past, present and future, all of which coming
from God from all eternity and directed to God also in eternity.
Time is therefore connected to eternity, and the fullness
of time, which is an expression used in the Bible, refers to when time
is vitally reconnected with eternity through the redemptive work of
Christ.
In short, anniversaries should remind us that we are in a
journey through time toward eternity, toward God from whom we come and
to whom we belong.
Even the commemoration of some sad events, like the
killers Yolanda and the big earthquakes, can still give us reason for
thanksgiving and joy, because we know that God is in control of
everything and knows how to derive good from evil.
As the Book of Ecclesiastes puts it, “all things have
their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven. A time
to be born and a time to die…a time to destroy and a time to build…a
time to weep and a time to laugh…” There’s always meaning in
everything, and a reason to hope and to be happy in the end.
Anniversaries should bring these truths to the fore, and
should elicit in us the proper response. Aside from thanksgiving, we
should be filled with desires for renewal, for another conversion, for
sustained continuity and fidelity.
They should remind us of the bigger, more comprehensive
picture of our life, removing us from our tendency to be restrictive
in our view, understanding and attitude to things.
In fact, we need to learn how to relate the here and now
to our beginnings as well as our ultimate end. More than that, we need
to learn to relate the temporal to the eternal, the material to the
spiritual, the natural and to the supernatural, etc. Anniversaries
should somehow occasion these considerations in our mind and heart.
We should help one another to understand and conform our
mind and heart to the true nature, character and purpose of
anniversary celebrations. Especially these days when we are bombarded
with things that tend to chain us to the present and to the externals,
desensitizing us from the other important considerations, we need to
be more active in highlighting the true meaning of anniversaries.
The youth especially are most vulnerable to miss the
significance of anniversaries by the many intoxicating developments we
have now. They feel that a theological consideration of anniversaries
is a spoiler to the enjoyment of anniversary celebrations, if ever
they care about these things in the first place.
It’s time to make the true meaning of anniversaries mainstream.
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