All Saints’ Day is a big Solemnity in the Universal Church, and almost every Catholic Christian is aware that the month of November begins with this big feast of honouring our Christian heroes. In the Philippines, this feast has been taken to the next level, where family members travel from far and wide to reunite with their loved ones, alive or deceased. The cemeteries are packed with people; the roads are flooded with vehicles all heading to the different cemeteries. It is a unique experience celebrating this feast in the Philippines, and you can get a glimpse of what I mean by watching the video below.
However, this time, Fr. Anish and I decided to take members of the Mill Hill Youth Ministry to visit the tombs of our Mill Hill Heroes, who were pioneers of one of the Parishes, among others, in the Archdiocese of Jaro. While at the site, we said the Rosary together as a culmination of the October devotion to our Lady of the Holy Rosary. Many Christians from Tanza Parish, where this particular set of Mill Hill Missionaries worked, still remember these great missionaries who gave a great witness to the gospel. While sitting there and praying the Rosary, I imagined all the comfort that these Missionaries left behind at home for the sake of serving the poor here in the Philippines. They wanted to be buried wherever they died. We thank these great missionaries for building the foundation on which we now stand. May their souls rest with the Lord.
Tony Emeka, MHM
