If you come here looking for answers
to the whys and wherefores of the weather,
the workings of nature, its beauty and madness,
chances are you won’t find any.
This is a memorial to those who perished here:
pray therefore for their eternal repose,
for consolation to those they left behind,
and for yourself as well,
especially if you come here
caught in your own storms.
And if some deep parts of your being
resonate with a people’s instinct
for humor in dark places, their resilience,
and faith, then leaving here may mean
getting the answer you need after all.
"In Him, who rose from the dead,
our hope of resurrection dawned,
the sadness of death gives way
to the bright promise of immortality.
For the Lord’s faithful people
life is changed, not ended;
when the body of our earthly dwelling lies in death,
we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven."
...
The verses above are a draft of a requested message that might be inscribed on a memorial erected for victims of supertyphoon Reming which struck Albay and neighboring provinces in late 2006. Below are simpler (better?) versions, relative to the pretentiousness of the first. If none gets chosen, at least, they'll be in this blog for posterity.
...
PAGGIRUMDOM SA MGA NAWARA DIGDI
“Ki Cristo nagtingraw sato an paglaom
nin paladan na pagkabuhay-liwat
tanganing an mga napapamundo
huli ta nanggad magagadan,
maranga kan panuga kan maabot
na buhay na daing kasagkoran.
Ta sa mga maimbod sa Kagurangnan
an buhay sinasanglean, dai pinapara,
asin pagkatunaw kaining eerokan sa daga,
naaandam an harong na daing kasagkoran sa kalangitan.”
Paggirumdom sa mga nawara digdi:
pangadiea man an saindang katoninongan,
karangahan sa mga nabayaan,
pati na an saimong sadiri, lalo na
kun nag-aagi man nin bagyo sa buhay.
Bagyong Reming. 30 Nobyembre 2006.
...
English version
...
A MEMORIAL TO THOSE WHO PERISHED HERE
“In Him, who rose from the dead,
our hope of resurrection dawned,
the sadness of death gives way
to the bright promise of immortality.
For the Lord’s faithful people
life is changed, not ended;
when the body of our earthly dwelling lies in death,
we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven.”
This is a memorial to those who perished here:
pray therefore for their eternal repose,
for consolation to those they left behind,
and for yourself as well, especially
if you come here caught in storms of your own.
Supertyphoon Reming. 30 November 2006.
...
the two stanzas in quotation marks are taken from Preface I of the Mass for the Dead in the Roman Missal -- with some minor changes.
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