Tuesday, December 30, 2014

A reminder about death

It's always mentioned in the prayer books, in recollections, or retreats. Meditations during November particularly talked about 'the Last Things'.

This year has been a surprising year for me. One of the passengers in the missing MH370 is the husband of my housemate's friend. It seems such a far connection. Nevertheless, it was shocking for us because my housemate just attended this friend's wedding  a month before that. One of the passengers in MH17, which was shot down, was my boyfriend's labmate's sister. Thus, he saw his labmate crying in the lab once she heard the news.

I saw the news about the missing Air Asia plane on TV yesterday morning as I was meeting up with my best friends. My first thought was, "Hey, I have lots of friends from Surabaya". I was a bit worried, and one of my friends said that I could check the passenger list. After I reached home in the evening, I still felt a bit restless, so I searched the passenger list. I've never bothered about 'passenger list' after reading a news, but this time, it felt so close. So there I saw my senior's name. I checked her facebook wall and saw people writing posts for her, expressing prayers for her safety.

Another friend posted, "One of the Air Asia passengers is a friend of mine. We are not the closest of friends, yet it hurts, it hurts." It does hurt. The feeling is like a domino-effect. Not only we know her, but we also know her brother and her boyfriend. Even though we just met for a "hi" "bye", I always know her as a senior who is very good in playing guitar. Her smile and our chance encounters came to my mind these three days, and I couldn't help but feel this 'little' pain compared to the pain of her families.

How many times have we really prayed hard for a miracle? For a cause, which doesn't have no other extra alternatives available other than praying? Here's one of the moments when I really feel the urge to really hope for a miracle.

This news is also a reminder for me. I may be used to listen to the message of living each moment well, doing our ordinary duties extraordinarily well, attend Mass as if it's our last Mass, but here and now, it's a real message for me, as someone I know, someone I've talked to, is missing. I don't know my time either and I should live with this awareness every day.

Please pray for the passengers on board and their families.

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