The Lord always remembers

(Excerpt from the Homily of Most Reverend Romulo G. Valles, D.D., on the Commemoration of the World and National Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims last November 20, 2022 at Coastal Road, Talomo, Davao City.)

Today, we have Christ the King and this is a solemnity. How do we sort of combine this very church celebration in the mystery of Christ being our king, the king of the universe? But how do we combine this? Very legit, very meaningful, very relevant remembrance for road crash victims, the survivors, and their families. First of all, always, when we have a mass it is always a remembrance. The mass as they say, as described, the great anamnesis. And so, when we come together, we are sure, I am sure that we can easily join our remembrance of road crash victims, the survivors, and families and we can easily join that with the Lord as we celebrate this eucharist. The Lord always remembers—the living and the dead. And so, it is just fitting that we offer and we do; we could have, I am very touched, certainly, easily you could have done your remembrance without the mass. And it will be fine. But I am just touched that part of today’s world and national remembrance is to pray and to connect with the Lord. Like I said, it is fitting because, when we are at the mass, we say the Lord remembers both the living and the dead.

In the Gospel Reading today, the Lord does not only remember the nice people, the worthy people. Kung direkta pa nga isulti, “Bishop, yes, mo remember si Lord, basig kamo ra Bishop kay holy holy man mo. Mga madre, mga pari, mga obispo, og mga duol sa simbahan kana lang sila siguro.” No! we heard in the Gospel today, kinsay tapad sa Ginoo? Intawon ang mga unworthy. Until, when this guy attempted, so daring, kabalo siya dili siya worthy, “Lord pwede ba na iapil mo ako?” “yes, you will be with me in paradise.” He is not only a king to the nice ones, for the worthy, but this king is for all God’s children including the crash victims either dead, or survivors or their unfortunate families who are suffering and in pain. It is truly, a good day today.

Now, when it comes to road traveling, what is the mind of the Church? There are two types of prayers, First, kon ang nagampo dili kuyog nila, “all powerful and merciful God, you lead the children of Israel on dry land parting the waters of the sea, you guided the magi to your Son by a star. Have this our brother and sister and give them a safe journey under your protection. Let them reach the destination and come at last to the eternal haven of salvation.” As you can see, when we think of, very unfortunate who did not reach their destination and had a road crash, remember that the Lord have them in His mind. Because the Lord wishes that they will reach their destination. Second, ang nagampo kuyog nila, “all powerful and ever living God, whom Abraham, left his own land and departed from his own people. You kept him safe all throughout his journey. Protect us who also are your servants. Walk by our side to help us. Be our companion and our strength in the road and refuge in every adversity. Lead us oh Lord, so that we will reach our destination in safety and happily return to our home.” Today we remember the victims and survivors and the grieving families. But now we come to the blessing of vehicles. “all powerful God, creator of heaven and earth in the rich depths of your wisdom, you have empowered us to produce great and beautiful works. Grant we pray that those who use this vehicle may travel safely with care for the safety of others whether the travel for business or pleasure, let them always find Christ to be their companion of their journey.”

As we pray today, in this mass, let those who are directly involved in keeping our roads, vehicles, or drivers to be very careful, we would pray for you. I know how difficult it is to regulate good drivers and for us to follow your rules and regulations. But we pray for you, for strength, for wisdom, for result, and to pray also, the vast numbers of us could be on the road, so that when you do that we will be mindful of the will and desire of our good Lord for the safety of all. So that, the heart and mind of Jesus would reach our destination here on earth, and more important, we think of our journey to reach our ultimate destination which is the kingdom of God where Jesus reign as our king.