mamamatay ka rin

last Saturday, i attended a funeral mass for my friend's grandmother.

i couldn't help but feel out-of-place. for starters, i wasn't wearing anything white. i was in a light mint green shirt and jeans. why didn't i think of dressing for the occasion? second, i don't know what i am supposed to do during these times. i don't know what to say or how to act. i still have to learn a lot from life.

anyway, during the homily, the priest had a very funny story about one particular Ash Wednesday. he was with 2 lay ministers at a public school. there were 3,000 people (teacher and students) lined up waiting for their turn. and as his story goes, around 2,000 people were lined up before him. thinking that repeating the same lines over and over again would consume much of his saliva, he modified the phrase that he was going to say. instead of saying "sa abo ka nanggaling at sa abo ka rin babalik" while putting crosses on their forehead, he said "mamamatay ka rin". after doing this to around 20 people, the crowd scattered and lined up before the 2 lay ministers.

his point was, why should we be afraid of dying when it will inevitably happen? he was merely stating a fact.

so am i afraid of dying? dying? not really. i am more afraid of knowing HOW i will die.