The Third Death

Today as I was praying and walking through the cemetery, I came across a gravestone that I couldn't see due to the overgrown bush in front of it.  The fact that no one has trimmed that vegetation in front of that grave, gave me food for thought.  I thought of the three deaths my Mexican friends describe: when you stop breathing, when you are put in the ground, when no one is alive to remember and pray for you.

Hence, their remembrance of their loved ones on November 2, All Souls' Day, Dia de Muertos.

I actually turned around and walked back.  I took a picture of that vegetation hidden grave.  I even separated the branches and leaves, to read the name on the headstone.  I couldn't.  This was one of those skinny, flat, upright stone markers with the name and dates carved on it.  Only I couldn't read anything.  The information was well worn away.

Why this sight stayed with me, or why it brought to mind Dia de Muertos, is a puzzle, but it brought me to prayer.

 In fact, you know how there are holy cards of saints.  You know,...you usually get them at funerals.  On the front is a picture and on the back is the information about the deceased: name, dates, etc.  Well, I'm going to keep the picture I took of this old gravestone.  It will remind me of my Third Death, Dia de Muertos, the Communion of Saints, my mortality...  Who knows? Some day it just may be my own holy card.