The Living and the Dead

This weekend is the time to look to the saints for inspiration and help and to pray for the living and the dead. But we don’t need to go to Church to find the saints. There are many among us bravely fighting for justice and the rights of the abused and oppressed children, the suffering and the neglected. The cemetery is not the only place to meet the dead and the dying. They are among us too, some dead in spirit and others almost dead in body. To them we are called to heal, save and help like the Good Samaritan did to the total stranger wounded and dying but ignored and left to die by the authorities.

Francisco is just a child of about 11 or 12 years old. It’s hard to know his age because he was so emaciated. He lay naked on the cold, hard dirty floor of the children’s detention center in the heart of Manila just a short walk from the City Hall and near a lavish food-laden supermarket mall.