TURA: Catholic faithful across Garo Hills paid homage to the memory of their loved ones who left this world by participating in special church service at cemeteries during the observance of All Souls Day on Tuesday.
Auxiliary Bishop of Tura, Rt Rev. C J Jose led the gathering at the Catholic cemetery at RC Road to observe the holy event with a church service that included the blessing of the graves with holy water.
“Those who are laid to rest here will one day rise. Their lives are not over. St Paul said in the holy Bible not to be distressed for those who are in rest. One must have faith. Christ resurrected Lazarus from the dead, that is the greatest power of faith and belief,” said bishop Jose in his sermon.
This is the first All Souls Day being observed in Garo Hills in the last two years. Last year, due to covid spikes there was no service but only blessing of the graves and people were advised to place wreaths and move on to avoid social gatherings.
This also happened to be the first time that devotees cut down on the immense use of floral wreaths and candles on graves, as requested by the church.
Hundreds of families took the advice of the church to limit the spending on flowers and candles by placing only 1 to 2 wreaths on graves, which was more than sufficient to beautify the tombs which had an added dash of sparkle by the lighting of the candles.