Feast of All Ancestors
I was visiting a family from our parish for a prayer. At the conclusion of the litany of the saints, the father of the house spontaneously started saying izithakazelo family praises.
He recalled the names of his ancestors. In the act of remembering, those who have gone before us became present. Our forebears joined in our praise of the only living God. In the communion of saints heaven and earth become one. The wall of separation caused by death is broken.
In November the Church celebrates All Saints and All Souls. During this month we remember those whose names do not appear in the Vatican’s litany of saints. These are individuals who continue to inspire us from beyond the grave.
At the international level we cannot forget luminaries like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Archbishop Oscar Romero and Patrice Lumumba. Their inspiration is crucial especially in the context of a United Nations which has failed to effect justice and peace in our world. How long must the Palestinians continue to suffer Israeli aggression? How long must the Iraqis continue to suffer American arrogance? Let us stop atrocities committed against Sudanese people.
In our nation we owe our liberation to so many of our patriots too many to mention. They suffered persecution, humiliation, prison, exile, and some the ultimate sacrifice, so that we may be free.
There are our own relatives: family ancestors. According to Pope John Paul II, it is love for life that leads sons and daughters of Africa to give such great importance to the veneration of their ancestors (Ecclesia In Africa). Africans believe intuitively that the dead continue to live and remain in communion with them. The late pope did not see this in conflict with the Christian faith.
It is only when we have some understanding of the African family that we may appreciate the place of the ancestors in our lives. Family includes those who are dead. They continue to live with us when we name a descendant after one of them. They are with us when we remember their teaching and good life. Our family bonds are not destroyed by death. When we rejoice at a wedding, we invoke their presence. When we suffer sickness or misfortune, we know that they, like good parents, are not unaffected.
The theologian Benezet Bujo says there’s no reason to abandon the veneration of ancestors, but that it must be seen in the light of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. He believes that as they are in the other life, they can intervene more effectively on our behalf.
Our understanding of ancestors is limited by the fact that such veneration is done at family level. There is no uniform system of beliefs and practices of ancestral veneration in Africa. Most research in this field is done by anthropologists who are mainly interested in traditional culture. It is a pity that the works and reflections of people like Buti Tlhagale, Letsie Moshoeshoe and Dabula Mpako seem to have lost the steam. Their’s was an attempt to bring the ancestors from out of the family closet.
Ancestors may no longer feature in liturgy meetings or theological deliberations, but they are a fact in many families. Prior to the church blessing of the tombstone of a relative, a family member mentioned they had a private ceremony to inform the ancestors that Church people would be coming to pray at the grave. This is the classic example of a Christian on Sunday and African for the rest of the week syndrome. Chinua Achebe says things fall apart when Africans rush to see the African reality through western glasses.
In Africa the living are naturally drawn to ritual communication with their deceased kin. Fr Charles Nyamithi, father of modern Inculturation theology, says that such inclination stems from the natural love, piety and respect towards their sacred relatives in the other world.
Our culture is not perfect, but prayer will be complete when Africans come to God as they are. Amen.
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