ALL Saints’ Day is an occasion of prayerful remembrance of our departed loved ones. The visit to the cemeteries and memorial parks, the offering of flowers and candles at their resting places make us connect with the departed and celebrate their memory.
But even as we reflect on how love goes on beyond the end of a life, we are reminded of our mortality and how and when the end will come is such a big unknown to us. As the Bible says, “Death comes like a thief in the night.”
Losing loved ones is easier to face when we are prepared. Being prepared allows us to cope with the grief more easily, worry-free about some aspects of sending off the beloved dead.
This is the advantage that people with a life plan enjoy: A life plan provides guaranteed funds and services for dignified funeral services upon notice of need. With a life plan, it is easier to move on for those left behind.
A FITTING FAREWELL
Providing a fitting funeral service is one way of coping with the grief of loss. According to the National Funeral Directors’ Association, the funeral service is the first step in the healing process for the bereaved.
The first thing memorialization does is to provide the bereaved a caring and supportive environment. People who knew the deceased gather together and express their heartfelt condolences to the family. This gives the bereaved the feeling of having a community who will walk with them in the absence of their deceased loved one. It will also give the family an opportunity to share their feelings of pain, leading them to acceptance and making it easier for them to bear losing someone they cared for.
Likewise, a gathering like this brings the bereaved back to the community. Most people withdraw from society once they lose someone. The tendency is to grieve alone. The funeral provides an opportune time to be socially reconnected to the neighbors and friends.
Moreover, on the part of non-family members, funerals are favorable occasions where they can confirm their relationship with the deceased. Of course, it provides them a chance to pay respects and say goodbye.
Funeral services, however, can be costly nowadays. With a Class A funeral home, the cost of funeral services ranges from P80,000 up to more than P1 million, depending on the type of casket, size of the chapel and other amenities such as family room or hearse.
A family caught off guard, worried about the financial cost, will not be in a position to ensure the solemnity of the occasion. Instead of moving forward to the healing process, the bereaved wrestles with financial problems.
Having funeral services before the need for them can lessen the pain of bereavement.
Rose Sharon Daa of Makati described in a letter to Eternal Plans how having a memorial plan for herself made it easier for the family to deal with their father’s death from colorectal cancer.
She wrote: “Since we are not a well-off family, my parents were not prepared. This was the first time that a family member died; my mother and my siblings were worried about hospital bills, where to bury Tatay and, most of all, we were worried about the funeral cost.”
Fortunately, Daa had the foresight to buy a life plan from Eternal Plans. This was supposed to be for herself, she said, to ease the burden of those she left behind in case the time came for her.
Instead, the same plan was assigned for use of her father.
“At the time Tatay died, Ronnie Centeno, Eternal Plans’ representative, was in charge of assisting me in all the negotiations,” Daa carried on in her letter. “From the hospital, where my Tatay died, to the funeral parlor I was warmly assisted by Kuya Ronnie. He monitored the flow of the funeral service. He did see to it that everything was okay. It was a big help for us who were grieving and undergoing so much pain to have someone taking charge of the funeral.”
A life plan provides a complete funeral package. It is inclusive of funeral service, from the preliminary support in the hospital, the embalming, the casket, the viewing facilities, trip to the interment site to the preparation of pertinent documents and permits. Eternal Plans assigns a representative to stand as the family administrator. He sees to it that everything is taken care of.
Moreover, one gets to choose a particular value, which shall be used for the complete, dignified funeral services. When funeral services are arranged at the time of need, the cost is predetermined and guaranteed by the preneed company.
One can also provide for these services for oneself. With a life plan, one can get to choose the kind of funeral service he’d like to have when the time comes. This also frees his family of financial burden and makes it easier for them to move on.
INVEST FOR FAMILY’S SAKE
“That’s the benefit I got from investing in a life plan. Enough with the scary thoughts and superstitions. We will all die so we better invest now for a worry free future,” Daa said.
“Now I’m planning to purchase a life plan again to make sure that the same assistance will be given in case I or a family member needs it,” she finished her letter.
Eternal Plans is promoting a program to provide “A life plan for every Filipino family.” With a life plan for every Filipino home, the members can feel secure that should there be untimely death, they’ll have the funds and services of Eternal Plans to provide the needed memorial services.
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