There are those who are content to stay out of the limelight so that what matters most would come into focus. This is a Mother's Day Offering.

A REFLECTION ABOUT FR.JJ's NANAY , MY MAMA , MY PAPA & THE BLESSED MOTHER MARY

This piece is fondly dedicated to the memory of Father Louie Hechanova of the Redemptorist Fathers who joined Jesus early morning of January 25,2001. He passed away in Baclaran, the site of OUR MOTHER OF PERPETUAL HELP's SHRINE.

"I did not say Nanay because I could not say Nanay, for I had no more Nanay."

When I read these lines in Fr. JJ's article about his Mother entitled NANAY --- I could not help but miss my mother too...She was gone for almost 30 yrs.now due to a kidney ailment. It was during her wake that I saw my father cry broken heartedly.It was the day I saw my undemonstrative father in a different light. I saw him as a feeling human being like me and not the imperturbable wall of an authority figure anymore. It was also the day I realized that I would willingly forsake everything for my father . He may still be the same exacting Kapitan Berong as Ta Piling used to call him but he is father and husband who loved us deeply too.

It was no wonder then that my mother's last words on her death bed to us , her six children ,were: " Indi gid kamo mag himo sang ikahuya ni Papa ninyo."("Never do anything that would make your Father feel ashamed of you.")

To my Papa she said " Salamat, salamat gid sa 15 ka tuig..."("Thank you, thank you so much for the 15 years...")

We learned later that my Mother was a very sickly young lady.

My Maternal Grand mother of Sta. Barbara even had a coffin ready for her during a very serious illness in Iloilo. Miraculously my mother recovered after she was given the last rite .(Extreme Unction).The 15 years was the 15 years of living with my father when they started our family.

My father is not perfect but I knew he did the best he could to raise the six of us. He never remarried.

I am forever grateful to Mother Mary who has been loving me spiritually all these time. Even before I was able to relate to her Son Jesus on a personal level---Mama Mary was there in the rosaries other people pray ( I was oblivious to the lady in Luneta when she voiced out her wish to give me a rosary remember?).

She was there in The Immaculate Conception
Cathedral where I enjoyed the chirping of the birds.

She was the gentle presence who stroked my hair lovingly during the Prayer rally of Fr. Robert De Grandis that fateful July 27,1990 in the Sacred Heart School for Girls Auditorium .

It was the real living her that I felt when I embraced (when I wrapped my arms around )her Pilgrim Image of Fatima after the seminar on
The 7 Mansion ( The Dark night of the Soul ).

Like my earthly mother who never vied with the authority of my earthly father----Mother Mary never vied for my attention in terms of my walk with Jesus.

When I am on fire and inspired for the love of GOD, she is always inconspicuous in the back drop.

When I am undergoing the dryness of the soul, she gently gets back into the picture.Often,she just stayed there with me , loving me, demanding nothing, waiting for me to lick my smarting hurts.


THEN when it is time ... she would remind me of her Son --- her Son who is the very reason why her presence was gently manifested to me.

Never was there an instance that Mama Mary ever clamored for my attention-----always, she is there solely to point the direction toward Jesus.

Always, she is there , instructing me on how to reach out to her Beloved Son----

My silent,

patient,

loving ,

obscure Mama Mary WHO MUST DECREASE

so that her Son JESUS MIGHT INCREASE.