HE STRUCK ME as plain and serious. Unlike other Recollection Masters before him, who had a commanding, albeit jolly, presence, and voices loud enough to hear, Fr. James Cervantes was clothed with prudent decorum, and mumbled throughout his speech, at least he was indistinct to me from where I was seated. I blame my hearing for this frustration. I was on the second row of pews and had my recorder beside me while I prayed it does a better job than my ear. No such luck. It was a blessing, therefore, that on the pew in front of me were seated Ate Gigi, who introduced the speaker earlier, Ate Myla, and Sis Tes.
Because Ate Myla would later apprise me of what account I could not glean from my impaired hearing and inefficient recording. She brought back the days of our BEC sharing, where her matter-of-fact portions, however casually poured, would register profoundly in my pondering.
It wasn’t only my hearing – or my second-rate recorder – that was at fault. I did not read up on Fr. James. Is why I could not understand why his faint American English would not ring my bell. I thought he was talking to himself (he also rarely looked at us, seemingly focused on his notes, which kept being blown by the electric fan, thankfully quickly always retrieved by Sis Tes). Although he raised many times the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe during his discourse, I still wished he was more audible than the murmurings on my record keeper. Or else I would have borrowed a more reliable gadget than my phone. But Fr. James was unmistakably Marian, being of the Order Marian of Immaculate Conception (MIC), and so I soldiered on.
I found curious, besides, the disappearance of the projection screen which Kuya Ricky put up earlier. Not for long. In the course of his session, Mary turned out to be Fr. James’ only visual throughout the talk, which explained why there was no need for a screen, much less a projector. Our Lady of Guadalupe alone served his purpose. He even quizzed the audience on her Feast Day, December 12, which I knew by heart (it is the Feast Day in Dita, Sta. Rosa City, Laguna, our old domicile). Another question he posed to the audience was the black sash she was wearing. It was quickly answered behind me by Ate Pat, who said the lady was pregnant, and wearing a maternity sash. Trust her to know that, being a devoted Carmelite.
Other than those audible, decipherable instances, I was either fighting the many urges to yawn or staying put until the ordeal was done.
Anyway, her daughter Sis Ria was on hand to emcee the occasion and was on the rostrum on time to settle the audience down. Ate Gigi had to repeat her request to fill the pews up front and leave their scattered array in favor of where the guest speaker can appreciate them. They heeded the second notice. Then the emcee called on Ate Ali to say a short prayer. The MOW President complied and delivered an invocation as long-winded as the one she performed at Fr. Eidh’s reception the night before. Sis Ria called on Ate Minnie next for a brief Opening Remarks and the latter delivered accordingly. Finally, Sis Ria summoned Ate Gigi to introduce the speaker. And, shortly, thankfully, the audience was ready for the Recollection.
This is my nth attempt to transcribe my recording. Our Kasambahay Weng’s son Aeron happens to be a techie and was able to hook my cp up with a bluetooth speaker, with little success, and this beggar could not choose any further. So here’s the long and short of my almost weeklong thumb-twiddling. The result was a louder sound but still fuzzy speech, and my ear straining harder than before. (I was almost tempted to believe Ate Ching’s erstwhile comment that he was whispering to the microphone.)
He asked the audience to define recollection. I heard someone say ’review,’ another answered ‘recount,’ which did not seem to satisfy him (I fought against saying ‘remembering’), so he gave his account, which was to withdraw from the world’s noise so as to hear within the self the voice of God. This is as far as my patience could take me. No matter how high I pushed the volume, I just could not decipher his hieroglyphics so will resort to Ate Myla’s discernment of what escaped me.
His first point was the desire to be a saint. We should leave the recollection striving to become one.
His patron (and favorite) saint is St. Faustina, as was evident in his discourse, which mentioned several times the saint, as he consulted his notes every now and then. This was confirmed by his wikipedia bio.
He further defined recollection as receiving Jesus into your heart and living your life with Him, just like Our Lady of Guadalupe who exemplifies this. We should be doing our best to make Jesus the priority in our lives, because nothing else matters.
We consider what to do in our daily lives to start living and not just existing.
Tsaka pala , she added, creating a place in our hearts for Jesus.
She thought the point was that during the first Christmas, there was no room for them (I added, post haste, at the inn).
Now, we have to create rooms in our heart for him to rest. Dapat di na sa manger. There, the mention of the word that was in the theme “Journeying with Mary and Joseph to the Manger.”
How to do that? By starting to live intentionally.
By starting to receive Holy Communion, knowing that it is really Jesus.
And by doing so, we can be saints.
End of sharing.
Amen.
