THE PROVERBIAL BUTTERFILES

First LOM Annual Retreat, conclusion

THE PROVERBIAL BUTTERFILES in Ate Mom’s* stomach rendered her sleepless for some nights before the Sunday she agreed to deliver a Marian Talk (next to Fr. Adrian’s) at the Mother of God Curia’s First Annual Retreat.

Again, she was introduced by Ate Myla as an inspiring companion in their visit to the sick, with Sis Tes, which lasted two hours, making her theorize that age is not a hindrance to vocation.

Expectedly, Ate Mom deflected her attempt by admitting that she is already an overexposed speaker (of erstwhile PREX, and the currently revived Prayer and Life Workshop (PLW) every Monday. If she was worried when Ate Myla and Sis Rhea approached her and asked for her Talk, she was not at all reluctant when she said “Yes.” Her anxieties and misgivings were all quashed by Kuya Dad’s** offer to help. Even if her qualms were valid, because PREX had a manual to guide all speakers, and the Retreat required her to produce the material on her own. Yet realizing the humility and obedience (and silence) of Mary made her realize that her fears were unnecessary because, seated seriously in the back, keenly listening to the speaker before her, she discovered the wonderful connection of Fr. Adrian’s talk to hers, even if they never had the chance to compare notes. Therefore, what she had prepared must have been predestined through Mary’s intercession!

Then she proceeded to present the influences in her life that paved the way to Mary’s heart; her granddaughter Bea in Australia who was initially lonely and met a Born-Again boyfriend and they are no longer together but she has happily moved to a new place near the Basilica of the Holy Rosary! And Kuya Ed who invited her to join the LOM. Then the Pandemic hit and halted all activities.

Moving on, she was encouraged by the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. Which essayed Mary’s obedience, from Gabriel’s annunciation, up to their losing the Child Jesus in the Temple, and ultimate finding of Him in the same place, never mind His mild rebuke of her dismay.

So Mom hid her anxiety in her heart and showed her obedience to the task in place of it. She was guided by the root word of loving, and decided that her assignment was a way to her mother’s bosom. After all, from her heart to Mary’s, the end receiver would be her audience. And merely imagining how many hearts would be pleased by her procedure projected her to a high place. There was even no need to say the word whence the inspiration turned up. It was enough that, collectively, the result redounded to Mary.

Sharing her life, she rued the passing of her mother when she was 14 years old, thereafter adopting Mary as her mother. She went to a Catholic school, graduated, and found employment. She married later a man whose family was of her faith, her mom-in-law and sister-in-law Marian devotees both. They served as companions of her and her three sons whenever Kuya Dad was away on assignments.

Kuya Dad did not join her apostolates until 25 years later, in 1991, when they were invited to join a PREX seminar. Therefrom, they were asked to be a lead couple, then speakers and, ultimately, head of an Outreach Team. PREX took them to different parishes around their homebase Sto. Domingo Church, to other parishes in the Philippines. In 1994, when they moved to BF Homes, the Holy Spirit Parish priest, Fr. Jigs, asked them to help start the PREX movement in the community. After the initial conduct, and the movement morphed into more successful seminars, Kuya Ed invited them to join the LOM.

She and Kuya Dad worked actively substantially, like visiting the sick in FEU Hospital. Until she went under the knife for a serious major operation; they became auxiliaries afterwards.

In 2003, they resumed their evangelization efforts through the PLW, a 15-week seminar teaching the different, mostly silent, methods of prayer, deepening further their spirituality. After finishing the formation, they became prayer guides of the seminar in different parishes all over the Philippines. It wasn’t long before they were appointed head of the country’s national coordinating body, which took them to an international assembly of prayer guides all over the world and thrice to Mexico City. Through Mary, with meager funds and even lesser knowledge of where the place was, they squeezed in a side trip to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, of which she is an ardent devotee. They almost missed the last Mass at 6 pm but, no matter, she came face-to-face with the Lady, tilma and all. Secretly, she offered the Guadalupe Lady the problematic lump in her breast.

Because her kins were cancer victims, on the night they arrived in Manila, she was surprised at her gumption to tell Kuya Dad of her breast lump. The following day, he accompanied her to a surgeon who said the malignant mass had to go. She had a radical mastectomy without qualms, confident that Mary was with her. Before, during, and after the operation, she did not have any depression.

Fifteen years later, she went through two more major operations, still holding on steadfastly to Mary, her ally and anchor.

When the pandemic hit in 2019, face-to-face encounters were declared forbidden, so they were at a loss about fellowshipping with their faith communities. They asked God what would happen to their mission.

Mary showed the way when the crisis eased up in 2022. Incumbent parish priest Fr. Mar Sanchez died the year after that and his wake was held at the parish. She and Kuya Dad went to one of the vigils. When their turn at the buffet came, they saw at the assembly line the happy hosts, the Legionaries, serving with joy all over their familiar faces. Kuya Dad, ever the keen observer, quipped: “Nakakainggit naman kayo – ang saya-saya nyo! Pwede ba kaming bumalik ulit sa LOM?” Loudly, and resoundingly, the chorus was, “Yes Po!” The rest is happy, continuing history.

She beamed as she shared the present grace that they are both deriving out of the Legion’s current programs, the “Kasama sa Bahay, Kasama sa Buhay” and “Kilalanin si Hesus sa Bibliya.” Interconnected, the projects assemble the homeworkers of the village to come together (at 1 pm) on the first Sunday of every month and pray the rosary, among other invocations, listen to the scheduled commentary of the day, share their insights on the same, honor the birth anniversary of the month’s celebrator/s, and fellowship with the legionaries and one another, before proceeding to the 4:30 pm Mass. Lately, Ate Mom introduced to them knowledge of the Sacraments, and they were all received by Fr. Adrian in a confession exclusively conducted for them. A liquid moment.

At this point, Ate Mom posed a Marian exercise to all of the Legionaries: 1. Be silent; 2. Invoke the Holy Spirit; 3. Recall the events in your past; and 4. Meditate on them. Then she divided the plenary into small groups, instructed them to assign a leader, and have that leader report back to the general group.

Of the group leaders who shared their insights on the exercise, the striking similarity that shone was the presence of Mary as mother of their experiences, never mind if one of them did not have a spouse – or child – to qualify in the equation. Like her Son’s Gospel, the group invoked inclusion.

The sharing stirred all awake for their sincerity (if it breached the Keep-it-short-and-sweet admonition of Ate Mom (who confessed to her partiality to the vernacular, more family-oriented term of address over the elitist Sis/Bro prefix), and ability to transcend the simple, for some stood out for their magnificent mentality.

Nevertheless, Ate Mom, assisted by Kuya Dad, was relieved that, after summing up the perceptions of the group, they understood the goal of the exercise, which was to bring out their Marian intuition to the fore. She was particularly happy that she did not use up more time then necessary to give way to the 5 pm Mass that will cap the Retreat appropriately.

Because, like Fr. Eidh’s premise (promise?) in Psalm 139, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, nilikha tayong kagila-gilalas ng Diyos, Ate Mom soldiered on. Wonderfully.

The butterflies are gone. She has become – free, fearless, fluttering – one.

Amen.

*I call Ate Mila Mom because she has been like a mother to me, an orphan.
**Kuya Domeng is my Mom’s better half. For clarity, I affix Ate to her and Kuya to him. Although, without the writer’s need to clarify, I call them simply Dad and Mom.