by Telly G. Ocampo
Thank you, Lord, for the sunshine!
I’m wrote this article on the 7th of December – the day before the feastday of our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. As I wrote this piece, I also prayed for the sun to shine. The past weeks, the temperature was dreary as the skies were always dark causing the heavy rains to fall. The same situation stands until today.
Honestly, I still entertain some form of fear when the heavy rains come. This fear is a result of the ravage of Odette in the year end of 1991. Remember the havoc which Odette brought to our province last year? In fact, some of us are still recovering from the damage which the typhoon caused us.
Hence, I have been praying for intercession from the Blessed Virgin for the sun to shine brightly. When we were young, we were taught a prayer which I still recite today: “Remember, Oh most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession, was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto you, Oh Virgin of Virgins, my Mother; to you I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. Oh Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in your mercy hear and answer me. Amen.”
We celebrated last Thursday, Dec. 8, the feast of our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. But with all the many depressing things that are happening around us, I cannot understand why people spend frivolous things for a fiesta celebration. To me, a fiesta celebration is a feast of thanksgiving. We give thanks for friends who come to celebrate with us; for relatives who come to renew our family ties; for guests who come to relive friendship and camaraderie. A fiesta celebration is reconnecting the past to the present and remembering those who are close to our hearts as we miss them very dearly.
I really miss those days when I was still active and very active in the church activities – not to spend a lot for fiesta celebrations. That was the time when I and my family came home to Baclayon for good. I joined and participated wholeheartedly in the activities of church organizations: the Josefinians and the BACRAI. The former was for cleaning the church altar and preparing the priests’ vestments. This was work done only one Saturday every month. Inig ka human sa among trabaho sa pagpanghinlo, nahuman ma gyud. Nahuman as in nahuman.
BACRAI, on the other hand, was for the restoration project in celebration of our 400 years of Christianity. That started in 1995 and now the organization is almost defunct. The season of BACRAI has already passed.
There’s also another thing I’m praying for today and for the days, weeks and months to come. I’m praying for the Senate to junk the Maharlika Wealth Funds (MWF) funds proposed by Malalacañang and the Lower House of Congress. SSS and GSIS pensioners, please beware. Let’s have to be vigilant and join hands together in opposing this bill being proposed.
Lord, thank You for the “sunshine” in our life. Please let it shine brightly very often. Let the “sunshine” be in our midst always – not only to keep us warm, but also to remind us to spend wisely during fiesta celebrations. Let the sun “shine” to give us the energy to think against the MWF – the Maharlika Wealth Funds!
