My Mother Came Back Home

It is extremely challeging to write about something or someone you hold very dear in your heart and regard with great awe.

I have two mothers. One of them--the one who reared me in her womb and nurtured me tenderly into what I am now, passed away when I was barely in my teens.Before her passing at a young age of 39, she had inculcated in me all the values I would need to cope well in my life's journey.

This is about my second mother, the one who has not really left me. She is the one who keeps coming back despite me abandoning her-- or so I thought.The first mother introduced her to me. She taught me how to pray the Holy Rosary in recognition of this Mother's special role in the life of our Saviour. My mother convinced me that every decade of the Rosary is my staircase to heaven. She encouraged me to attend the NOvena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help every Wednesday.The said Novena adresses every possible human concerns and ideals from our personal needs-both temporal and spiritual-- to our role in the community as we travel with our fellow human beings, from God and back to God.In turn, I gifted my only daughter with this Novena prayer.

Neither my daughter nor I have been using the Novena prayers to our Mother of Perpetual Help. I just try to look at it and read a line or two from time to time. For years I have not attended the same novena. Life has taken on a dizzyingly fast turn, the devotion to Mother Mary was one of the precious treasures jettisoned out of my overloaded vessel. Even the Holy Rosary became too long and too repetitious to merit special time from my loaded schedule. Though in my mind, I value it as a string of roses that I can lay before the feet of her son, Jesus.

When I was a child, attending the Novena and going to church for that matter was not only pleasurable-- it was also rewarding. Our catechism teacher used to give us cards for every attendance. It has an equivalent points which the children can use to exchange with gifts on Christmas day. Besides, going to our church anytime of the day and night was a few lesiurely steps away. Our church, Saint Francis Xavier Parish Church of Nasugbu, Batangas was right in front of the house I grew up in. Our former house and the church still stand porch to porch till now, many decades later.

But my Mother--just like the first mother who I believed had stored enough prayers for us her 10 children in her short lifetime-- has not given up on me. Now she is making a very strong come back.

During the Last November 30 Christmas party of my Centering prayer group, a friend and elder in the Centering group, Agnes Chan, gifted me with the book "The LIFE of MARY" by Raphael Brown. It promises an intimate re-encounter between Mother Mary and Me. Another friend, Mayette Dolor handed me a laminated image of "Our Lady of Mary Mediatrix of all Grace. It fills up the void in my private altar in a prominent corner of my home office. Yesterday, Wednesday, December 5, I brought my daughter to her new station where she takes a convenient ride to Makati where she works. The station is located right inside the patio of the Marikina Church of the Immaculate Conception. The Holy Mass was ongoing. Right after the Mass was held the --lo and behold-- The NOvena to our Mother of Perpetual Help followed. Once again, I presented all my concerns, my dreams and everything else to my Mother. As if no time gap has separated me from my Mother.

This morning as I was mulling over writing this blog, yet another surprise from my Mother was waiting on the wings. It is an e-mail from a new-found mentor and friend, Bro. Ric de Leon, carrying the "Totus Tuus" prayer by Pope John Paul II.

Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea Tua sunt.

Accipio Te in mea omnia.

Praebe mihi cor Tuum, Maria.



I am all yours, and all I have is yours.

I welcome you into all my affairs and concerns.

Show me your heart, O Mary.

¯¯¯

Totus tuus sum, Maria,

Mater nostri Redemptoris.

Virgo Dei, Virgo pia,

Mater mundi Salvatoris.



I am all yours, Mary,

Mother of our Redeemer,

Virgin of God, Holy Virgin,

Mother of the Saviour of the world.

This Divine truth I now see. My Mother, Mother Mary--introduced to me by my mother, Perla de Veas Riñoza, and God's lasting and ever precious gift, has never left me. Mother Mary has always been dwelling in my psyche, and even if I abandon her ever so often, she will keep coming back home to me in my full consciousness. For after all, she has really never left and together with her Son, Jesus, will never leave me alone.

Manila Pen Seige Gone Kaput? Not Really

Apparently, it was a pursuit of idealism that went pfft. But if only for the flicker of hope--though very short-lived--it generated among those longing for political reforms, the defiant stance by former Lieutenant,now inactive senator, Antonio Trillanes IV & Brigadier General Danilo Lim, was not entirely futile. This is not to condone what they did because no matter how noble their objectives were, lawlessness in their pursuit,can not be countenanced.

Trillanes & Lim bolted out of a Makati court hearing last November 29,2007, where they were being tried for the 2003 Oakwood mutiny and February 2006 Mutiny respectively; followed by civilian supporters, foremeost of whom were former Vice-Pres Teofisto Guingona and former University of the Philippines President Francisco Nemenzo. They briskly walked and holed themselves up at the Makati Peninsula Hotel. As they did, they were calling for the people to reject President GMA and asking them to join them in Makati. Senator Trillanes had fiery passion in his eyes; Brig. Gen. Lim had power in what he repeatedly uttered: "Dissent without astion is consent."

The walk-out and seige of Manila Peninsulat Hotel appeared spontaneous and lacked coordination. Filipinos of common mind and stand were taken by surprise. Among them was ex-Ambassador Roy Señeres who would have joined them and said he felt bad that he was not informed of said move.

Bayan Muna Represnetative Satur Ocampo considered it naivete on the part of the two active dissenters to have carried out the seige without an organized broad support from the people.

For I while, I fantasized Trillanes and Lim doing a Ninoy for the cause of Filipino people's freedom from a widely-perceived to be a discredited and corrupt dispensation.

In 6 hours it looked like all was over. All dissenters were hauled to Bicutan detension in handcuffs, including the brave media people who have imbedded themselves in the middle of the action to the finish, after a government overkill which sent a battallion of soldiers and two war tank rambling into the Christmassy halls of Manila Peninsula.

But nothing is over. For as long as the people values democratic freedom and decent governance which majority of the Filipinos do, active dissent such as the Manila Pen seige may happen again and again when people are driven by utter helplessness and desperation.

Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) contributor and political analyst Amando Doronila has written the following warning:

The Peninsula insurrection may have collapsed, but the grievances that drove the rebels to desperate action remain smoldering underneath unless addressed seriously. XXXXXXXXXX There are more than enough grievances to feed plots inside the military to seize power. The more serious plotters have learned the lesson that they can't seize power by turning their guns at hotels. The next time around, the guns will be blazing at Malacañang. (PDI, Dec. 3,2007)