Life is Like a Tire

Last Sunday was quite a busy time for me.  After going to church with Chiara, we headed home for lunch and then, while she was watching TV, I was on Skype to talk to a cousin in the Philippines.  Later on we went to a neighbour's home for a children's party.  Chiara had a great time with the other kids.  I also enjoyed meeting new faces and getting to know more about our neighbours and other guests.  Conscious that I need to prepare our dinner and fetch Nidz from work, we thanked our generous hosts and left.  

It was 20 minutes to 8.  I told Chiara that it was time for us to fetch her Mommy.  As I was driving I heard something different.  "This is the first time I felt the car this way!", I told myself.  Because I was in a hurry, I just carried on driving.  Nidz's workplace is not that far from us anyway.  We arrived at the hospital after about 5 minutes. There was a parking space available (my usual spot) so I headed in that direction.  Chiara, surprisingly, was fast asleep. It has been a long day for her.  I went out of the car to check what's going on. My suspicion was that one of the tires needed more air.  It was more than that. One of the rear tires was deflated!

When Nidz arrived, I showed her what happened. "Daddy, you can't drive like that!", she said.  I tried to call breakdown service twice, but they were not available.  I sent a text message to Meng, a friend and Chiara's godfather, who lives nearby asking for help.  He later phoned me up to ask what's the problem.  In a few minutes, he arrived.  He first tried to use a small pump, but it didn't work.  I was getting nervous.  I felt like the day was going to end in a low note.  He went back to his car to get something. It was Tyreweld, a cylinder container whose contents would not only inflate the tire, but also get the puncture sorted.  In a matter of a few minutes, the tire was good as new!  We left the place with unending pasasalamat to Pareng Meng.

I suddenly remembered a similar situation way back in September 2012 during our visit to New York.  After seeing our relatives in Staten Island, we headed back to Manhattan where we were staying. Nidz and my mother travelled with a cousin and went ahead of us.  While Nicola, Chiara, and I were on my aunt's car. My father was with us.  My aunt and godmother Ninang Joji drove us.  As we entered Battery Park Tunnel (which connects Manhattan and Brooklyn), all of us felt as though we were all bouncing, as though we were passing through potholes.  As the tunnel has 2 lanes with vehicles moving on the same direction, drivers from the other lane were signalling to us, pointing at one of our tires.  Ninang Joji stopped the car.  Although there were barriers separating the 2 lanes, the vehicles at the back sensed the problem and managed to overtake when it was safe to do so. (The barriers, by the way, are made of thin plastic so cars can just pass through easily.)

In spite of how busy these lanes can be, I was surprised and touched that other drivers would stop for a few minutes to check on us and even offered to contact New York Police Department (NYPD). My aunt and father thanked them for their kindness.  A few minutes later 2 policemen arrived and told us that one of the rear tires (the one near to where I sat) was severely punctured.  The car had to be towed outside the tunnel.  We have to ride NYPD cars.  Chiara, Ninang Joji, and I were on one car while Papa and Nicola were on the other.  Chiara kept on talking to the policeman.  At one point she told the cop how handsome he was!  The cop graciously told her "Thanks, sweetie. Unfortunately I cannot fix your car".  He later asked where Nidz was and Chiara told him that her mom is a nurse.  "My wife is a nurse too", quipped the officer.  (Incidentally, Pareng Meng's wife is also a nurse.) He told us that at that moment his wife is working in the hospital. All throughout that ordeal, the cops were reassuring.  We were grateful for all their help. As it was getting late, Nicola, Chiara, and I took a cab to my sister's apartment.  Papa and Ninang Joji stayed for almost an hour for breakdown assistance to replace the tire before returning to Staten Island.

There's this Filipino saying that goes "Ang buhay ay parang gulong. Minsan nasa ibabaw ka. Minsan naman nasa ilalim ka" (Freely: Life is like a tire. Sometimes you are on top. Sometimes you are at the bottom.).  These two incidents made us feel that we are at the bottom. And yet, these were also moments when men of goodwill uplifted us.  They give deeper meaning to the 'salt of the earth and light of the world' which Jesus mentioned in this Sunday's Gospel.  They showed us how it is to love and be loved.

Clean

I was thinking of an article in honor of the Immaculate Conception when I found myself in the clinic with Nidz and Chiara a few weeks ago. Chiara, now about 15 months old, was due for her booster vaccine shot. During her first few months, we were regularly in the clinic for various injections: BCG, whooping cough, etc. The baby is a brave girl though, parang walang nangyari (as though nothing happened to her).

Mary’s immaculate conception in her mother’s womb has been a dogma defined by the Church for 155 years already. Ages before that though Catholics from across the globe have already believed that Mary was conceived without original sin, that tendency to commit faults which we have inherited from our first parents. The Archdiocese of Manila is a good example – it has been established under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception centuries before the dogma was defined!

Not everyone though believed in this grace that God bestowed on Mary. St Thomas Aquinas himself did not subscribe to it, according to Bishop Ted Bacani, saying that if Mary was conceived without original sin, then Jesus would not be the Redeemer of mankind!

If kids are given a vaccine to prevent them from catching certain diseases, the Immaculate Conception of Mary, I think, is God’s preventive measure so that His Son’s would-be Mother would not be a ‘carrier’ of that disease called sin which the Son has come to defeat and conquer. I read in one article that, in this ‘singular grace of God’ Jesus has shown how great a great Redeemer He is that He prevented one of His creatures, Mary, from owing that debt (i.e. sin) from Him.

What does this feast tell us then? At a time when we’re getting ready for Christmas, we are called to be clean and to come clean.

Jesus once said “Blessed are the clean of heart for they shall see God.” True enough the Blessed Virgin not only saw Him, but bore Him in her womb “with love beyond telling” as mentioned in one of the Advent Prefaces said at Mass. We too in a way bear the Lord in our hearts through the Word proclaimed and the Bread partaken at Mass. If we are to bear Him, then we need to keep ourselves clean like tidying up the house for an expected guest.

Elections in the Philippines are going into full swing soon and voters have to be on the watch on how clean these presidentiables and other candidates are in terms of lifestyle and platform of governance. Of course, most if not all of them will say they want to serve the country. Yet we need to see how pure their intentions are. I’m glad that Senator Noynoy Aquino has been making his stand known on many issues like the perennial debt servicing, the Hacienda Luisita, population control, etc. By letting his voice heard, he is slowly moving away from the shadow of his revered parents and proving that he is his own man. On the other hand, I was amused upon hearing that if Senator Jamby Madrigal would be elected president she would hale into court her relatives for allegedly having a hand in disinheriting her from her late aunt’s will. Next candidate please!

Coming clean can sometimes be hard especially when we thought we could get away with our wrongdoings. And then the moment of truth just slapped us on the face. We hit rock bottom, but we should rise up again. I am saying these not on ideal words, but from someone who has experienced the pain of the truth revealing itself at a time least expected. I managed to rise up though, thanks to God who has implanted in my poor soul that hope for recovery. Thanks too to the Blessed Mother who has never turned her back on me.

The recent massacre in Maguindanao has caught the world’s attention on the often frightening political climate in the south. As of this writing three suspects from the powerful Ampatuan clan, have been brought to jail. They have to come clean and I join the rest of our countrymen in asking the government to let justice be served swiftly, without any consideration for political affinity and debt of gratitude – the Ampatuans are members of the ruling political party.

As we once again celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, let us be strong in our resolve as individuals and as a country to follow the example of our Patroness and Mother. If we do so, then peace would be ours as assured by the angels when they first sang the Gloria in that little town of Bethlehem 2,000 years ago.

Ave Maria purisima sin pecado concebida!

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This feast is memorable to me, as you would know, because on this date Nidz and I began our relationship 16 years ago. She’s cooking something special tonight! I love you, Mommy!

Talking about relationships, this date also marks the 26th wedding anniversary of Tito Paul and Ninang Joji Pablo. Many happy returns to you two on this great occasion!

Finally, it’s my father Mario’s 59th birthday today. My skill in writing has been honed through correspondence between me and my dad when I was still a little boy. Having migrated to the States to work, the only mode of communication we had then were telephone and snail mail. A friend described him as my ‘Number 1 fan’ in the web. Thank you, Papa. Have a wonderful day!

Answered Prayers

There are some moments when I just think of how St Joseph went about dealing with events like when Mary his wife was about to give birth. For example, did he assist her in delivering the baby? Did he change nappies (though they may be in their crude form then or none at all), woke up every now and then to assuage a crying baby, cancel some appointments to attend to the child's needs? Some may scoff at my rather 'human' perception of saints, but very often we have romanticized these holy men and women that we ignore the fact that they too lived like any ordinary human being.

As a dad myself, I have seen this great man not from a far distance, but just next to me. He is no longer a man who lived a simple though wonderful life with his family in some distant land long ago. He is alive in each and every man who strive to imitate his example.

When Lola Piling, my grandmother, was still alive she has been a devotee of St Joseph. She is often seen garbed in green, a colour attributed to St Joseph. She would later tell me that St Joseph is the patron of good husbands and fathers. It's then not surprising how Lolo Paul lived faithfully his vocation as a husband and father. As far as I could remember, he was man with a few words. He can be strict and would physically punish us when we erred.

But when he speaks there is depth in the message he conveys - I have in my possession a talk he delivered in the late 60s and the early 80s and reading through these, I am astounded. If he were still alive, I would have asked him to write for the web! As conscientious parents, he and Lola Piling raised their children in the Catholic faith and provided them with good education.

St Joseph is also the patron of a peaceful death. As she related for a couple of times, Lolo Paul passed away in a quick and peaceful manner. He didn't suffer a lingering illness in hospital. After having lunch, he stood up but felt dizzy. He fell on the floor, I was told. Sensing that his end is near, his wife whispered prayers on his ear. He would later breathed his last.

My grandmother lived for another 26 years. Interestingly, there was no one to witness her death. She was just found sat on a chair in her room lifeless - with her rosary on the floor. "Banal" (Holy) as Msgr Nico Bautista would tell me when I intimated to him her death.

St Joseph has granted Lola Piling's prayers. Whatever we are asking for through St Joseph, rest assured that these will also be given to us at God's appointed time.

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The number 19 has been a special number for St Joseph's devotees. Lola Piling told me how she received many graces in various forms and shapes on the 19th of the month. Maria Josefina, their youngest daughter, was actually born on the 19th of March (Happy birthday, Ninang Joji!).

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The Queen of Families Rosary Group has begun its traditional Way of the Cross in Barangay 170, Gagalangin, Tondo, Manila last 1st March and will continue every Sunday of Lent until 6th April (Palm Sunday). The group has been organising this Lenten activity since 1998. I would like to congratulate the group, led by its president, Tita Luz Lina, assure them of my prayers for many more years of keeping this Lenten activity alive. If you live nearby and want to reflect on the Lord's passion, death, and resurrection this Lent, please come along. The event starts at 8pm.

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Talking about Lent, you may have been doing any (or all) of these As: Ayuno (fasting), Abstinence, Alms-giving. Want to do something new? Why don't you try Anluwage.com for a change?