March 8 is International Women’s’ Day. This coincides with the birthday anniversary of an important woman in my life: the doctor who assisted my mother in giving birth to me, the devotee who introduced me to St Joseph, the lay woman who inspired me to love the Mass and the Church, the mother who took the extra mile on many, many, many occasions to financially and morally support me and my siblings – my Lola Piling.
At this time, we are celebrating worldwide the Year of Priests. In the Philippines, this is also the Year of the Two Hearts (of Jesus and Mary).
As a kid, Lola Piling would have wanted me to be a priest which was probably why she encouraged and tagged me along many religious activities in the hospital, parish, and elsewhere. For some reason, in spite how people see me as ‘religious’, I didn’t have the calling for such a noble vocation. During the Requiem Mass we offered for her in 2000, the late Fr Abet Tanghal told us in his homily that Lola desired to have a priest son. Tito Chito, her fifth son, already expressed an intention to enter the priesthood, had it not been for that tragedy that cost his life. At any rate, Lola supported seminarians (including Fr Abet) through the Association of St John Marie Vianney. Apart from that, she was indeed a helping hand to the parish priests of Gagalangin particularly the late Monsignors Pedro Pajarillo (under whose watch she was appointed President of the Parish Council) and Feliciano Santos.
During my early twenties, she heard news that I was critical of our parish priest and, because of that, was attending Mass elsewhere. She persuaded me not to behave as such, but true to my zodiac sign I was stubborn as a Taurus! In the following months since then, I was surprised that this priest reached out to me and my friends and were soon reconciled. Word has it that she was instrumental in this reconciliation. I was, however, unable to verify this.
Her devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is remarkable. Besides having each house and building she owned having an image of the Lord, she attended Holy Hours and received Communion every First Friday of the month. She was a Promoter of the Apostleship of Prayer (the association devoted to the Sacred Heart); she later bequeathed to me this responsibility when I was working in St Rita Hospital. She is often heard to pray "Sweet Heart of Jesus, be my love. Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation" and would advise people to invoke "Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in Thee."
I remember when I was 12 years old, we were gathered in the hospital chapel to pray the Novena to the Sacred Heart. She gave a brief talk of how efficacious the devotion to the Sacred Heart was by sharing a miracle that happened to her years ago when she was diagnosed to have a heart disease, an ailment that she did not even told Lolo Paul. With faith and trust, she prayed that Lord would lend her His heart. Indeed, Jesus heard her prayer. She recovered! Looking back, I’m thankful that the Lord granted her request. There came a time when we have no one else to turn to except her. Call me emotional, but life would have been much, much difficult to handle if she were not around.
As I pay tribute to Lola on her 95th birthday, I would like to renew my resolve to support our priests in every way we can, to pray for more vocations (There will come a time when one of Lola’s direct descendants would become a priest!), and to always seek what the Lord’s heart is yearning for (Lola’s motto was “Thy will be done”).
Let me close this article through a song which we (Lola’s grandchildren from the Albano, Alcantara, Marquez, and Mendoza families) sang for her birthday celebration in 1982. It was a memorable and ‘unique’ birthday party for her with only us members of the clan in attendance.
Happy 95th Birthday, Lola Piling! Maraming salamat po sa lahat-lahat!
