all hail to our beloved assumption
T Theodbriel Villariza - theobird to my classmates, Assumption Iloilo, batch 91 - 95.
R Richard Daulo - Richard to my classmates, Assumption Iloilo, batch 87 - 91.
A Alejandro Esperancilla, Alibabes to my classmates, Assumption Iloilo, batch 79 - 83
T We represent 3 decades of Assumption, not enough to cover the 10 decades,
R but more than enough to speak for the majority of us gathered here today.
A Forgive us if we are positioned in such a way that after this homily you will feel you have just watched a Wimbledon Match with your neck turning from one side of the chapel to the other. This was done on purpose, so that you won’t fall asleep.
And so we begin.
T If homilies can have titles, this homily is entitled Defying Gravity.
A We entitled it as such because we have to admit that our French never went beyond bon jour and bon soir and our tongues will have difficulty repeating, for God knows how many times in this homily, our tongue-twister, nose pinching theme “Assumption sans frontiers”.
R Though not a literal translation, we believe that our translation expresses the true spirit of what we are celebrating today.
A Defying gravity . . . why defying gravity?
T Because this is what THE Assumption is all about - Mary was taken up to heaven body and soul. When human life ends the soul goes back to God and the body goes the way of all mortal flesh to rot in the grave and turn back to dust, however in the case of Mary it was not just her soul that found its way back to God, for her flesh, her body was also taken up to heaven with her soul. Her body did not go the way of all flesh. It did not undergo corruption.
R But we would like to go beyond the official line of the Catholic Church. We would like to go farther by saying that Mary whether in life or in death had always defied gravity.
A Mary whether in life or in death had defied the natural downward pull of life.
T Mary defied the downward pull of life when she followed with faith even though she did not understand things.
R Mary instinctively re-directed Elizabeth’s attention of praise to God who did the mighty things in her life, when she could have basked in the honor and praise rendered by Elizabeth’s “blessed are you among women”.
T Mary at the wedding in Cana defied once more the seeming affront of her Son when she was told right on her face, woman what is that to you and to me - but instead of sulking, instead of brooding like an over acting teenager, Mary bounced up from that seeming affront and orders the servants to do what his Son would tell them to do.
A Again finally, Mary defied the natural downward pull of life when she bravely stood beneath the cross instead of cowering in fear and prostrating in sorrow for the death of her son.
T This was the pattern of Mary’s life, that when her feelings pulled her leftward she pulled them rightward. When her situation pulled her downward she would provide the opposite pull to bring herself upward. Thus at the end of her life it was thus proper that it should also be the pattern of her death, that when our mortal destiny condemns us to move down to rot in our graves, she moved up to live in the bosom of God. The pattern of her life became too the pattern of her death.
This is THE Assumption, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
A But defying gravity is not just the story of Mary culminating in the Assumption. This is also the story, the mission of OUR Assumption - our beloved Assumption.
T Has anybody here remembered or even dared to ask why the sisters call themselves the Religious of the Assumption - not by any other name but of the Assumption? Why not for example Religious of the Nativity or RN instead of RA? Setting aside the problem that they might be mistaken as Registered Nurses instead of nuns, it would have been a more appropriate title to Sr. Paz who can very well live up to that name . . . she still looks very young, she does not seem to grow old, and to be by her side you have this great feeling that time stopped somewhere and you’re still in Grade five.
R Or why not the Religious of the Resurrection or RR which I believe will appropriately describe Sr. Nilda and Sr. Claire . . . at least beginning tomorrow, that is, after all these things centennial are said and done. And besides, after all these activities, they need an R and R.
A Appropriate indeed.
T But seriously now, why Religious of the Assumption? Why an RA?
A When we, the three of us, reflected about it 4 days ago, we concluded that the Assumption is not just about Mary. It must also have something to do with the life and mission of Marie Eugenie and therefore it must also have something to do with our beloved Assumption. You have heard the story probably hundreds of times before.
R Marie Eugenie suffered. After a happy childhood, his father, a man of politics and a banker, went bankrupt. This bankruptcy did not just make them poor, it also broke the family apart. Her mother and father separated ways. She went with her mother. Louis her beloved brother went with his father.
T But the pain did not stop there, for as they say when it rains it pours, and tragedy really poured in her life. Marie Eugenie was alone at the age of 15. Her mother who meant everything to her, died suddenly because of cholera.
R And yet, wonder of wonders, later in her life she would say something that has become too familiar to us now. She said: “It pains me to hear this earth called a land of exile. I consider it a place of glory for God.”
Now how can this woman so filled with anguish in her adolescence come up with such an observation that the earth is not a land of exile, or a land of bitterness and pain? How can she say that this is a place of God’s glory . . . unless
A . . . unless she defied the natural downward pull in her life; unless she refused to be trampled around by the tragedies of her life, unless she found the courage and the determination to pull herself out of her misery.
Marie Eugenie’s life imbibed the spirit and movement of the assumption of Mary because of her conscious refusal to be sucked up by the sorrows of this valley of tears, because she refused to play by the rules of destiny and the natural consequence of a deprived adolescence, and because she permitted herself to be snatched up as it were by God from the burdens that weigh her down.
T Life is a good teacher if only we know how to listen, if only we could learn to separate the chaff from the grain.
A Yesterday I had this traumatic experience, (almost raped would be more appropriate a description). I was put on a hot seat where I was photographed between two former classmates one claiming to be my crash and the other claiming to be my first love. As always my attitude towards this is - never confirm and never deny. Some playful thoughts came to mind: what if I realized then that at least two beautiful girls indeed were competing for me, would I have second thoughts on the priesthood? I jokingly dared ask myself this question because as it is right now, at 44 and already with arthritis, I think it’s already too late to do anything about it anyway. This banter may be just one of those playful things we do during homecomings, what with this great feeling of being kids again.
But it gives us some food for thought that even our past experiences of failure, our many misses in life and even our dire experiences now, can become channels of grace. It is a matter of seeing things, it is a way of accepting and embracing reality, it is a way of responding to the call of the present by not simply surrendering, drifting and flowing with the current, but to stay above it, and even to swim against it, to expend the opposite pull or the opposite force. This is the same movement that culminates in THE Assumption, the very same pattern.
R It is this same refusal to be pulled down by the natural force of gravity that Marie Eugenie passes on to us now: First to her community of nuns when she instituted in them that lively interplay of contemplation and apostolic action in the world - the pull of prayerful bliss pulled by the force of action in the world; the pull of doing something balanced by the pull of being in prayer;
T then to the schools she founded where she deftly combined science and religion, reason and faith uniting the past treasures of the Church’s wisdom with an education able to satisfy the demands of modern minds;
R and to the collaborators she formed when she encouraged them to become actively involved in the transformation of communities instead of just merely waiting it out as recipients.
A It is going through the movement of assumption when we come to believe that there is life and fulfilment beyond the self, that there can be a thinking outside the box, there can be a movement beyond the ordinary and the expected, and there can be a loving beyond your closest kin. The earth is too small for my love. This is not to underestimate the largeness of the earth but rather this is to emphasize the potential of our hearts. This is the gift of Assumption Education, a gift of a hundred years - a gift that is based on the faith of her foundress, a faith borne out of her experience, on the great possibilities that is present in all of us, in every kid, in every alumanae, in every alumni.
T Every year, for mission month, I would make my own mission box courtesy of the old shoe boxes of my grandmother. I neatly covered this with bond paper, slitting a hole right at the center and bring it around with me wherever I go during school days. Even my mother’s office where I go for lunch each day was not spared from my aggressive collection drive, and that includes practically all the offices in the Third floor of La Sallette Building. Probably the motive was a little bit mundane - for our class to garner the title of having the most collection for the missions. But at that tender age you begin to see the whole picture, the whole picture of a world bigger than I ever imagined and the need to help the missions so as to bring Christ to its farthest corner.
R I had experienced something unique in grade school. Examination days were also days for faculty meetings then. So the teachers gave us the exams and leave us on our own to answer them. We called it the honor system. It was a very simple way of teaching us honesty and I would add quite risky too. But the lesson it taught stuck. On my honor is honesty not something one flaunts about. It is not even intended to be seen. It is an honesty that is lived borne out from the center and in the secret of one’s heart, in the secret of one’s relationship with God, . It is an honesty which stands on solid ground for it stands on my honor.
A We wore short pants in school until we were grade 4 and the fashion then was to wear the three stripes Adidas tennis shoes. I was wearing then a high cut black Edwardson tennis shoes, the type of shoes with rubber soles but uses cloth for its upper parts. It was a convenient shoe but peer pressure required me to put pressure on my parents to buy me the three stripes. The reason given was - Joemarie Cacho, Michael Divinigracia, Monet de los Santos among others all wore the three stripes. This was the way things were until one day Mr. Sorongon told me to stand in front of the class while he lectured on the necessity and even the beauty of buying the Philippine made Edwardson Tennis shoes. And all of a sudden everybody was looking at my legs down to my shoes, seriously scrutinizing them like I was a beauty pageant contestant. Though it came to be remembered as one of the longest time in my life, that Edwardson shoes stayed with me until I was grade 5. Assumption may be the home of the quintessential colegiala and indeed they are and most especially they were, but the majority of the so called elite in this school were never deprived of a lesson or two in patriotism, and that pride for everything Filipino.
R And this is what Our Assumption, our beloved Assumption is to all of us and we believe that each one of us here may have an abundance of stories to tell if only given the chance.
A We may have forgotten the books we read, the math problems we have solved and the things we wrote. But Our Assumption remains for us a place where we get in touch once more with the lessons we learned, with the values we shared and the attitudes it formed and the joy that has sustained us through the years. We define her now from what we remember, the persons we met, the games we played, the lessons we learned, the songs we sung. The perspective may vary from year to year, from person to person, an endless litany of experiences.
T Assumption is where sisters are called mothers
R and teachers were called Miss regardless of status.
A Assumption is: Miss Cabrera shouting at me after I cleaned the board, Alejandro, you’re such a gentleman.
R Assumption is soccer played like baseball . . . ever heard of electric ins? . . . only in Assumption.
A Mr. Eclar immediately fixing, hammering, painting the things we’ve messed up.
T Assumption is: Sr. Magpie running around playfully to get hold of my ears.
A Sr. Clara for being there to stop me from crying and giving me new friends
T The jolly Sr. Filomena always stopping by to kick the ball and regardless where the ball went, we cheered her nevertheless.
A Miss Divinagracia, strict, prim, proper, breaking up the thick unruly crowd like Moses passing through the Red Sea.
T Miss Budomo volleyball coach, so motherly to all, I can even say to her, “miss wala ako plete puli.”
A Assumption is: Alex fixing my uniform when I forgot to wear my ID.
R Medicine campaign for the sick.
A William Ng, Paul Bacaling operating a caterpillar with surgical precision in the restroom, no wonder not one of us ended up becoming doctors.
A Assumption is: Mother Blanca and her morning talks
T Assumption is St. Anne’s Hall where I sung, Saan ka man naruruon sinta, the Candy man can, and ten little Indians
A Where I was made a prince dancing with my princess in the King and I.
R Assumption is: The chapel - Chapel visits,
A Sr. Encarnacion, letting me hold my first chalice
T Holy Hours, Benediction and Confessions,
A where scary sisters were, even in their tombs.
R Assumption is: Old clothes campaign at every natural calamity
T Sr. Catherine Mary whose slow and gentle gait made this boy think a saint was passing by.
R Assumption is: “On this lovely day.”
T “Assumpta est Maria ...”
A “I am my beloved and he is mine his banner over me is love.”
R Assumption is: Catechism classes at the Central School just across the street.
A Sr. Carmela for the SCOOP. Falling down the fish pen after visiting the poor, I fell, bathed in mud, and while everyone laughed, she wiped me dry.
T Assumption is: Catching falling leaves from the acacia tree for luck.
[other memories we were told we should have included in this rundown of memories): Black berries; Sr. Julia; spaghetti open sandwich during recess; Joel and Dulce Adrias, most talked about love-team; Assumption tart; Assumption meat; Silence Period; Miss Jurilla; pulling the rope for the bell of the chapel
A Varied indeed, and yet in all things, what made these varied experiences one is the movement she instilled in us - the movement we simply called assumption - the opposite pull that went against the curve, or the opposite force that flowed against the current.
This is her gift to us, a gift for one hundred years. In Assumption, in the movement we simple called assumption, we learned to defy gravity.
T This is Our Assumption!
R Thank you Assumption!
A All hail to our beloved Assumption!
T- Theodbriel Villariza
R - Richard Daulo
A - Andy Esperancilla
Comments