mo. cristina, ra, RIP
Why
is the gospel about the resurrection read today when we are just on the third
day of Christmas? Why is the gospel
narrating to us a tomb made empty by the resurrection read when we are still
celebrating his birth in a manger?
The
most obvious reason is this: today is
the feast of St. John, the beloved disciple who as narrated in our gospel today
was the first to reach the empty tomb.
It is to his name that the 4th Gospel is credited which
begins with this famous prologue read on Christmas day - in the beginning was
the word, and the word was in God and the word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we saw his
glory, glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth.
This as I said is the most obvious reason. The writer of this beautiful prologue
describing the birth of the son of God is also a witness, in fact the first
witness, to his rising from the dead.
And so the deeper reason follows the first reason
which is - the death and resurrection of the Lord are presupposed in his
incarnation. As a small cute little baby, he is the object of our
adoration and veneration as he lay there so still in the manger. But we also should know that this object of
our veneration is vulnerable, he is human as well as he is God, and he too will
suffer and die, he will feel loneliness, he will experience how it is to be
betrayed but he will also experience the warmth, the tenderness and perhaps the
imperfection too of human love. Today
our picture of Jesus is completed: there
can be no resurrection without the incarnation, there can be no rising from the
dead without the word becoming flesh and human.
In Jesus we cannot separate the joy of the manger, the sacrifice of cross
and the hope in an empty tomb.
Today as we gather, these thoughts are even made more
tangible by one whose presence in our lives, and now even just in our memories,
created and continues to create joy and gratitude; our thoughts are even made
tangible by one whose humble sacrifice as a religious added meaning and perhaps
direction as we all went beyond Assumption; and our thoughts are even made
tangible by one who is now laid in the tomb but whose memory gathers us even
today in silent defiance to that love and admiration that will never say die.
When I made this homily I had a hard time
remembering anything that would connect me to Mother Cristina. Well there were several encounters, mostly
recent. One when we were preparing the
launching of the centennial and we need people who will ring the centennial
bell which would include an alumna, two students, a boy and a girl, and an
assumption sister. We chose her because
she was the oldest in the community who can still ring a bell. Our line of thinking then was that she was in
a better age to represent a centennial. Imagine
that, though we did not tell her, which was the reason I believe why she was
beaming with joy happily ringing the bells.
The other memory is quiet embarrassing, this time when I had to take a
second look at her face thinking that she was wearing lipstick. Mother Cristina is a gentle woman, taking
things slowly, kindly, patiently.
Our teachers are dying - Sr. Julita, Mr. Clemente
Eclar, Sr., Mo. Cristina. It means that we are getting older. Dying in succession is also a gift. Teachers die first, then the students. It is better that in death we will be
remembered by our students rather than our teachers. Teachers are not to be trusted to say the
right things about their students when we die – they might even reveal our
grades. So it’s good to die in
succession. Do not overtake, stay in
line, so stay healthy.
This is one of the rewards of a woman religious –
one who has set aside family and loved ones for the greater family which is, in
the case of Mo. Cristina, the larger Family of Assumption; the reward of being
remembered by people not because you gave them your genes, your blood, your
family name or an inheritance, but because you gave them ideals, principles,
lessons in patience and gentleness, virtues that formed their character and
person, things that do not rot or rust, things that they bring through their
lives.
This December Mother Cristina like Jesus has
completed the way of one who is of human flesh, secundum carnem: she was born,
she had sacrificed her life for others, she is laid in a tomb. What awaits is the day when just like that of
Jesus, the tomb becomes empty.
Comments