Rewarded for keeping the faith in the Niño

CEBU, Philippines - It is hard to keep the faith when you feel God has abandoned you.

This is what happened to two Sto. Niño devotees when, at the lowest and saddest moments of their lives, they began to have doubts about their faith.

Yet, they held on, sustained by the same faith, and came out renewed and greater believers in the Holy Child’s love.

Trixie, a 30-year-old woman who requested anonymity, said she had a happy marriage until her husband left her for another woman in 2013.

Her son was four while her daughter was still one-month old that time.

She was so devastated that time and she always cried every night asking her husband to go back to them. He took no heed of her.

 “Adto nga times nga down kaayo ko, hapit na ko mo-give up,” she said.

“Naabot gyud ang point nakaingon ko nga naminaw ba kaha nako si Santo Niño,” Trixie said.

The Sto. Niño devotee said that it was at that stage when she came to understand that God was just testing her how far she can go with her faith and that the right time would come when her husband would go back to her.

In 2014, she and her husband were able to talk about their situation and they both agreed to live together with their kids.

And although she and her husband still fight and there are time s when he would not go home, she was thankful to the Senior Santo Niño because slowly, her wish was becoming true.

“Ang akong petition this fiesta nga unta magkahiusa mi nga usa ka malipayong pamilya. Dili man na karon dayon nga ihatag Niya mao nga wa gyud ko nawad-an og paglaom,” she said.

Not losing hope and faith is also the story of another Sto. Niño devotee, Jeffrey Ferigura, 23, of Carcar City, Cebu.

He said going to college was hard for him because his father lost his job as a cook in a shipping company so no one could support his studies financially.

To support himself, he worked as errand boy in Tabunok, Talisay City, accepted tutorials for kids and sold food to classmates.

“Usahay maglakaw ra ko gikan CIT-U (Cebu Institute of Technology University) hangtod Tabunok. Then gikan sa Tabunok na ko mosakay og padung Carcar para maka-save ko sa akong plete,” he said.

He had to give up his studies, though, because he lost his jobs and no one could support him.

It was also that time when his faith was tested when a friend in their religious organization accused him of stealing a cellphone just because he was the only one left in their meeting room.

He said it was a man, whom he did not know, who allegedly entered the room and requested for him to go outside because he was changing his clothes.    Ferigura said what hurt him more was that his friends also believed that he was the one who took the gadget.

“Ato nga time, nireklamo gyud ko ni Lord. Giingnan nako Siya: Nganong ako gyud nga nagbinootan man ko sa akong kinabuhi. Nagtarong man unta ko og eskwela. I cried a lot of tears and I asked a lot of questions. I thought God left me,” he said.

It was when he was asking those questions that he remembered he broke his promise to go to their university’s chapel everyday and pray to the Holy Child.

 “But when I started praying again every day, many good things happened,” he said.

Ferigura said their college dean sent three classmates to their place in Carcar and told him that someone was willing to pay his tuition fees for the year until he could get a new scholarship and that a CIT-U staff also provided him his allowance every week until he can graduate from college.

Last 2013, Ferigura graduated Cum Laude and immediately got a job with the Sisters of Mary Schools- Girlstown Inc. as a Science teacher.

“Now, I am working as a tutor and a call center agent at night and a (mining engineering) student by day. I am also a review center lecturer to LET reviewees at A1 Pedagogy, occasionally,” he said.

He said he would not be where he is now if not for the Santo Niño and for his determination. (FREEMAN)