Merry Christmas, 'Nay

Christmas is the season of hope, of sharing. It is the season of empowerment, too, because no better time of the year do we think of others more than ourselves than Christmastime.

This thought flooded my mind when last night my BFF Christine Dayrit and I clicked on the website of Caritas Manila (www.caritasmanila.org.ph) to watch a 32-minute short film titled Merry Christmas, ‘Nay. The film, written and directed by Kaye Jimenez and produced by Caritas Manila and Morning Star Productions, clearly telegraphs the Caritas’ advocacy for education. But more than that, it delivers the message that the reason for the season is God.

“Paborito ko talaga ang Pasko. Tuwing Pasko, masaya,” says the 12-year-old John Paul or JP, sincerely played by a newbie named Jason Ariel, at the opening of the film. The first line of the short film is juxtaposed against JP’s physical stance  dirty and hungry. Then the movie, with in medias res treatment, presents itself through a simple, sincere narrative.

Merry Christmas, ‘Nay tells the poignant yet heartwarming story of Miriam, Fr. Joseph and JP. Miriam, played naturally by Precious Lara Quigaman, is a janitress at Holy Infant Academy, a Catholic school where she also lives. Nothing much is said about her background except that she gives paramount dignity and dedication to her job albeit very silently because, to begin with, she is mute. Fr. Joseph, whose character is excellently essayed by Tommy Abuel, is the in-house priest of the school who also teaches values education to the kids. Like Miriam, he lives in the school compound where he also celebrates Mass in the school church. JP, on the other hand, is the child of Miriam not through biological means but by blissful encounter. JP, then newborn, was put in a shoebox by her real mother and left in the manger, which Miriam puts up every Christmas season. Miriam discovers the child among the life-size figures of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. He was baptized John Paul because of Miriam’s devotion to Pope John Paul II, whose photograph she always carries in her wallet.

Every Christmas, Miriam excitedly brings out all the characters of her belen from the storeroom of the church. With revelry and reverence in her heart, she decorates the manger and makes sure to copy the scene of the humble story that started Christmas. And ever since JP came into her life, she has also passed on the tradition of putting up the belen to her son, a humble Grade 6 scholar.

They have been living happily until the mother and son are separated physically because of Miriam’s infirmity. This family tragedy crushed the young JP to be brokenhearted and inconsolable that, perhaps because he doesn’t know any better, he finds temporary solace in the company of street urchins and roams around the streets of Manila. But fate has a way of bringing him back to the fold of Fr. Joseph. It is a scene reminiscent of the Prodigal Son when JP returns to the classroom.

During a class recitation, Fr. Joseph asks the students: “Edukasyon, kaalaman, pag-aaral  importante ba ang mga ito?” One student says education is important to attain to help other people. Another one says it is important to help his parents. JP raises his hand and answers: “Para matulungan ang sarili.”

Merry Christmas, ‘Nay  the first film project of Caritas Manila and also its first Internet-based advocacy  drives home the point that education is important to help one achieve one’s dreams. The need to educate oneself is the spawning ground of one’s dream to help others dream their dreams, too. For how can we help others if we don’t help ourselves first?

However, in a situation where quality higher education is not accessible to all, those who have been helped  and those who have little or extra to share  become the Santa Clauses who fulfill the wishes of those who dream big.

Kaye, also the executive producer of Merry Christmas, ‘Nay, says Caritas, through the benevolence of kindhearted spirits, sends 3,000 students to college and vocational schools. It is their intent  because the organization’s programs and services are directed towards the total human development of marginalized people and the promotion of social justice in the light of the church’s Catholic social teaching  to send 10,000 poor but deserving students to school in 2012.

The movie does not preach but presents what opportunities other people will reap if kindness of strangers becomes an ordinary happenstance. 

“Kapag may nagsarang pinto, may bintanang mabubuksan,” is a line that is repeated in the film. It is the mantra that Fr. Joseph teaches his class. It is the principle that guides Miriam in her silent portrayal of her role as a simple child of God. It is the moral compass that guides back JP to discovering his strengths, which are born out of his momentary juvenile weaknesses.

The movie teaches one gratitude, which is an intrinsic value that streams from the simplicity and sincerity of one’s heart. It encourages one to have ambitions  the launching pad for one who wants to follow the trail of a better life.

In a way, the movie also imparts that fear should not enter the heart and mind of a person who has a firm belief in God. Simply put, fear, as one of my friends says, is merely the absence of faith. The movie makes us trust in the faithfulness of God.

Merry Christmas, ‘Nay is a love story because all heartwarming Christmas tales are a story of love.

This season, sit back and relax. Please join the netizens (citizens of the net) and see this movie.

(For your new beginnings, please e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com or my.new.beginnings@gmail.com. You may want to follow me on Twitter @bum_tenorio. Have a blessed Sunday.)