It was a nostalgic experience for the event brought back memories of the respective Confirmations of three sons and an only daughter, now all forging lives of their own. It has been said that as one grows older, the easiest thing to do is "brew a hot bubbling cup of nostalgia." And that’s what happened to me that day. As Msgr. Escaler explained it when he spoke before the Confirmation rites, you receive the anointing of the chrism or holy oil at various stages of your Catholic life: at Baptism, then Confirmation after one attains the age of reason, at the ordination of a priest, and most likely when one becomes a full-fledged nun. It is also given when one is very ill or at the point of death through the sacrament of Extreme Unction, and of course, when one is returned to His Creator during the interment.
What makes the sacrament of Confirmation unique is the fact that through this rite, the seven gifts: wisdom, knowledge, counsel, understanding, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord are bestowed on you. The candidates for this particular sacrament that day were seated between their godparents, most likely, I thought to myself, chosen with great care, because we Filipino Catholics have always believed that the godparents’ goodness is transferred to the child. At least I know that my late husband and I chose the godparents of our children with utmost regard for this belief.
As I sat there and looked around me at the young boys and girls dressed in white barongs and dresses, I became overcome with deep longing for those days gone by all too swiftly in fact, when four young kids were unqualifiedly dependent on their Dad and Mom for happiness and fun, every day of their lives. You give them all the care and love, and all too swiftly, they vanish into maturity. All you can do is pray – pray for all of them with all your heart. Why has this line from Rudyard Kipling’s classic, "The Light That Failed," become so memorable and so true: "If I were damned of body and soul, I know whose prayers would make me whole, Mother o’ mine, O Mother o’ mine."
One extremely nice young mother, Lizzie Zobel, wife to Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (JAZA), chairman and president of Ayala Corporation, was seated on my right, and I found out from her that the young boy next to her was Gico Almendras, friend of their young son, Jaime Alfonso, who himself was at another pew seated between his godparents being likewise a candidate for Confirmation. Gerry Jalandoni sat on Gico’s right and was his godfather, as Lizzie was his godmother. JAZA sat at the pew behind us and I found out later that this head of one of the most respected and biggest business conglomerates of our country was to be the family photographer. It was like old "Home Week" for me. To my left sat Papat Escaler, herself my late husband’s baptismal goddaughter who is Eddie Lichauco’s niece. Papat was godmother to young Martin Lon, together with Joey Ozamis and Natalie Rivello. At the pew immediately behind sat my good friends Henry and Jojo Zabarte, who together with Roger Wilson and Zeny Cruz, all four of them godparents for David Koenigswarter, Eva and Patrick’s young son.
Yes indeed, nostalgia got the better of me as I listened to Msgr. Freddie, who has himself witnessed me evolve from the days when I was a young wife and mother, as he spoke to the young boys and girls and as he administered the rites of Confirmation. It was probably Divine Providence that I found myself watching a favorite prelate of the Catholic Church, being assisted by a favorite parish priest, Rev. Fr. Antonio Rosales OFM, who just celebrated his 35th year as a priest, unbelievable if you were to see Fr. Tony in person, for he does not look a day over 40, but already has done wonders with his flock.
As I listened to Msgr. Freddie expound on the gifts conferred by this sacrament, I could not help but think why we couldn’t go through another rite of this nature, halfway through our lives – the "Holy Sacrament of Re-confirmation." For it is at this point where, as vital adult citizens and movers of industry and business; decision-makers in government, in medical and legal practice, in economics, even in show business, and especially, in the military, and the other disciplines of life, that we need the Holy Spirit to rekindle those gifts of wisdom, knowledge, counsel, understanding, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord.
Can you imagine what these awesome gifts can do for the government functionaries, the government regulators and business tycoons, of course those powerful senators and congressmen, and the powerful LGU heads? As the prelate gives them the slap of strength which should be stronger this time around, for they are certainly older now, and enumerates those seven gifts, wouldn’t they be touched? Or, are they so hardened that they won’t be touched anymore? Many of them have never heard of Socrates’ famous statement that, "It is never right to do wrong, or to requite wrong with wrong; or when we suffer evil, to defend ourselves by doing evil in return." In an old celebrated book by George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant, which my late father gave me as I commenced my law course years ago, there is a line that has stuck in my mind and through the years that I was in government, whenever I ran into conflicts with a number of those powerful politicians who wielded their pre-eminence with such callous astuteness, I always got reminded by the valid significance of this particular line: "Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable..."
Indeed, as I sat through the Holy Mass after the Confirmation rites were administered to the young boys and girls, and remembered my own beloved progeny, I could not help but tell myself, "Why not the Holy Sacrament of Re-confirmation indeed!"