Finding St. Anthony

Last week I attended a baptism in Cavinti. I passed by Pagsanjan, Laguna, where I saw old Spanish-inspired houses still standing. Enthralled by the Spanish period’s architecture, I alighted from the car and walked two blocks down the main road to photograph the stone houses. Photographing houses, I noticed some still occupied, others cared for but empty and there were those surrounded by weeds and devoid of occupants. Fixing my hair bun, I felt for my gold tambourine earrings. One was missing. As we were trying to find it, I prayed to St. Anthony: “Help me find my earrings, please.” For almost 30 minutes we tried, I was about to give up looking and leave for Manila.

It so happened that young Lt. Colonel Bob Bacarro from Paniqui, Tarlac and a Medal of Valor recipient was returning to his Brigade in Cavinti, Laguna when he saw me by the sidewalk. Our trip back to Manila was delayed a bit. I hadn’t seen him since 1998 and it was a heartwarming “by the road” reunion. As our conversation went on, Harold, my driver, spotted the earring in the canal under the iron grills. Our companion, Mike, had screwdrivers and twisted some screws from the iron grills loose but the majority were bolted so tightly, our efforts proved futile. Lt. Col. Bacarro said he had a wire he could fashion into a hook while his men found and scraped a bamboo stick thin with a pocketknife. Soon, we had an improvised “fishing rod” and inserted the hook into the narrow openings of the grills. Twice the enlisted men failed but on the third try, while cheering them on, the earring was raised gingerly through the grills. Just finding it was a miracle and for sure it was through St. Anthony’s intercession.

St. Anthony is called the saint of miracles. Well, wouldn’t you be devoted to him? Through him I found my missing yellow diamond ring. I had mentioned the loss to my daughter on our way to Hans Bruman’s jewelry store. Two months of searching had been in vain. Still, I persistently prayed. Viewing the store’s display I was approached by Hans: “What would you like me to do with your ring?” “Which ring?” I had forgotten I’d sent it to him to resize. So the ring found me instead. St. Anthony may have sent me back to Hans Bruman’s jewelry store in response to my prayer.

In every circumstance of my life, St. Anthony’s my confidant. Just last week when my grandchild lost her school bag, Mommy Liaa advised Martina, “Let’s call Wawa to help us. She’s malakas with St. Anthony.” I really prayed hard. This great saint had to keep His reputation. My grandchild had to be impressed. The next day, Liaa called and said that Martina’s bag had been found. Her things were intact except for a P100 bill. Finding her bag was a gift from heaven.

In our family when anyone loses anything, we pray to this Augustinian turn Franciscan monk from Lisbon, Portugal. Our prayers are pleas for temporal goods in our earthly life but we’re aware that only the Heavenly Father knows what we really need in the temporal order. Nevertheless if we don’t ask, how are we to receive?

Those who ask will be given. This was what Issam did. Issam is the Honorary Consul of Syria to the Philippines. He was traveling with companions in the Vatican. Taking pictures, he found himself alone in the huge church, unaware he had strayed far from his friends. “Were the tourists sent out of the church?” he wondered. Issam walked to the huge main door to find it locked. Likewise all other doors, except for one, were closed. Trying to exit from the open door he was approached by Pope Benedict’s security. Questioning him about his presence, he explained, “I am a Syrian but I am not a terrorist. I had a quintuplet bypass and I wish to pray.” Seeing Pope Benedict XVI approaching surrounded by bishops in red and his Vatican guards in their uniforms, he asked the security officer if Pope Benedict would bless him. The Italian asked the Pope. Pope Benedict transferred his cane from his right hand to his left and put his right hand on Issam’s forehead. The Pope’s energy was so overwhelming that Issam almost fainted and he was hurriedly given a chair as the Pope made his exit to speak before 20,000 people in the courtyard. Issam, recovering from his near faint, and still unable to leave the church because the doors remained locked, was led by security to sit beside the bishops. After the Pope delivered his homily he looked at Issam and waved goodbye. Stunned, Issam waved back. Devotees went up to this Honorary Consul asking how he managed to sit among the bishops, being a civilian. Issam related his story and many of the devotees put their hands on Issam’s forehead to avail of the blessings of Pope Benedict! He wanted to pray but even before he could do it, he had already received more blessings than he could have prayed for.

There are so many heartwarming stories about hard-to-explain phenomena. If you watch the TV channel Animal Planet, you’ll wonder why our dog, Wally, a whippet im

ported from Australia, strayed out of the house with our tiny terrier. We never saw either again so we presumed they had been stolen. Two months later we found Wally outside the gate of our house with wounds on his body. We were overjoyed at seeing Wally, our playful and kind dog who must have been whipped by his handler. But how did Wally find his way back to our house when the only time he left was when he was missing? We will never know, but he certainly knew where to go.

I’m holding a photograph of a half-built mosque in Jolo, engineer Michael Abubakar’s gift to the Muslims of Sulu. The snapshot was taken with no human being around other than the photographer. Yet when the film was developed, an image of a man appeared in the lower left side wearing a white long gown called lambong with a white turban and a beard. By all appearances he was an Imam. That phenomenon reminded me of my visit to the Special Action Force in Santa Rosa, Laguna. I walked into an adobe structure of ruins very similar to Intramuros and Paco cemetery, a place that the policemen had taken for granted. We posed for pictures by this historical memorial surrounded by weeds with goats around it. Upon developing the photograph, at the top right side appeared a skeleton’s head much to our amazement! Chona had told me during her lifetime that a picture by the fireplace of La Tasca Restaurant in Makati showed a man sitting in a rocking chair beside the fireplace, even though no one was in the restaurant when the photograph was taken. A very similar occurrence took place in 1959. Mabel Chinnery had just spent the day at the cemetery visiting her mother’s grave. To finish off a roll of film she snapped a picture of her husband who was seated in the front seat of the car. She had the pictures developed. While looking at the photographs she made a chilling discovery. In one of the photos her deceased mother was sitting in the backseat of the car.

Certain things happen which sometimes even science cannot explain. Yet every time we experience such phenomena we ask “Why?” “How” and “For what reason?” Often we find no answer to these questions. There may be no scientific explanations to the miracles performed by St. Anthony for me. Maybe the explanation is not important. What matters is my faith, and that I continue to believe in Him and sometimes the power of the supernatural!