Pama-init sa Redem

The Misa De Gallo is a holiday habit I look forward to every year, perhaps one of the Christmas rituals I really gear up and psyche myself up for. They say if you complete the nine-day novena Mass—probably the most difficult to commit to fulfill, considering you’re hearing Holy Mass in the most unholy of hours, for nine days straight—your wish will come true! I make a wish each time, just for the fun of it, but even if it doesn’t come true (many times, it does), it’s the sacrifice you offer to the Christ child that really matters.

It’s moving how millions of Filipinos continue this holiday custom faithfully, without fail, even exporting it all the way to some parts of North America and the world, where pockets of Filipino faithful reside. Wherever the diaspora has brought the Filipino, he’s surely taken along his unique brand of Catholic faith with him.

When many throughout the world wallow in a Christmas bereft of its true meaning, a Christmas too materialistic even Santa’s workshop can’t keep up, many Pinoys mark this time of the year trying hard to remember the very reason we celebrate the season—and so amid the flurry of Christmas shopping, parties, and bonus bonanzas, this affinity for Aguinaldo Masses does the job in keeping us grounded and rooted to our core.

The Redemptorist Church here in Cebu is where we, as per family tradition, choose to hear our Aguinaldo Masses year in, year out (sometimes, for variety, we go to Sacred Heart Parish for one or two of the nine mornings). And an important component of the Redem Misa de Gallo experience is the pama-init right outside.

Puto, sikwate, lugaw, colorful cupcakes and other Filipino delicacies are sold by generous individuals and families mobilized by the church every year to help them raise funds for charity. What’s wonderful is this annual 9-day event, these delicacies, also has its way of bringing friends and family together, usually kept apart by a busy year that was.

This morning, the celebrant, right before giving his final blessing, gave an accounting of how much the endeavor raised in the previous year. Over seven hundred thousand pesos went to the schooling of thirty Pama-init scholars, on top of some medicines and support for the poorest of the poor and victims of fire in and around the parish. Knowing how far our purchases go each time we buy a Christmas cupcake or putong puti makes indulging in these treats almost guilt-free.

Does your parish have a similar fundraiser that sends children to school, that brings together friends and family, and that all-in-all makes the entire experience more Christmas-y? If the answer is No, maybe it’s time you encourage your parish priest to solicit support from well-meaninged people in your community to help set-up a Pama-init for-a-cause for next year’s Misa De Gallo, or better yet, help him organize it.

If like my family and many of my friends, you go to Redemptorist, I hope you can take the time to mingle with other parishioners and buy these treats (if you still don’t), always bearing in mind that whatever profit raised from the sale of these goodies goes to the education of poor but deserving scholars who, one day, may grow up to be a doctor who saves more lives, an engineer who builds more bridges, a successful entrepreneur who has a big heart for the less fortunate, or even a president of our country, hopefully, finally, one who would truly prioritize the education of our young (as our constitution so clearly prescribes).

Merry Christmas to one and all and see you at Redem ug sa Pama-init ig human sa Misa!

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To give way to ABS-CBN’s Christmas Special, there will be no The Bottomline tonight. It will return next week, on the same timeslot after Banana Split on ABS-CBN. Encore telecast on the ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC), Sundays, 1:30 pm.

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