Pleasing the Birthday Celebrant

Christmas is certainly a time to be merry. As the familiar lines of a famous carol says, “Tis the season to be jolly”. There is indeed every reason to be joyful during this season, especially here in the Philippines, which is the only Christian nation in this part of the world. It is a national “fiesta”, the mother of all “fiestas”, as it is the day when the Lord God Himself came into this world to be with us until the end of time. We have barrio and town fiestas to honor Mother Mary and the Saints of God, so it is but fitting that we also have a national fiesta to honor God our Savior Himself.

Of course, partying and enjoying ourselves during this time of the year is a way of celebrating our Lord’s birthday. Lest we forget however, we should also ensure that the birthday celebrant Himself is happy on His natal day.

We can make Him happy on His birthday by focusing our attention not only on ourselves but more on others. “Others” mean not only our family members, friends, officemates, acquaintances and important people who give us enough reasons to be grateful and joyful during this time of the year.

“Others” here means people we have not met and who do not know us, although we are well aware that they cannot be happy and merry as we are, during this season of joy and at this moment in their lives. These are people who have recently undergone some tragic, unexpected and inconsolable events like death of loved ones and/or setbacks in life. Christmas this year is definitely not a time for them to celebrate and to be merry.

Specifically, they are the close relatives and friends of the young nursing graduates, Jerome Saet, Frances Carambas, Nelmar Galapia, Marlon Viernes, Ryan James Malaki, Richard Alan Gonzales, Ronwaldo Respicio, Narl Gensan Lopez, Henderson Welle Lodevico and Julius Gadduang who perished in a fire that gutted the pension house where they were staying in preparation for the nursing licensure exams they were about to take. Their feelings of grief right now must really be beyond consolation not only because of loss of loved ones but of shattered dreams.

Others equally aggrieved in that tragedy are the surviving couple Pete and Arased Fondevilla, the hotel owners, whose children and grandchildren including the maid also died in the fire. Their grief must also be as devastating because of the loss of loved ones and in some way because of the loss of their business and source of livelihood.

The family of Makati Judge Reynaldo Laigo and his wife Lilia would certainly be in shock and still grieving at this time because of the couple’s sudden demise in a vehicular accident where a recklessly speeding bus hit their SUV while on their way to attend the traditional simbang gabi mass last Monday at Fairview in Quezon City. Such kind of death at this time of the year is really something hard to understand and to easily accept on the part of their immediate family members. Feelings of bitterness, resentment and shaken faith cannot really be avoided.

Also feeling bitter and resentful, coupled with disappointment and lingering sadness, is of course Lauro Vizconde who lost his wife and two daughters almost 20 years ago in a crime that aroused public ire because of its heinousness. His sorrow and frustration is heightened even more with the recent Supreme Court decision finding that the apprehended suspects are not guilty of the crime charged. Vizconde could not thus be expected at all to be “celebrating” this Christmas like how most of us celebrate the occasion. In fact his Christmas has not been the same since 20 years ago although this year could have been a “happier” one if the outcome of the case has been different.

Of course there is nothing much that we can do now to lighten the sorrow and negative feelings of these people. The best that we can do under the situation is to remember them in the midst of our celebration and pray for them. We pray that the Lord help them get over with their present state of life. We pray that the death of their loved ones would not have been in vain; that people in government will perform their jobs much better to prevent the occurrence of such tragic events like the fire in Cagayan province or to minimize if not avoid loss of lives; that promotion of road safety especially in that dangerous strip like Commonwealth Avenue will be enhanced, and that crime investigation and prosecution will considerably improve to stop further miscarriage of justice.

There are also “others” who are not, and definitely cannot, celebrate and be happy this Christmas as most of us can. They are people who cannot even have food on the table not only during Christmas time but day in and day out over the years; nor could they partake of the lechon, queso de bola or hamon we usually relish at our Christmas parties. They are the people who live in squalor in various ghettos around Metro Manila. More than just remembering them during Christmas with our prayers, we can make their Christmas brighter by avoiding lavish parties and sharing instead the blessings we enjoy.

With these gestures and actions on our part, we will surely make Jesus a lot happier on his birthday. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL!