Roller coaster

Life is a roller coaster ride – a series of twists and turns, ups and downs.  Three Sundays ago, Jan. 18, Pope Francis capped his captivating visit to the Philippines with a mass at Luneta attended by more than six million people.  This mammoth crowd converged notwithstanding the pouring rain.  The country was celebrating a spiritual high. 

A week later, Jan. 25, 44 members of the Philippine National Police special action force were butchered in a corn field in Maguindanao. The spiritual high turned into a lethargic low. We were stunned as a nation not really knowing how to react. Their passing was marked with a saddening suddenness. These men, whose ages ranged from the early 20s to their late 30s, were taken at the prime of their lives. Many left behind families with toddlers and young kids including two pregnant mothers bearing their first child.   

Flashback to Pope Francis’ meeting at UST with the Filipino youth. Responding to 12-year-old Glyzelle Palomar asking why God allows young people to suffer, the Pope said in Spanish: “Certain realities in life can only be seen through eyes cleansed by tears…  our response must either be silence or the word that is born of our tears.” Discarding his prepared homily and speaking extemporaneously in Spanish through his interpreter in Tacloban the day before, he also condoled with typhoon Yolanda survivors saying “So many of you have lost everything. I don’t know what to say to you. But the Lord does know what to say to you. Some of you have lost part of your families. All I can do is keep silent. And I walk with you all with my silent heart. Many of you have asked the Lord, why Lord?

And to each of you, to your heart, Christ responds from His heart upon the cross.

I have no more words to tell you, let us look to Christ, He is the Lord. He understands us because He underwent all the trials that we, that you, have experienced. And beside the cross was His mother. We are like this little child, just there.

In the moments when we have so much pain, when we no longer understand anything, all we can do is grab hold of her hand firmly. And say, Mom, as a child does to a mother, when he or she feels fear.

It is perhaps the only word we can say in such difficult times, Mother, Mom.

Let us together hold a moment of silence, let us look to that Christ on the cross. He understands us because He endured everything. Let us look to our mother, and like that little child, let us grab hold of her mantle, and with a true heart, say, mother.”

These sentiments probably best capture what many of us are feeling and wish to say to the SAF 44 and the loved ones they left. May Pope Francis’ reflections provide spiritual consolation to their grieving family and friends.

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By way of literary consolation, let me paraphrase three stanzas from A.E. Housman’s “To an Athlete Dying Young.” At least, the SAF men died with their honor intact in the field of battle.

“Today, the road all soldiers come,

Shoulder-high we bring you home,

And set you at your threshold down,

Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away

From fields where glory does not stay,

And early though the laurel grows

It withers quicker than the rose.

Now you will not swell the rout

Of lads that wore their honours out,

Soldiers whom renown outran

And the name died before the man.”

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44:  The number 4 and 44 are inauspicious in Chinese numerology.  I am told that when the number 4 is spoken in Mandarin, it sounds like the word death. If illustrated, it is as if the sun is being blocked by a cloud.  Similarly, the number 44 allegedly sounds like “dying and dead.”  In contrast, the number 9 signifies happiness and long life with 99 supposedly providing double happiness.  

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Downs and ups:  As a child I associated the number 44 with the Atlanta Hawks’ “Pistol Pete” Maravich.  He was an excellent point guard who regularly scored over 20 points a game but the team was always a laggard.  Fast forward to 2015 and the Hawks are leading the NBA Eastern Conference with a 40-9 win-loss record and was nursing a 19-game winning streak which was only broken last week.  And to think they were not the pre-tournament favorites and that the team does not really have any superstars.  

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Twists and turns: The National Football League’s Super Bowl XLIX last Sunday between the defending champion Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots was a game, literally and figuratively, marked with twists and turns.  The Patriots dominated during the first half although the Seahawks recovered before the half ended.  During the third quarter, the tide turned and the Seahawks led 24-14 and was poised for a two-peat.  But during the fourth quarter, the Patriots scored two touchdowns and going into the last two minutes, their 28-24 lead seemed insurmountable.  But the Seahawks battled back and got to the 1 yard line with 20 seconds remaining. It looked like a sure six points at that point. But instead of giving the ball to lead-rusher Marshawn Lynch, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson decided to lob a pass which was picked off by rookie Malcom Butler to seal the game for the Patriots and complete one of the best Super Bowl finals ever.

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Greetings: Birth anniversary best wishes to Oklahoma-based niece Anna Letizia “Bon” Bautista.

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“Those things that challenge the worst in us tend to strengthen the best in us.” –  Richelle E. Goodrich

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