The Woman in yellow

I would like to share with you the homily of Father Joaquin Bernas, S.J. during the Mass for former President Cory Aquino at the Ateneo Chapel in Rockwell recently. It puts into perspective Cory’s role not just as an icon of democracy but also as a rallying figure for all those who trust or want to trust in the power of prayer.

Whether you are eight or 80, you like to hear good things about yourself, especially in times of loneliness and weakness. Sincere praise is a tonic to the spirit. Sometimes you wonder if the good you do –– even if you expect no reward for it –– is lost on others, and when you realize it isn’t, the feeling is a Mastercard moment. Priceless.

I share with you the many good things said about Cory Aquino, because like you and me, she is human. Although as a political figure she has steeled herself against criticism, as a human being she’s not going to tire of hearing this truth: that she has made a difference for the good of millions of Filipinos.

Here’s Father Bernas’ homily:

There is a phrase which in the last three decades has gained currency as part of our contemporary vocabulary. It is a phrase that has the capacity to inflame love of country and love of fellow men. I refer to the phrase as Women and Men for others.

It is a noble phrase. But noble phrases, when repeated often like a mantra, can sometimes lose their capacity to inspire. The fire has to be rekindled often.

In the providence of God, something often happens to rekindle the flame. Twenty-two years ago, Ninoy Aquino’s death on the tarmac set the nation on fire: Ninoy was totally for others.

Three years later EDSA unexpectedly happened. EDSA was when the Filipino emptied self to become men and women for others. And at the center of that electrifying moment was a gentle woman in yellow.

Today, while politics and greed join hands to choke the self-emptying spirit of Ninoy and of EDSA, we need to be awakened. But God often writes straight with crooked lines. Often God uses human weakness to confound the strong or to embolden faltering spirits.

We are gathered here this evening in spontaneous response to the mysterious way God chooses to deal with us. The physical weakness of that EDSA woman in yellow has gathered us here as if to listen to her repeating the recurrent message of Easter: “Do not be afraid.”

The first to receive that message from Christ was a woman, Mary of Magdala. Christ commissioned that woman to deliver the message to the apostles. Today another woman in the tradition of the women in Scripture is repeating to us Christ’s Easter message: “However dark the sky grows, however high the sea rises, however strong the winds blow, do not be afraid, do not be afraid.”

The woman in yellow speaks to us even in her sickness. But the message I hear from her is more than just “Do not be afraid.” The message she has been saying to us by the way she has lived her life and the message she is saying to us even now in her weakness is: “Do everything you can within the limits of your human capability; but trust even more in the God who can make all things possible.”

This is the reason why we are gathered here tonight around the altar of God who is the master of our destiny. We continue to draw inspiration from the woman in yellow.

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