LOGARTA
Father’s Day will be different for Mary Rose, her family and Our Lady of Joy Learning Center (OLJLC) this year.
In the past year, we lost Daddy Pits and Daddy Bert.
Both of them had been very generous supporters of OLJLC. They extended not only material but also emotional and spiritual assistance in a quiet and cheerful way.
Both Daddy Pits and Daddy Bert were always sensitively observing what the students and the school needed.
Daddy Bert actually brought tree seedlings all the way from Mindanao and planted them on the school grounds.
They are strong, tall trees now. These actually reminded me of what a speaker said in UP: we need men who plant trees; they truly cherish the future.
One afternoon, Mary Rose entered the school’s administrative office.
Clearly, she was irritated.
Noticing this, Daddy Pits sought the boy, who caused the irritation to talk to him.
He did not scold the boy; instead he had a conversation with him on his plans for the future.
Daddy Pits was a great role model for the practice of patience.
Before his illness, he drove us to and from OLJLC.
Whether the traffic was heavy or not, he carefully followed traffic rules, like keeping distance from the vehicle ahead of us.
He did not lose his temper when other drivers behaved recklessly.
He did not raise his voice either at times when I myself would have wanted to scream.
When I was on the verge of acting rash, he would remind me: “Patience, Sof.”
And how they loved the grandchildren!
When the Mandaue Children’s Choir was planning to be at the canonization of St. Pedro Calungsod, Soleil offered not to go; she said it was all right for her that only Mayumi, her elder sister, would participate.
Daddy Bert said, Soleil could go, and he took care of that.
Monsignor Elde and Zeus narrated after Daddy Pits died that when they visited Daddy Pits when he was sick, he sent them off with some assistance for their work.
When a priest came for Daddy Pits’s confession, he told his wife before leaving: “You have a good man.” And Manang Del quickly replied: “I know.”
Mary Rose asked her father why he did not have an angioplasty, for perhaps it would prolong his life.
He explained that he had been quite contented and happy with his life. When he was about to go, everyone was there including Sr. Flora. They were singing their goodbye because Daddy Pits liked that.
Rev. Fr. Oscar Villamor was the founding father of Our Lady of Joy Learning Center, and he had requested that the school be sustained for he had treasured it. When I came to the school and found out about this I was thrilled because he had been my spiritual father, my father confessor in college. His warm serenity was very comforting.
At one point, I declared I am tired of going through all these; why don’t I just think through things by myself?
And he calmly replied: So why did God not create you alone to be with just yourself?
The 46th Annual Fiesta Celebration of Our Mother of Perpetual Help Redemptorist Church Cebu City will be celebrated on the same day as Father’s Day.
Ten days have been provided me to give thanks to our Blessed Mother and her Son for the many graces I have been receiving.
It is such a blessing to have home in between two churches: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church and Redemptorist Church.
Without Her, how would I cope with challenges in our family when our own mother left us in my early adulthood?
And there have been very many prayers answered as well as many lessons learned as one gazed at the Icon of Her bearing the Christ Child on her left arm near to her heart — to be greatly grateful for.
It had been such a gift to have been asked by Madz to join in Visayas Congress in the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the turning over of the Icon to the Redemptorists.
I liked that times that Fe, Madz and I had worked together again after some time of not doing so.
It was really good to be actually in contact with the parish and parish workers, to actually get to know them.
It somehow prepared me for the fiesta theme — “The Parish: Communion of Communities Forming Basic Ecclesial Communities as Agents of Communion, Participation and Mission.” During the activities, I actually encountered women in the mission area of the Redemptorists in Toledo.
I was able to establish a connection. This needs to grow with the assistance of Our Mother of Perpetual Help.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
