Reconnecting with love

Grandparents have been such a blessing for me. It is wonderful that we belong to a culture where family members, even in the extended family are a great support to each other. So my working parents, on their way to work would drop me off at my grandmother (my mother’s mother), Lola Nene in Imus Street. On their way home from work they would also fetch me. Each day I accompanied my grandmother to visit a church in our city of many churches. On Tuesdays, we went to Sto. Rosario where we joined the novena to St. Anthony. Of course, on Wednesdays we attended the novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. As on other church visits we rode on a tartanilla to the Sto. Niño Church on Fridays. There we would line up, and she taught me to kiss the feet of the Holy Child. She did not pay the candle vendors to dance for her, she actually danced the Sinulog with a candle in hand. I can’t remember now what day we went to the Recoletos Church but we regularly went there to pray before the statue of St. Lucy, the patron for people with eye problems.

Because of my Lola Nene’s failing eyesight I developed reading skills and learned many deep Cebuano words.  We did not pray only in the churches, we prayed several novenas at home and most of them were in Cebuano. I can still remember: “O San Antonio pinalangga sa Dios; Sud-unga kami bisan dili takos; Taga-I kami og dakong grasya; Pangayo’g pasaylo sa among sala’.’ Up to now, I am a devotee of St. Anthony and Our Mother of Perpetual Help; and I find churches such a sanctuary.

My grandmother was a home economics teacher before she married my grandfather who was an education supervisor. I guess Lolo Periong doted on her for he gifted her with many things that would thrill a home economics teacher like dainty, fragile tableware, some pieces of which we still have.

Lolo Awing, my father’s father was also prayerful. He used to wake up very early in the morning to attend Mass and to pray with his group in Adoracion Nocturna. But I was seldom with him because he was quite adventurous. He travelled a lot especially to various places in Mindanao. But I was aware that I was quite dear to him. When we had to do a term paper for English class, I chose to do research on the Mansaka cultural community because my sister had been near their area. A Maryknoll priest who had done pastoral work there was now in Cebu and  I had relatives in Mindanao because Lolo Awing’s travels resulted in land ownership there. Very much of the information I used in the paper had been gathered by my Tita Emy, an aunt-in-law who worked with the Department of the Interior and Local Government; but Lolo Awing did all the follow-up for he had assured me that the data would come.

First Year college students in St. Theresa’s College had a tradition of bidding good-bye to the graduating students with a poetry social. Students who had shown their skill in poetry writing were chosen and they would prepare a poem for the occasion around a theme. The year when we hosted the poetry social the theme was, Camia—that fragile, fragrant flower. So we looked all over the place for camias, Lolo Awing joined the search taking long walks to find camias.

Although there are complaints that grandparents spoil grandchildren, they can be a source of special nurturing—with old gestures of caring, reminders of forgotten values, narratives that only they possess that will fill gaps in family history.

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It was interesting that Broadcasters’ Week was celebrated at the time close to the Sunday when the gospel was on Christ’s healing of the deaf-mute. My Bible guide suggested living the gospel by letting the voice of the unheard in society—voiceless because of their circumstances—be heard. This advice made me understand why, the LAW Center, Inc. facilitated, Sa Mata sa Kababayn-an, aired on CCTN has recently been getting increasing audience response and other positive feedback.
In the last four shows, we have been featuring victims of violence, whose beginnings in their path towards empowerment, have been shown by their willingness to share their stories. One had been threatened with death by her husband who, although he had good earnings as an OFW refused to contribute funds for the

upbringing of the children. Another lady was maltreated not only by her husband but also by his family. Again due to her husband’s refusal to share in the family’s expenses she felt the need to work abroad  to insure the schooling of her children. This forced her to leave the children with her family. Unfortunately, her daughter became a victim of sexual violence. She discovered this when she came home without prior notice.

Atty. Virginia Santiago-Palanca, LAW Center Inc. president, the show’s anchor is a very healing, heartwarming presence. She knows when to provide a relieving pause for the emotional storytelling. She comforts the generous sharer by emphasizing how her story can help many viewers. Most of all she makes the show very enlightening as the program closes   she  clarifies  laws related to women’s rights and reminds us about Christian values.

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Near the rotunda of Fuente Osmeña in Medalle Bldg. Suite 310 THE INNER SPACE has been opened with celebration last Thursday, September 3. If you are exhausted physically and emotionally, it is a place to find rest. If you are stressed out, you can unwind here. If you are troubled you can go and find relief here by reconnecting with the Divine Spirit Who has always loved you, because THE INNER SPACE is a site planned, arranged for meditation. You can also learn the process of meditation here. By arrangement, you can hold sessions about transformative values. It is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.