I am still hesitant to write about Cory Aquino. Unlike others, I can claim no bragging rights to write about her in an intimate personal manner. I don’t know her personally and neither have I met her in person at all. But this does not lessen the fact that I admire and idolize her as most Filipinos do. I admire her compassionate nature, her religiosity and spirituality, her leadership by example, her unselfish love for family and devotion to her children, and her love of country. I am proud to be a Filipino because of her and I am now greatly saddened by her death.
I shed tears while listening to the many heartwarming stories about her, from her colleagues, subordinates, friends, and especially from her family. I also started to reflect on the deeper meaning of her death in my own life.
In my reflection, my thoughts went back to the death of her husband, the late Ninoy Aquino in 1983. That death which I thought at first was senseless and meaningless in its brutality became clearer to me later on and much more so today.
I’ve realized in a more experiential and not just intellectual way the truth of the biblical passage that “unless the seed falls into the ground and die, it bears no fruit…” It tells us that the death of one person has a strange way of transforming others usually for the better. In this case, the death of Ninoy transformed Cory and ultimately the Filipino nation.
And if the death of Ninoy has transformed Cory from an ordinary housewife and mother to a fearless leader of people who hungered for freedom and democracy, I wonder now what kind of transformation will Cory’s death do to us Filipinos individually and as a whole?
Now that Cory has been laid to her final rest, I am saddened to learn that instead of asking themselves how they can make Cory’s death more meaningful in their lives, some people are more concerned today with proclaiming her as a saint and naming her a national hero. I have no problem with declaring her a national hero because she is undoubtedly one. But a saint?
I am not questioning her deep religiosity or her genuine spirituality. (These, I understand, are requirements among other things for sainthood.) Rather, I am against it (canonizing her) because Cory belongs to the Filipino people and not just to Catholics who would then appropriate her to themselves should she become a saint. The Catholic Church’s act of initiating her canonization would then become divisive at a time when what we need as a nation is more of cooperation, understanding, and respect for each other’s beliefs. It also seems contrary to the spirit of an inclusive Christianity that Jesus originally preached. Come to think of it too, Cory would decline the honor from the Church just as she had declined a state funeral from the government.
Instead of regarding her as a Saint, I would rather consider her as an honest leader, a compassionate friend, a devoted wife and unselfish mother, a true Filipino, and a faithful Catholic! That would make her, as Inquirer columnist Conrad de Quiroz said in his eulogy at Cory's funeral mass, “one damn good person”.
For Cory Aquino the simple housewife, that would be the most proper accolade for now.
I shed tears while listening to the many heartwarming stories about her, from her colleagues, subordinates, friends, and especially from her family. I also started to reflect on the deeper meaning of her death in my own life.
In my reflection, my thoughts went back to the death of her husband, the late Ninoy Aquino in 1983. That death which I thought at first was senseless and meaningless in its brutality became clearer to me later on and much more so today.
I’ve realized in a more experiential and not just intellectual way the truth of the biblical passage that “unless the seed falls into the ground and die, it bears no fruit…” It tells us that the death of one person has a strange way of transforming others usually for the better. In this case, the death of Ninoy transformed Cory and ultimately the Filipino nation.
And if the death of Ninoy has transformed Cory from an ordinary housewife and mother to a fearless leader of people who hungered for freedom and democracy, I wonder now what kind of transformation will Cory’s death do to us Filipinos individually and as a whole?
Now that Cory has been laid to her final rest, I am saddened to learn that instead of asking themselves how they can make Cory’s death more meaningful in their lives, some people are more concerned today with proclaiming her as a saint and naming her a national hero. I have no problem with declaring her a national hero because she is undoubtedly one. But a saint?
I am not questioning her deep religiosity or her genuine spirituality. (These, I understand, are requirements among other things for sainthood.) Rather, I am against it (canonizing her) because Cory belongs to the Filipino people and not just to Catholics who would then appropriate her to themselves should she become a saint. The Catholic Church’s act of initiating her canonization would then become divisive at a time when what we need as a nation is more of cooperation, understanding, and respect for each other’s beliefs. It also seems contrary to the spirit of an inclusive Christianity that Jesus originally preached. Come to think of it too, Cory would decline the honor from the Church just as she had declined a state funeral from the government.
Instead of regarding her as a Saint, I would rather consider her as an honest leader, a compassionate friend, a devoted wife and unselfish mother, a true Filipino, and a faithful Catholic! That would make her, as Inquirer columnist Conrad de Quiroz said in his eulogy at Cory's funeral mass, “one damn good person”.
For Cory Aquino the simple housewife, that would be the most proper accolade for now.
4 comments:
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I admire Cory greatly, especially her strong faith and prayerfulness aside from being an ideal mother who loves her children unconditionally. I myself can't judge whether she is worthy to be even nominated as a saint. Who will ever know how the Lord judges each and every one of us?
I'm sorry but I just have learned to be cynical with the way most of us Filipinos react to things that happen to us. Blame it on our being emotional and euphoric over burning issues and go back to our dailoy grind shortly thereafter. I guess we need time to internalize things more and make appropriate applications of lessons we learn or insights we gain in our day to day existence and within our own spheres of influence, no matter how small
Mr Mendiola
Kilala kita noon pa at nakakadismaya ang mga pinagsusulat mo dahil pawang pagbabalatkayo lamang ang ginagawa mo sa mga sinasabi mo. Lalo na ang pinagmamalaki mong ikaw ay isang kaibigan. Oo, kaibigan ka nga kapag may pakikinabangan ka. Matapos mong magamit ang tinuturing mong mga kaibigan, masahol pa sa basahan ang trato mo sa kanila. Kung ayaw mong tanggapin yan matapos mong balikan mga nagamit mong tinutring mong mga kaibigan, tama nga ang sabi nila na ang katauhan mo ay namamangka sa maraming ilog.
Isa pa, pa-ingles-ingles ka pa samantalang na sa Pilipinas ka. Hindi ka ba marunong managalog? Sabi mo taga Luzon ka? O gusto mo lamang ipakita na spokening England ka para "iba" ang dating mo.
Magpatuloy nawa ang iyong tagumpay sa buhay mo tulong ng maybahay mo.
Salamat Kaibigan, kung sino ka man. Sana lang ay nagpakilala ka at hindi nagtago sa pangalang "anonymous" nang maging kapanipaniwala ang iyong comment.
Anonymous,
Siyanga pala, malaking utang na loob kong tatanawin kung magpapakilala ka sa akin at nang sa ganoon ay makahingi ako ng tawad sa "paggamit" ko sa iyo at sa iba ko pang mga kaibigang sinasabi mo ay "ginamit" ko lamang.
Pasensiya ka na rin kung Ingles man ang aking napiling salita sa blog na ito. Alam mo ay marami rin aking kaibigan na hindi marunong ng Pilipino. Salamat sa pagunawa mo.
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