The Road to Dagupan
MANILA, Philippines - Looking out of my bedroom window last Tuesday evening, I noticed that there was a beautiful full moon. I was trying to sleep early because we were leaving for Dagupan at 4 a.m. to witness the installation of Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas as the Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan.
I could not sleep from excitement so I turned on the TV and caught the end of SNN where Kris Aquino announced that she, too, was leaving Manila at 4 a.m. to go to Dagupan. It has been so rainy lately that I remember hoping that we would all be blessed with good weather. Hopefully that full moon was a good sign of things to come the next day.
I remember it was July 2004 when Bishop Soc was installed as Bishop of Balanga, on a day when the sun was shining so brightly. And here we were again just five years later and he was going to become an archbishop. How could he accomplish something like that so quickly? I don’t really know what the qualifications are, but all I know is that Bishop Soc is more than deserving to be the youngest archbishop. He is very intelligent and magaling. Maganda makitungo sa tao pero humble. And most of all, bestseller ang mga libro at guwapo pa!
It took us four hours to get to the Cathedral of St. John the Apostle in Dagupan, which is a beautiful old church. But in spite of its size, the church was full of so many priests, nuns, VIPs and other friends. Outside the church, it was also full of people who could no longer come into the grounds. Most of all, there were 76 other bishops! Wow! I have never seen anything like that. Nakakakilabot.
The two-hour ceremony was very beautiful. But the best part was really Bishop Soc’s homily. My favorite line was when he asked his brother priests to “be happy givers.” And then he went on to say “Bawal ang paring kuripot!”
With the people of Pangasinan contributing sandwiches and siopao, Bishop Soc also said that they would forego the usual blowout lunch because the money was being saved to help the poor people of Pangasinan. He said: “This is not being kuripot. This is pakikipagkapwa tao. This is charity. This is what God told us to do. I believe this is what Jesus would have done if He were in Dagupan.”
What a beautiful message. Especially with all the problems our country has had recently, parang more than ever, Bishop Soc’s message is a perfect reminder for all of us.
As we drove back home to Manila, it started to rain. That’s when I saw the most beautiful rainbow that colored the sky from end to end. I hope Bishop Soc also saw that rainbow just to remind him of how beautiful the day had been. Because when I asked him what was different about Balanga and Dagupan for him, he said Cardinal Sin and Tita Cory were in Balanga.
