As the country prays for Cory

She was all smile, the first woman president of the country, as she came down from the platform. She had just given a talk on education to us, public school officials, who were invited to Malacañang for the purpose. This was in June 1987, and it was our first encounter with Cory Aquino who four months before that assumed the presidency following the Edsa revolt. What was our impression of her?

There was of course the usual awe and sense of enchantment one feels in the presence of a very important person. But this was only for a few minutes, for even as she did her talk she made as feel as though we were old acquaintances not a bunch of distant people difficult to relate to. She did not talk “down” to us but in a manner somewhat conversational like an old friend, her voice varying in tone, now tender, now regretful, now sympathetic, but always friendly. And always that Cory kind of smile never left her face.

After her talk, she went from group to group saying hello and shaking hands and posing for photograph, amidst the oh’s and ah’s of excited lady school officials. For about half an hour she tarried with her visitors, now asking questions, now listening, her face always aglow with delight, and when the excitement tapered off, she said, “Come, let’s eat”, and led us to another portion of the Palace where meals were served.

It was a special kind of brunch, but most of us, still in a state of elation, had our attention on the President now seated at the head table. We were simply disarmed by the Cory charisma – her sincerity and unaffected way and quite charm.

I remember this scenario as the entire nation prays for the recovery of the former lady president from a life- threatening ailment. From the time she left Malacañang in 1992, Cory has been only in the periphery of the Filipino consciousness remembered every now and then when the Edsa phenomenon is recalled. She has purposely avoided being played up in the media by keeping herself detached from major controversies especially those involving politics. Prayer rallies, however, on critical national issues she attended, after all praying is her way of life. But beyond these, Cory’s presence was seldom seen.

But lately, with her ailment getting serious the media have been persistent in their coverage of the former president. This is an appropriate move because the average Filipino is feeling a sense of anxiety about Cory’s condition. That’s why in the many holy masses offered in various churches throughout the country thousands of people have been praying for her recovery. In fact, even the Holy Father is said to have prayed for her. Would God grant these prayers?

We don’t know. What we know is that prayers are answered, but not always in the way we want it but in the way God wants it. His way could be painful but it could be the best in the long run. For God who loves his people so dearly will give nothing but the best for them. What we can do therefore when threatened with a fatal ailment is to prepare our hearts to accept the Divine will. Saint Josemaria Escriva has a beautiful prayer for this which says, in paraphrase, May the most just and most venerable will of God be done in all things and eternally praised forever and ever, Amen.

Miracles of course can happen. In Lourdes, France, for example, healing miracles are common occurrences – physical healing, spiritual healing. That’s why as the Filipinos get depressing feedbacks on Cory’s condition, the more they intensify their prayers because they believe in miracles. Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened for you. These words of Jesus are always alive in their minds. They are therefore not giving up.

And so as Filipinos pin yellow ribbons on their breasts or hang yellow strips on trees they utter prayers for their beloved former president. They remember her heroism, first, when she bravely endured the martyrdom of her husband, Ninoy, second, when she face-off with the dictator in an election, third, when she persevered in her stewardship of the country despite seven attempts to topple her governance. She is truly the handmaiden of Philippine democracy.

For these she is without doubt the most heroic Filipina in contemporary Philippines. Unlike Joan of Arc (now a saint), she did not take up arms and engage her enemies in martial combat, but she is no less remarkable in her heroism than that French heroin of a saint.

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