New Saint, New Year.New Life!

There are a bunch of issues I wish to comment on from an impending constitutional crisis brought about by a bizarre brand of vindictiveness, to the lesser (?) evils of laziness, ineptitude, and palpable indifference. But it is, after all, the last day of the year. So allow me to declare a personal truce on my private war against everything I find to be wrong with our country today (hypocrisy at its worst).

News of Pedro Calungsod finally becoming a saint of the Catholic Church was a breath of fresh air in the wake of Sendong and PNoy’s exhausting excuses. It was a source of inspiration; aptly announced before the year ended, as we prepare for the coming of a new year.

It was extra special for some of us who go to Sunday Mass at the Shrine of Blessed (almost a SAINT) Pedro Calungsod at the Archbishop’s Palace. Marietta Cotia- Aniñon, an aunt of mine who goes to the shrine with her family each Sunday, texted me as soon as the papers ran the story. “Maka-proud that we were there to witness his journey to sainthood.” Perhaps each one of those who go to church there—those who’ve committed to serve the shrine (DJ June Rabin is a reader), of course, Msgr. Leyson himself (the lead proponent of his sainthood)—feel the very same way.

For close to two years, Baudric Gothong and I would hear mass at the shrine, almost without fail (save for few instances when we needed to hear Mass earlier or later), and each time, we’d pitch our prayers in with the rest of the faithful community gathered there (yes, small in number, big in faith) to pray for Pedro’s canonization. And each time, as I pray to God, I join my prayers and praises with Pedro’s as an expression of the communion of faithful believers (whether in heaven or on earth) that is the essence of the Catholic faith, the universality of which I celebrate with every fiber of my imperfect being.

His canonization is a triumph, not only of the Filipino people because he is a Cebuano saint, a Visayan martyr, the first ever, but a triumph yet again of the human spirit. That despite the adversity and trials of this material and physical world, the spirit of our humanity can choose to courageously rise above all these to claim and conquer what should always be the ultimate, eventual, and definitive desire of our mortality—divinity.

There is no fast rule, formula to living a successful, happy, holy life. But the life of saints like Pedro give us a good understanding and appreciation of how it is to make our Maker happy so He decides to give us the eternity promised at the foot of the cross.

2011 for many people, myself included, as with any year, was a year of travails, trials, and triumphs. But it was one that was blessed. And it was blessed for a great many reasons (I became an uncle, I have a fantastic new job I enjoy, I learned what true love is, etc.) but one of the most important of which is the certainty of Pedro’s forthcoming canonization as a full-fledged saint, and of course, the message that goes with it.

Indeed, there is so much to be thankful for, and even more to learn from and take in as we endeavor to start the year right. But what more do we need for a brand new start, for that much-desired clean slate, when have a new (Cebuano) saint to inspire us for the new year and to kick off a brand new life?!

Happy New Year, everyone! God bless us all with the very, very, very best life has to offer!

Here’s to a prosperous, bountiful, peaceful, happy and healthy 2012—a year filled with faith, hope, wealth, new experiences, lessons learned, and love, because the greatest of all these is love!

Cheers!

* * *

To give way to the ABS-CBN New Year Countdown, there will be no The Bottomline with Boy Abunda tonight. Next Saturday, catch the Emmy Award-winning Filipino producer of America’s Next Top Model and the Tyra Banks Show, Michael Carandang, as he takes the hot seat in an inspiring New Year episode.

* * *

Email:   [email protected]