Another significant and memorable week

Last Sunday, the third of the four significant Sundays in June this year, we observed the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, commemorated the 150th birth anniversary of our National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal and honored our fathers on Father’s Day.

Last Sunday I watched the live TV coverage by EWTN of Pope Benedict XVI celebrating Mass in honor of the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity during his Apostolic visit to San Marino. San Marino is a small republic with a land area of 61 square kilometers or 24 square miles in north central Italy near the Adriatic coast. It has a population of over 30,000. It is the oldest surviving monarchy (two co-regents appointed every six months) founded in 301, with a Constitution founded in 1600 that is the oldest constitution still in effect. Its principal language is Italian, and its chief religion, Roman Catholic.

The theme of the pope’s homily was on love, that God is love, with the Father giving all to the Son, the Holy Spirit bridging Father and Son, and thus giving love to the people. The Pope also spoke on forgiveness as Moses prayed to God for it on “a stiff-necked people,” praying for pardon for their wickedness and sin. The homily was most relevant for us and the people of the world, in these troubled and trying times.

Last Sunday was especially significant for our country as we observed the 150th anniversary of the birth of our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, in Calamba, Laguna. At the commemoration there last Sunday, a 22-foot bronze statue of him was unveiled, the tallest Rizal statue in the Philippines. As early as Sunday last week when we celebrated Independence Day, media had aired and published reports and features on Rizal as a hero, as well as his being a “compleat man” in his life with achievements in the fields of writing, medicine, civic achievements (particularly in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Sur, during his exile there), and in world travel, among others. Personally, these supplemented and broadened my required reading in school about him, and especially his books “Noli Mi Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo” as well as his poetry, particularly in his “Adios, Patria Adorada.” The National Library in Manila is now exhibiting the newly restored original manuscripts of the “Noli” and “Fili.”

I had also been able personally to visit places he stayed in, his visible achievements there, and articles he created, wrote and used, at both Fort Santiago where he had been incarcerated and in Dapitan where he had been exiled. I have also viewed exhibits on Rizal in other museums in Manila. Here in Cebu, at the Rizaliana Museum of the University of Southern Philippines Foundation, I also learned of his personal connections by affinity with its founders, Agustin and Beatriz Jereza.

Then, also last Sunday, as the nation celebrated with tributes to fathers and peoples’ memories of their fathers, I remembered my own Tatay Pio Peralta, who made sure I could go to school and make something of myself, who, while not affectionately demonstrative, showed his love in his warmth, his generosity and his pride in my professional achievements, especially when complimented on these by his friends. And he made sure I was protectively chaperoned until he handed me over to my husband when I got married, God bless my own dear father, as well as my husband, long gone, who was a loving and caring father for our children.

Speaking of memories, at the current two-week Centennial Celebration of the Cebu Normal School, my Alma Mater, I attended the launching Wednesday last week of a book on the history of the institution by Dr. Romola Savellon. As one of the readers to the audience of summarized chapters in her “To Rouse the Dawn: A Century of Monitoring,” I read “Mother of Schools,” chapter 6 in the book. While I leafed through the book itself, I look forward to reading it completely to learn more about the venerable institution where I spent only less than five years as a college student and then as a teacher and instructor. By the way, reading the papers the other day, I learned that the De La Salle University in Manila also celebrated its centennial last week.

Then Friday last week, with my son-in-law Amador “Jing” Villalon Jr., widower of my recently deceased daughter in the States Raquel, and their children Janisse and husband Richard, Jourdan, and Jenelle, who had flown in from the States a couple of weeks after their father, we went to Moalboal, south of Cebu City. This memorable visit I shall share with you next week.

Till then, as always, may God continue to bless us one and all!