Serendipity – a “happy accident” or “pleasant surprise”; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it. (Wikipedia).
I guess that’s what happened to me last Sunday. What started as a simple accommodation to my mom’s request to take a road trip proved to be serendipitous.
My mom has been suffering from multiple oppressions of the heart, blood pressure, diabetes, etc. She’s nearing 80 years old. The pain she’s going through has made her cranky but recently, her disposition changed. There are mornings she would be made up and fully dressed. When she’s asked where she’s going, she said friends are waiting for her in Dumaguete. One time she wanted to be driven to Dalaguete because my dad was waiting for her. But my dad already died.
Then she insisted that she visit me in the city. Even as my sister said I’ve already transferred and it’s hard for her to get inside the house because of her wheelchair, she still wanted to drive down to see me.
When I saw her, I noticed her face was bright. She was smiling which was a rare sight all these years. I didn’t want to break her excitement for a drive out so I promised to take her out the following week. My sister suggested going up north to visit the Oratory of St. Pedro Calungsod. So last Sunday, we headed off to Carmen town.
This town will always be a special part of my heart. It is where Shemberg Corp, a carageenan processing plant, is located. My late husband was working there as Plant Supervisor until his demise. I remember the days he failed to ride the company bus early in the morning and I would drive him to work. Just that. A total of 111 kms from Minglanilla town where I lived then to Carmen and back.
I’ve seen the plant when it was built from nothing. My husband was among the first batch of engineers who worked to make the Plant what it is now. The last time I entered its premises was when I was called to claim his last pay and benefits. His staff showed me where he would sleep when he had to man operations at night. My heart broke and tears fell when I saw a simple bench which they said was his “bed.”
That’s why whenever I pass Carmen town up north, there’s always that tug in my heart. And last Sunday, I didn’t know that the road leading to St. Pedro’s Oratory was the same road where Shemberg stood.
So when I passed it, there was that heart skip again. With pride, I showed the plant to my nieces, nephews, sister and brother in law.
It was serendipity part 1 – a happy accident!
Reaching our destination, I thought it would just be the shrine of St. Pedro, but it was a pleasant surprise again. There was the St. Benedict Monastery, the Our Lady of Manaoag shrine, the grotto of St. Benedict and St. Scholastica and St. Pedro’s Oratory.
The last two years of my high school was spent in St. Scholastica’s and the order of the sisters is OSB –Order of St. Benedict. The two saints were twins and I didn’t even know it (or probably forgot!) until I saw their grotto. Serendipity 2! I was brought back to my high school memories.
In 1991, we escaped the wrath of Mt. Pinatubo which erupted in northern Luzon killing up to 800 people and rendering 100,000 homeless. One week before that tragic day, my late husband and I were at the Shrine of Our Lady of Manaoag in Pangasinan. He was very sick then and we decided to go on a pilgrimage to Luzon armed with hope and faith in God that he would be healed.
So imagine my happiness when I saw the image of Our Lady of Manaoag that Sunday in Carmen 20 years since our visit in Luzon. It was inside a chapel where beautiful paintings depicting the four decades of the Holy Rosary covered all the walls inside. Serendipity 3!
Indeed, that drive up north gave me a chance to find something good while not specifically searching for it. There’s much to thank God for always.
I’m a firm believer that everything that happens and everyone that we encounter in life have a purpose. Believe you me, it’s always for our own good as long as we keep our eyes focused on God’s goodness and love. ‘“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”’ (Jeremiah 29:11)
There’s no such thing as an accident. There is a God who designs everything in our life’s blueprint. All we have to do is trust in Him.
So serendipities are not accidents, but pleasant surprises from God as His message for us. And for the places I was in last Sunday, they were nudges for me to remember my late husband on Nov. 1, to strengthen my faith in miracles such as what was granted to us by Our Lady of Manaoag, and to thank God for the provisions my husband gave to our family because of his work at Shemberg—something we never thought he would have because of his bout with illness.
As the Book of Ecclesiastes points out, “There is a time for everything….” And last Sunday was a time for thanksgiving and awe at God’s goodness. This is the secret to being happy—to be at peace with the world and God.