Serving the Virgin is a dream come true

Seeing the Virgin of the Rule or Birhen sa Regla in her dreams made her decide to serve the Nuestra Señora de Regla Parish National Shrine in Lapu-Lapu City.

Bernadette Basan, 65, president of church collectors, said the Virgin appeared in her dreams several nights in 1998 in Cebu City, where she was then residing.

Basan said a dark woman, wearing a long white dress and praying the rosary, flashed in her dreams with a smile with the sky in the background.

“She asked me to pray the rosary always with a cool voice,” Basan told Cebu Daily News.

Basan interpreted the lady in her dream as the Virgin of the Rule and that she wanted her to return to her home, which is near the shrine, and be with her mother, Fausta, after the latter asked her to go home.

Her mother died in 2006 at age 85.

Basan said that when she was a child she would usually accompany her father who served as the priest’s aide.

Despite being an activist during the martial law years, Basan said she always put God in the center of her life.

“Sayop gyud nang ubang aktibista kay walay Ginoo. Kay ako aktibista ko pero naa jud ang Ginoo sa akong pagtudlo sa mga youth (Some activists are wrong because they do not believe in God. I’m an activist but I put God first in teaching the youth),” she said.

She recalled an instance during the martial law years wherein some priests were arrested by the military and detained in Cebu City.

She was spared that time because she was in school.

Basan said she became a catechist and later a businesswoman managing Welcare General Services, which provides the manpower and general services needs of several universities, private companies, hospitals and Cebu City Hall.

Basan was able to buy a small house in Lapu-Lapu and vehicles for her business.

But prior to that, Basan worked as a secretary and bookkeeper in a nongovernment organization, TEACH or Training and Educational Assistance for Community Health.

While working in TEACH, Basan, a mother of four, continued to go to the mountainous areas in Cebu and Bohol to give aid to rebels. She said they also taught the rebels basic first aid.

In 2002, Basan closed down her business after it went bankrupt and decided to devote her time to Mama Mary.

As long as she is alive, Basan said she would never stop serving the virgin.

“Wala nani retirement akong serbisyo sa Birhen sa Regla ug sa Ginoo. Ang bad experience maka pa lig-on nimo ug kani pud maka palig-on sa imung faith (My service to the Virgin of Rule and God has no end. The bad experience will strengthen one’s personality and faith),” she said in an interview with Cebu Daily News at the church premises with the Virgin’s image behind her.

“Naa jud ko calling para mu help ug mu serve (I really have a calling to help and serve),” she said.

Basan said she offers her service to the virgin and God for free. She said being a collector is voluntary and they don’t get paid for it.

The feast of the Birhen sa Regla was celebrated yesterday in Lapu-Lapu City.

In his homily during the Pontifical Mass yesterday morning, Msgr. Esteban Binghay said the road to salvation is always under construction even ‘without the pork barrel.’

Earning a living in an easy way like engaging in cybersex was also tackled by Binghay, drawing laughter from the parishioners when he asked them if they know about it.

“Mas destructive pani sa earthquake ug sa supertyphoon kay gama ni sa tawo og dili sa Ginoo,” he said.