October: The Month Of The Holy Rosary

I remember during my grade school days at Don Bosco Technical Institute in Victorias in the Philippines, the whole school would gather around the statue of the Virgin Mary next to the dormitory building and pray the Holy Rosary all together.

This was done on Fridays in the month of October, the month of the Holy Rosary. 

And this month, since I was home, I was able to participate with my mom in the parish's living rosary that was done in front of our parish church.

Of course, I had with me the rosary the kind Sister Beneditta gave to me at the Dubai International Airport. This, to me, is a very special rosary, since I was a stranger to Sister Beneditta, and yet she gave me her rosary. As I recounted in my blog about her kindness, I never saw Sister Beneditta again during our Emirates Airlines flight from Dubai to Rome. Neither did I ever see her even when our plane landed.

All my childhood years studying at Salesian schools, devotion to Mary was encouraged. That's why my classmates and I grew up knowing Mary, the Help of Christians as our Mother, who's always looking over us. 

So, were you also able to join your parish's Holy Rosary this month?

Sede Vacante: Who Wants To Be Pope?

A couple of years ago, I watched Pope Benedict XVI roam around the St. Peter's Square in the Vatican City while thousands of Catholics waved and called his name. He was riding his 'pope mobile' and his bodyguards walked speedily by it. This was during the weekly general audience with him. As he passed me, I could see that he was trying to force a smile as he raised his arms to bless the international pilgrims. From the way his face looked, I realized that this octogenarian, the successor of Saint Peter, had only a few years left in him. He looked weak and tired.

                                    (Pope Benedict XVI)

And yesterday, as I watched CNN's coverage of his departure from the Vatican City on board a white helicopter, I thought that his decision might have been for the good of the Roman Catholic Church, an organization he might have felt was getting too difficult for him to rule. Citing old age, he just gave up as its CEO.

And today, the sede vacante (the seat is vacant) continues. This is the period when the Roman Catholic has no pope and no leader. It ends when a new pope is elected. So, today, like the rest of the 1.18 billion Catholics around the world (according to the Pontifical Yearbook), I have no Pope.

Yes, I am a Catholic like most Filipinos. I was baptized a Catholic and raised a Catholic. Some Catholics boast of being baptized a week or two after their birth. How about three days for me? I'm not sure if my father secretly snuck me out of the hospital, or politely borrowed me for an hour from the nurses with the promise of returning the same baby boy, but with a baptismal certificate this time! He then brought me to a cathedral. It wasn't just a chapel nor a parish church, but a cathedral, no less!  And at my baptism, my father, my lola (grandmother), and my own set of the traditional maninoys (godfathers) and maninays (godmothers) finally carried out my mother's instructions that I be baptized immediately; she was still in the hospital that day recovering from giving life to her first-born. She had her son named after a saint, by the way. No wonder the baptism had to be in a cathedral! I wonder what would have been had there been a basilica on the island.

I went to Catholic schools, too. All throughout grade school, high school and college, there were always chapters from the Bible to study, the Holy Mass to attend, Holy Rosaries to say and church feasts to celebrate. And during the Mass at school, it would either be singing in the choir, serving at the altar, or doing the reading.  My classmates and I must have had attended too many a Holy Mass that we could recite from memory the liturgy and those prayers, including all the hymns!  I guess we were so holy already that if it were not for our countless mischief, rowdiness and not being able to properly name the 12 apostles, most of us would have been a martyrdom away from beatification, even before we got our high school diplomas.

But those were the years when my reading and my awareness of the real issues of the world were limited to textbooks, the Old and New Testaments, and the occasional comic books (and a few restricted literature I secretly brought to school, which would have had me expelled had I been caught and thereby jeopardizing my sainthood!). And in this age, news, scandals and issues are just a URL away, especially those  involving the Roman Catholic Church. They're even more difficult to ignore because nowadays as the Vatican City is always in the headlines.

And that's what I mostly read about the Catholic Church these days: pedophile priests and abused altar boys and seminarians, and cover-ups, and in the case of the Philippine Catholic church, meddling in the affairs of the government and in elections.  I thought the separation of Church and State was written in the Philippine Constitution. I guess, if it's not in written in the Bible, it doesn't count. I just could not understand why those Philippine bishops and priests tried to move heaven and earth in opposing a law (then a bill in Congress) that would provide information and care to Filipino parents. Aren't they supposed to promote love and care for their fellow men and women? Why couldn't they understand the plight, especially that of the poor Filipino mothers, who could not afford proper maternal health care and who usually have no access to proper medical information? These priests and bishops' being single, unmarried and not worrying about daily survival should not be an excuse for not understanding the issue. Could they at least include these issues involving their so-called 'flock' in their list of things to worry, which I think usually only include what sermon to deliver or how much the Sunday collection would be? Do they still think they're still in the Medieval Ages when the Church labelled a heretic anybody who opposed them? It's now the 21st century and just like any corporate entity that wants to go global, the Roman Catholic Church should adapt, too.

Over the years, in my parish, I have heard stories about priests whose relationships with their 'flock' were not only limited to the spiritual. It included sexual and financial as well. And when I was in high school, I met a middle-aged man who told me he was a priest but was ex-communicated because he had children. Remembering it now, I can only admire that former priest's bravery. At least, he had the decency to own up to his decision to have a family and face its consequence whatever it might have been, unlike the ones who hide behind the cassock and use their authority to get whatever worldly things they want. Well, so much for the vows of chastity, obedience and poverty, I guess.

                                        (Saint Peter)

So, who wants to be pope?

I heard from a priest on TV that any unmarried, baptized Catholic can be actually pope!  Really??  Although that would include me and a few of my friends, I doubt any of us would actually think about it. We are not part of the College of Cardinals and flying to Rome this time of the year is not part of my travel plans (although my friends Margarita and Maurizio in Rome are already hurrying me to visit them again!). But whomever the cardinals vote for at the conclave, the next Pope should have to first own up to the Church's sins, just like a sinner before a confessor. And the penance should not only be a few Hail Marys and Our Fathers, nor a simple re-assignment to another parish. It should include proper admission and retribution for those culpable with no cover-ups. If the Church was able to apologize to Galileo after 367 years, why not the sins of last century? And to quote a cardinal from the movie, Angels and Demons, "Religion is flawed because man is flawed."  Do I hear, 'Mea culpa!' ?

                    (A sign before entering the Sistine Chapel)

And just like any good CEO, the next Pope should be able to trouble-shoot the Church's problems inside and out. It won't be an easy job, but with God on his side, solving the problems of politics, the finances and the changing landscape of the faith and the faithful should make it less difficult. And while he's at it, perhaps he should appoint a committee to look into the pricing of souvenirs at the Vatican Museum, its long queues and the crazy fees to hire a museum tour guide, too.

Seriously, now.

In a few weeks, before Easter Sunday, we will hear the words "Habemus Papam!" (We have a new Pope!) He may be a cardinal from Europe or from North or South America, Africa or even Asia. I just wish that before they send out that white smoke from the Sistine Chapel, the College of Cardinals will need to choose carefully from among themselves someone, who not only can carry on what Saint Peter started during the first century, but someone who will be able to spiritually lead and clean up the Roman Catholic Church, and let it adapt and flourish in the 21st.

Molto Grazie, Sister Beneditta, Wherever You May Be...

It's October, the month of the Holy Rosary. And being a Catholic, I join everyone who prays the Holy Rosary as well and just like everyone, I also have a favorite rosary given by an Italian nun who seemed to have disappeared. Well, let me just tell you about the story which becomes spookier every time I think about it. Why? Well, it's a long story, which I am finally prepared to write about.

In 2010, I flew to Rome, Italy, to visit my friends Margarita and Maurizio. I first met them in Seoul, and have been great friends with them since. They are such a warm and wonderful couple.

My flight from Incheon International Aiport on an Emirates Airlines flight had a stopover at Dubai International Airport, where I would take another Emirates flight to Leonardo Da Vinci Airport in Fiumicino, Italy.

And this was where it all started.

After a seven-hour stopover at Dubai International Airport, passengers for my flight queued to enter the pre-departure area. And while I was queuing, there was a nun, standing next to a column with her small hand-carry. She just stood there, and I wondered. Since all the people around this gate were all bound for Rome, I wondered why wasn't she falling in line? So, I made a space between me and the lady in front of me, then waved and signaled to the nun to take the spot before me. The guy behind me saw this and I think he agreed to the idea. After all, most of the passengers must be visiting the Vatican City while in Rome, which is definitely her territory.

But she declined with a wave of her right hand and pointed to the bigger hand-carry a foot away. Then I realized, someone must have asked her to watch it. What?! This nun was about in her 70's. She had a Mother Teresa profile: white, pale skin, medium height, and frail-looking. And somebody turned her into a babysitter of a luggage? (I later learned that the owner was a Southeast Asian woman who was going back to her work in Italy. She was not Filipino, but I think I know her nationality.)

Then, one by one, we all entered the pre-departure area after the inspection of our boarding passes, except the nun, who was left to watch somebody's luggage.

I had been sitting at the pre-departure area for a few minutes now when the nun finally came in with her light hand-carry, black handbag. When I saw her, I signaled her to sit next to me. And she did. Since she looked Italian, I thought what better way to practice my Italian with a real Italian. 

So, I introduced myself to her in three flawless Italian sentences (maybe the only full Italian sentences I'd ever spoken), and she said she was Sister Beneditta. While trying to carry a conversation, I asked her where I could buy rosaries in Rome, and she mentioned to me Via Della Conciliazone, which she said was right next to the Vatican City. I noted it down.

I also asked her what was her order and where did her flight originate from. She was talking in Italian, and I was trying to catch some words I could understand. She mentioned something about a 'miraculous medal', which must be her order, and she said she just flew in from Kerala (which was in India).

As we were talking, she opened her black bag and took out a small, rectangular plastic case. She gave it to me. I realized it was a rosary! I immediately blurted, "Molto grazie, Sister. Oi sono felice!" (Thank you. I am very happy!).

I opened the case and held the blue rosary. I immediately thought that this was her own rosary, which she was giving to me, a stranger! And if she had used this in her prayers, this rosary must have been blessed already! A blessed gift!  And I hadn't even set foot in Rome yet! 

Then the announcement came. They were now accepting passengers with seats at the back rows, and I had to go ahead. The rows where Sister Beneditta was assigned weren't called yet. So, I put the blue rosary back in its case and put it in my bag and rose. I thanked her again and left.

During the six-hour flight from Dubai to Rome, I remembered I tried to look for Sister Beneditta on the plane. I only had to see who was wearing a white habit, but I wasn't able to find her. Although I wasn't sure if she was seated in business class. Otherwise, she would have boarded way ahead of everyone else. I think her seat was in row 'H' if I remember right. She showed me her boarding pass earlier when they announced the boarding process.

I thought she was just somewhere on the plane.

But when we arrived at Fiumicino Airport, I tried to look for her again. She was frail and I thought she wouldn't be able to walk as fast as everyone else. So, when we got the immigration line, I expected to see her there. I would just look again for a nun in a white habit. 

There were only two immigration officers screening the passengers. Only two long lines. I was craning my neck and tried to look for her at the front and at the back of both lines, but still, no Sister Beneditta.

Did she get through the immigration already? That fast?

Or perhaps, she had a special arrangement that she was just whisked off like a VIP.

Or maybe, she arranged for a wheelchair and was accorded a quick pass from the plane up to the immigration.

Sister Beneditta just simply disappeared! Was she for real? Well, I think so. I still have her blue rosary.

But until now, I still could not shake off the mystery on why I wasn't able to find her on the plane and at least, at the immigration line.

Whatever you were, Sister Beneditta, a nun, an angel or just a fellow passenger, and wherever you are now, molto grazie again. I will always treasure your gift to this stranger.