REMEMBERING THE SOUL OF MY BELOVED MOTHER THIS MOTHER'S DAY

This is my late Dearest Mother, Mrs. Trinidad Patinio Arganiosa. The picture was taken in the corner of our home garden about a year or two before she died. The picture is a little blurred because this is a picture taken from another picture which was in a glass frame. It's alright for me because it reminds me that she is alive in spirit but is gone in our material world. She has returned to the Father's House.

Tomorrow will be the celebration of Mother's Day in the Philippines or may be the whole world. The faithful sons and daughters will serenade their mother with love songs, bring her to the best restaurant that their money can afford and shower her with embrace and kisses. Filipinos, being Orientals, are very fond and respectful of their mother. Actually in Philippine society and culture it is the mother who is the real force to reckon with.

This is Mrs. Nelia Dalanon or known to my friends as Mama Nel. She is my 'mother' in Sorsogon.

On my part my celebration of the Mother's Day started this morning at 5:45 when our community celebrated our daily Mass. Because I remembered before the Altar the soul of my mother, Mrs. Trinidad Arganiosa who returned to the Father's House 10 years ago - May 9, 1999. It was Mother's Day then, Sunday in particular. I received a message late in the afternoon of Saturday before that my Mother was sick. I was not told that she was about to die. So my superior adviced me to go home very early of the next day instead. But deep inside I was troubled. My mother had been sick and hospitalized before but never did she call for me. She kept on telling my sisters: "Don't let your brother be bothered by my sickness. I don't want him to abandon his religious duties just for me." True enough I had learned of her previous hospitalizations when she was already Ok.

I arrived home at about 8:00am. It was my eldest sister, Ate Luz, that I found in our house. She was happy to see me but I noticed that she was teary eyed alreaady and when I inquired about Nanay [Mom in American English and Mum in British] her tears flowed but told me directly: "She's been in the hospital for a week and her condition is deteriorating. The doctors have informed us that it is only a matter of time. I will only feed the dog [Kim our very large dog, the last one personally chosen by my mother], change clothes and we will proceed to the hospital. " When we were leaving the house Ate Len, the second in line arrived to replace Ate Luz at home.

We arrived in the hospital past 9:00am and when we reached the hospital we were met by relatives who were crying because she has passed away already. We were late by only 15 minutes. When Ate Luz and I entered her room we saw her body still as fresh as if alive. My Ate Luz tried to call her name and touched her breast to revive her but to no avail. On my part, I was silently touching her hand still wounded by dextrose marks and kissed it like an altar. Then I kissed her feet feeling like a Magdalene unworthy of anything else in the world. Among her children I was the one physically absent during her last days despite the fact that I was the one who received the longest care from her. When I finally put my head on her breast she was still warm and once again I felt like a child of long ago so comfortable and happy clinging to that blessed breast which was God's instrument in bringing me to life. The only difference this time was that her loving arms are no longer capable to wrap me with her protective presence.

One of my relatives I have heard from behind said that "your mother died without you in her presence". It touched me because it sounds as if I was being rebuked for having committed treachery. I never answered to the remark until 5 days later during the Eulogical Remark which I delivered. There I explained that my absence is not treachery to her love because she lovingly offered me to the Lord. She died in my absence, not only in my absence but in the absence of all three of us her children, because she doesn't want to hear our cries as she was departing. She has received the last Sacraments and had been blessed by a priest and was no longer capable of speaking and seeing us; then she thought it non necessary to prolong our agony. Until the end hers was a life of sacrificial love for her children.

On my part, I am not at all bothered because we have a bond that only a mother and her favorite son could understand. I left the family home not to abandon her but to bring her closer to my heart and offer her and the entire family to God the Most High. Thus, my religious life is not a distance but actually a spiritual bonding that will never be broken even by the power of death. We are more united as ever and our love is much stronger than when she was living on earth. Her name will I ever remember every single Mass I celebrate before the Altar of Eucharistic Sacrifice. She was a mother to me the way Monica was to Augustine and ultimately, the way Mary is to Jesus.

Thus, during this 10th Anniversary of her entrance into Life After Death I implore the Divine Master, my Lord and High Priest, to have mercy on her soul because she offered her most precious treasure to Him and to His Church -- her youngest and only son among her three children. May the High Priest of the New Covenant accept the intentions of my heart in her behalf. May the Blessed Mother intercede for her before the Divine Throne of Mercy and receive her into the company of Holy Ones. May St. Jerome be her advocate before the Judgment Seat of Christ by praying: "O Good Jesus, do not be her Judge but her Savior!"

Mama Nel and I.

Mama Nel is not a rich woman. She lives a very simple life but she is very rich in faith. She endeared herself to me right after Nanay died because I was then assigned in Sorsogon City at the Casa Miani House for the Orphans and the Needy Youth.

She used to visit our community every afternoon to visit and adore the Blessed Sacrament and to pray Holy Rosary.Then, she was always praying for our vocations and when we were talking with her our talks is oriented on things of God. I saw in her the goodness and beauty of the soul of Nanay Trining and on her part she always treasured me as a beloved Son.

Since then Mama Nel has become my prayer warrior here on earth and I believe that I am surpassing all the trials and difficulties that came along my way since then because of her prayers and that of my Nanay and of Mama Mary in Heaven.

TO ALL OUR MOTHERS... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Mama Nel and her biological son, Dan