All roads – or shall we say, all routes – lead to Cebu City by next week for the grand annual celebration of the Sinulog Festival, an event many are looking forward to, most especially the devotees of the Señor Santo Niño who make it a point to go on a pilgrimage to this charming city in the South without fail. Not only local tourists make a beeline in all ports of entry, but even foreign guests as well as evidenced by their arrival in the past years, the pandemic notwithstanding.
It is, without doubt, one of the major festivals we have in the country. However, without pointing an accusing finger at anybody or without finding fault at anyone who may just be performing a job in good faith, observers have been caught lamenting the fact that the festival itself has lost its religiosity, which was after all its original intent. What has become of the Sinulog, over the years, is a highly commercialized form of entertainment, devoid of its prime objective of paying homage to the patron saint of the young and old, Pit Señor.
We had the chance to listen to the homily delivered by no less than the Archbishop of Cebu, Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, in a Mass he celebrated right in the Basilica del Santo Niño where the hub of activities are concentrated, at least to the devotees and those who have consciously borne in mind what they came to Cebu for. Made a cardinal in 1985, he was Archbishop of Cebu from 1982 to 2010. He passed on in 2017 at the age of 86 and was buried at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, Cebu City.
This happened not too long ago and, coincidentally, it was also the year when the good Cardinal celebrated his 25th year of having been assigned to Cebu. He related that when he was appointed Bishop of Cebu after his assignment in Lipa, Batangas City, he confessed to have been very disappointed. After all, he didn’t know how to speak Cebuano, and he was not even Visayan!
So what he did, related Cardinal Vidal, was to complain about his predicament to then Pope John Paul II who remarked, “I came from Poland and was assigned to Rome; you are still in the Philippines, only in another province!” Of course, Cardinal Vidal had no recourse, but to reluctantly assume his post.
On his first night in Cebu, he said he found thumbtacks on his bed. He said, “Lord, what is this?” Then, he continued, it was as if he heard the Lord saying to him the passage from Hebrews, “My son, there is no redemption without the shedding of blood.”
Cardinal Vidal held his peace and before he even realized it, it has been some 25 years ago that he has made Cebu the base of his calling. He said that he is thanking the Lord profusely for being with him all this time.
The homily, while talking about a personal experience, was actually very simple, yet enlightening because we go through similar situations, differing perhaps only in certain degrees or circumstances. But, the message is clear: we would have snapped out of our senses and we would not have gone on without the guidance and intervention of our Lord and Savior.
On a similar note, we remember having read an interview some years back with Princess Punzalan, television and movie actress, more popularly known as the ex-wife of variety show host, Willie Revillame. She has, since then, remarried and is now Princess Punzalan-Field.
Being a product of celebrity parents — her father was broadcaster Orly Punzalan, while her mother was Helen Vela, the lady with a soothing voice ala Tia Dely and who was behind the phenomenal success of the top-rated TV show, “Lovingly Yours” – Princess certainly took after her parents.
But, fame and fortune have their price. While she and her brother had everything they could possibly ask for, her father stopped coming home when she was about three years old. She would often see her mother cry and she kept asking her when her Papa was coming home, but she couldn’t give her an answer. Princess said she would cry with her mother and feel so helpless.
There was a time when her Mama Helen recorded her voice as she was begging for her Papa to come home. Princess was choking in between sobs as she was making the appeal. She said she waited for a long time, but he never came.
She confessed that how she saw her parents somehow affected her view about God. She felt like they were too busy for her, so maybe God was also too busy to answer her prayers. At the age of seven, she said she would read the gospel through the tracts she got from the jeepney ride to school. Then a neighbor took her and her brother to Sunday school, and she also started to watch televangelists every Sunday.
At her young age, she said she felt that God was the only One who could fix her life and her heart. She said she prayed the prayer on the gospel tracts; she prayed the sinner’s prayer with the televangelist many, many times. She said that while she was aware of the existence of a real God, she didn’t really grow spiritually. She even felt insecure, with a poor self-image for a long time. Her thinking was that God could do a miracle for somebody else, but not for her.
Then, lo and behold, after 13 years of absence, her father suddenly reappeared. It had been so long that she had forgotten what he looked like. He came to visit her at the hospital when news broke out that she was mauled. That started their long journey towards rediscovering one another and building a new relationship. His presence in her life made her feel secure and protected. She said her prayers were being answered – God was restoring her relationship with her father.
According to Princess, little did she know that at that time, God was also beginning to restore her relationship with Him. She said it took her about 20 years to get to know her Papa well. It also took her a long time to grow in her relationship with God.
During that time, as Princess related, she lived a life motivated by fear, insecurity, neediness, and frustration, but when she got to know her Papa better and better, her view of God also changed. When she saw in her Papa’s eyes how much he really loved her, she also started to see how our Father in heaven really sees all of us. Princess said she didn’t have to beg for His love. She didn’t have to perform or do things to be accepted by Him. He just loves her, as well as all His children — no playing favorites.
This weekend, whether you may have gotten the chance to visit Cebu for the Sinulog Festival or gone to church to pay reverence to the Santo Niño, let us all thank God for helping us see that we need to be forgiven for our sins and to thank Jesus as well for paying the penalty for our sins.
As the new year has just begun, let us also learn to forgive because we had been forgiven. While there may be numerous challenges in our lives, all these would certainly draw us closer to God.
Life is definitely not hopeless because we have a God Who loves us, Who will never abandon us, and Who only wants the best for us.
Happy New Year, Happy Three Kings, and Viva Pit Señor to all our readers and friends from near and far! – NWI
