A Merry Marian Month

The start of September really had me conditioning myself for the busy schedule ahead for the celebration of Mama Mary's birthday on September 8. You see, Suzette and I were assigned as the new PPC representative for CFC in our parish last July and of course the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes has its programs to celebrate this Marian month.

One of the activities is the 'Harana Kay Maria', where the different organizations of the parish will render a song or dance number for this musical concert. Sacrifices were really had to be made to attend the practices on September 2, 4 and 6. Most of my co members in CFC had to skip dinner, leave work early, and braved the rains and floods just to be there during the rehearsals. Their full support has made our job in the PPC worthwhile.

Our presentation is an acoustic rendition of 'Mariang Ina Ko' and we thought of showing to the audience our CFC community as Families in the Holy Spirit Renewing the Face of the Earth, which is precisely the Mission and Vision of Couples for Christ. So we also involved our children in the production who incidentally are also members of the Kids for Christ and Youth for Christ.

Next, I made a short slide show presentation that greets Mama Mary and show to the public what the CFC community is all about. The plan is to play the clip as we do our presentation. It amazes me how this clip was produced. It's as if God had a hand in helping me put it all together. The timing was perfect as the clip was synchronized to the whole length of our performance. Although I really had no basis on how to time the whole clip except for using the MP3 file of Carol Banawa's version as a guide that I had in my iTunes which has a totally different arrangement and play length to that of our own version of the song.

And given the limited time we had after it was announced by the organizers that we can submit our logo or show something about our organization on the video wall, I started working on it after coming home from work on the 5th and finished it 2:30am the next day just in time for the final submission during last rehearsals later that day.

I've always been a devotee of our blessed Mother and she has always come to the aid of my family every time I asked for her intercession. This first Sunday of the month was no exception. With two days before her birthday, I was hoping that I could have the sacrament of reconciliation during the mass because it's been a month already that I have not confessed to a priest and I want to celebrate in the Eucharist during that Sunday. For the past Sundays that we attended mass, we did not see the green light on the confessional. And when it happens to be lit, the lines would normally have formed already making you think twice of going in because you'll definitely miss the homily.

We arrived just after the entrance hymn for the 5pm mass and upon entering the church, we knew the priest is already there waiting for us. It is not so often that we see the confessional open before the mass starts but this day is going to be special. We saw the green light and would you believe there was no line on both sides of the confessional? Suzette and I did not talk about going to confession but at that instant, we made eye contact and entered the two doors waiting for us. Our kids would be waiting in line outside. And if that is not enough, our confessor would happen to be Fr. Tonet who is one of the priests that Suzette and I look forward to hearing homily every mass.

We finished confession with enough time to start listening to the gospel. Fr. Rolly was the celebrant but a deacon gave the homily. The Lord's message that day was about brotherly correction. The sermon was delivered in a way that it reminds us about how we handle delicate personal relationships in line with correction. On how things could be handled in private and not in public while still giving and showing love and respect to the persons involved. In a way I think it is related to reconciliation in the sense that sometimes after trying to correct a point, disagreements occur and you may end up also losing valuable love and friendships.

This very incident happened to us about a year ago and after we've said our peace be with yous to the people around us, I was surprised to see a teary eyed friend who approached me from my blind side and held my hand and offered her peace while also giving me a buzz on the cheek. The same was offered to my wife who by now was was taken aback and with much surprise and then asked our friend if the peace she's offering is now for real. Tears flowed while both of them hugged and speak to each other again for the first time since that fateful incident last year. It didn't matter that we were causing a scene as we were positioned inside the church standing up just beside the right front side entrance while the people around us watched. I have learned our Lord's reconciliation in so many ways that day.

Early the next day, I brought Dang at our school bus station then proceeded to bring Suzette and Pio to Tita Rose's house in Sanville after which I went back home to get my other two kids and bring them to their respective schools. It was a hectic day and Suzette is going on a three day retreat in Makiling with our friend, Rose. They will be dropping off Pio to my in-laws along the way in Paranaque. This is the start of my Natay day - where I'd be both Dad and Mom to the kids while Zette is not around. Our eldest daughter Isay is also sick this day and so from time to time I have to monitor her by phone from the office.

I had to leave the office around 4pm to fetch Jiego from school as I needed to be in church by 5pm. When I arrived in the church, the organizers of the holy Rosary and lighting of candles were already there talking about the details. Our community is assigned to lead the fourth mystery and I am tasked to represent CFC. I would like to thank Marvin who graciously offered to be there to help lead the Rosary should I am not able to be there on time.

The Rosary was immediately followed by a high mass which was affected by a brownout that started during the offertory until the end. Outside the church it was raining hard and the streets outside were experiencing heavy traffic due to some flooding also. I immediately went home after the mass to fetch my kids for the concert and rushed back to the church because I was worried that the road conditions may cause me to be late in returning back to church. Anyway, all my worries subsided when the electricity just went back up after we arrived in church.

The show ran delays due to the power outage but it was enough for all our participants in the presentation to be there just in time. Our group would go to one corner and practice our song and final bow. Everybody was fired up and ready to go. We were careful in not leaving any minor details and so we also checked on the organizers regarding our video clip and gave instructions to the audio video people on how to sync the clip with our performance. Everything is a go.

We entered the stage and proceeded to our positions just as we rehearsed it. Before Danny would strum his first note, I looked to the video wall and could see the starting frame of our clip. So off we sang our hearts out but then something did not went right. The clip failed to play! This is what the av people explained to us after our performance. Awwww! They told us before that they have reviewed our clip and it was working fine. Perhaps they failed to test it in the other laptop they would be using that night. Oh well!

While waiting backstage for the grand finale, I sensed the frustrations and disappointments of my comrades. Sure, we were all more than ready for our performance but we also wanted to share that clip with our parishioners. It could have had more impact. But more than being sad for what had happened, I felt happy because I now know that this group deserves to carry the name of Couples for Christ. Every night we attended for practice and even during the program itself, everybody sacrificed and show their love for Mama Mary. We did not only give our all but we also showed to everyone what our group is all about. It's about friendship, commitment and standing tall together for a cause. We face challenges together and help each other in times of need. I felt proud doing our final bow together that night.

A day after the concert, I tried to put our performance which my daughter Isay took a video of and the slide show I made earlier together in one video. I couldn't believed it that everything was in sync! It's as if God made all the timing perfect. Not a second over or under. And so now I am sharing to you all how the performance should have been and to you Mama Mary, we love you!

YouTube : CFC WB3A Harana Kay Maria 2008