BERNARDO M. VILLEGAS
October 9, 2009
The Love of A Mother
I would like to ask my readers to pray for the continued health of my mother who
turns 100 years today. Last Friday, I wrote about the only commandment of God that
comes with a promise, i.e. “Honor your father and mother.” To complete the testimony
to our mother’s life-long dedication to the service of others, I would like to describe the
numerous ways she practiced the highest of all virtues—the virtue of charity.
My mother gave of herself to others in ordinary but heroic details. Let me cite an
example. Last Holy Thursday, some of her children decided to accompany her on the
traditional Visita Iglesia. She made sure that four of her closest friends in Sto. Tomas,
Batangas would accompany us traveling to the towns of Lipa, Malvar, Tanauan and Sto.
Tomas. Not only was she concerned with sharing with these friends the spiritual benefits
of praying to the Blessed Sacrament in seven churches. While we were traveling in
separate cars, she was always inquiring if we had provided her friends with adequate
snacks and drinks to make their ride comfortable. That was so characteristic of her. Her
generosity knows no bounds. First, she makes friends for life with numerous individuals.
These friends come from all walks of life. Then she showers these friends with gifts all
throughout the year.
It seems money burns a hole in her hands, not because of
extravagant living, but because she is always thinking of gifts she could give to her
friends and relatives. It is this generosity we have seen at close range that must have
inspired my brother Edberto--famous in U.P. for his never-ending struggle to uplift the
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Philippine poor--to work for the causes of the oppressed and the underprivileged.
It was her well known generosity that moved several parish priests of Sto. Tomas,
Batangas in succession to appoint her as the main fund raiser for the rebuilding and
renovation of the parish church which was one of the most devastated during the
American-Japanese war (in fact, a number of German nuns were killed by the bombs that
destroyed the Church during the liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese by the
Americans). She appealed to the generosity of numerous people both here and abroad in
this project which lasted for more than a decade. Thanks to her leadership, the parish
church of Sto. Tomas, Batangas is one of the most beautiful in the whole province and
actually attracts tourists who admire its baroque altarpiece. Her greatest satisfaction in
this project was the completion of the adoration chapel for the Blessed Sacrament, which
she never fails to visit when she is in Sto. Tomas.
I only hope her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will continue the
tradition of my mother of practicing what Pope Benedict XVI calls the virtue of
gratuitousness in his recent encyclical “Charity In Truth.” If God will grant her more
years beyond the century she already has, it must be because she can still do a lot of good
to many persons, beginning with us her most fortunate offspring. For comments, my
email is bvillegas@uap.edu.ph.