Not Unimportant Desires

Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart….
(Message for Graduates of Batch 2013)

   A young man has just graduated. His parents prepared a surprise gift for him. They blindfolded their son while wearing his graduation toga and led him to the gift. As they came near the gift, the mother released the blindfold while the father stood beside the gift. The young man was overjoyed to see the sports car and hysterically called out his classmates until many of them came with a non-stop jumping and shouting. Stuck to his apparent ecstasy, the young man cannot hear his parents saying something. They were about to say that the real gift was a small refrigerator with a ribbon on it. It just so happened that it stood beside the sports car. The real owner of the sports car came and he quickly drive off the car because the young people do not mind to hear. It was only then that they suddenly stopped and the young son said to his parents: “Dad, he stole my car…”

     We all have this desire for happiness. But somehow, we are able to manage to cloud the not - unimportant desires like the search for lasting things. Our Most Blessed Mother Mary has something to teach us in order to grab the real treasures. “Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.” How can I forget the joys of friendship in the seminary, the beautiful liturgy that has humbled hearts, the pains and hurts that made our joys pure, the solidarity and community apostolate that strengthened our spirit? We cannot also forget our viand we call tatlong bente singko (coin size pork) or the papel na ulam (market ham), and the English rule that when we ran out of words we will just say “like this and like that.” During Wednesday’s, the visiting day, we have the plenty supply of food brought by our parents but in that same day in the evening, seminarians have no mercy eating them all. I believe that you all have similar stories you keep on telling when you meet together. The irony is that when we have everything in our hands happiness seems to slip away. Seminary life is not really a life of deprivation. It is an embrace of happiness, love and truth that last forever. Those who are in the real life situation can attest to what I say that our faith offers us real treasures that money can’t buy. These words of Mary conjures to what Jesus has said from Mt 7:24 - “Whoever hears my words and puts them into practice is like a wise man who builds his house on solid ground…” What I mentioned here are just little things compared to what God has in store for each one of us. Let us continue to beg Jesus to fill our lives with heavenly treasures by following this stance of Our Blessed Mother.

   We then keep Jesus in our hearts. Your parents, relatives, formators and friends desire much for your happiness. Let us not forget that God desired it first for all of us. But this time, unlike the young man in the story, let it be real. We want it to really happen and not just provisional. Let us trust our Savior. O blessed Mother, help us to keep Jesus in our hearts.

Congratulations and God bless!