First Sunday of Advent

November 29, 2009

Jer 33,14-16
1 Thes 3, 12-4,2
Lk, 21,25-28.34-36

Lola Nena sits by the patio of her humble home calmly being amused by all sorts of people passing by. In her hand is a worn-out plastic rosary, one of the give-aways of the barangay captain when he ran for office last year. Our serene grandmother is not really praying the rosary; she already did that early in the morning. She was simply clinging to it as was her custom whenever she begins to recall with remarkable accuracy the loving faces of her children and relatives.

Suddenly, her face lights up not because she remembered a most pleasant thought but due to the appearance of a smiling man who enters from their back gate. She had been expecting him – Kadiyo, the jueteng collector.

After asking how she felt and after the usual “exchange,” Kadiyo goes on his way. Lola Nena goes back to her usual position but this time, she begins with the first bead of the rosary, having in mind all her family trials, and never forgetting to include the two numbers she just gave to Kadiyo.

This is not about jueteng. This is about a Filipina grandmother who is witnessing the gospel’s overwhelming “galactic signs and roaring waves” of life. And yet, she calmly continues to survive clinging on to her rosary as she looks forward with hope to a better future even if we may doubt if her feeble legs could take her there.

Here is the challenge for us: jueteng should be abolished the soonest time possible. Can we take the place of Kadiyo so that my dear grandmother’s face may continue to light up and experience the true promise of God’s kingdom?

Fr. Anthony Ynzon, SVD
Belgium
(The Word in Other Words)