By Atty. Howie Calleja
In 2022, we met such much challenges especially in an electoral exercise most of us wanted to see genuine change in government and not a continuity of a past regime we fought against in the 1986 People’s Power Revolution. We tried to make “ends meet” amidst our inflation woes vis-à-vis the Russian-Ukraine War (drastically increasing cost of fuel) and the rising price of agricultural products most especially onions whose price would make you cry event before you start chopping it. Yes, it was challenging yet we remain hopeful.
“Our time has a great need for hope! The young can no longer be robbed of hope. … The young needs hope. It is necessary to offer concrete signs of hope to those who experience pain and suffering. Social organizations and associations, as well as individuals who strive towards acceptance and sharing, are generators of hope. Therefore, I exhort your Christian communities to be agents of solidarity, never to stop before those who, for mere personal interest, sow self-centeredness, violence and injustice. Oppose yourselves to the culture of death and be witnesses to the Gospel of life! May the light of God’s Word and the support of the Holy Spirit help you to look with new and willing eyes upon the new forms of poverty that drive so many young people and families to desperation” (Pope Francis).
To maintain a positive outlook for 2023 amidst overwhelming opposition brings to light the Christian virtue of hope. Christian hope unfolds our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. Hope is the sure and steadfast anchor of our dreams and aspirations where Jesus has gone as the forerunner on our behalf. And to be buoyed up by hope is to enable us to experience joy even under intense trials and struggles.
In close analogy thereof, allow me to share to you this story shared by Roger William Thomas in the book, “Chicken Soup for the Soul”: A young child diagnosed with cancer went to his spiritual adviser to discuss his funeral. When it seemed that they had covered just about everything, Aunt Martie paused, looked up at Jim with a twinkle in her eye, and then added, “One more thing, preacher. When they bury me, I want my old Bible in one hand and a fork in the other.” “A fork?” Jim was sure he had heard everything, but this caught him by surprise. “Why do you want to be buried with a fork?” “I have been thinking about all of the church dinners and banquets that I attended through the years,” she explained. “I couldn’t begin to count them all. But one thing sticks in my mind. At those really nice get-togethers, when the meal was almost finished, a server or maybe the hostess would come by to collect the dirty dishes. I can hear the words now. Sometimes, at the best ones, somebody would lean over my shoulder and whisper, ‘You can keep your fork.’ And do you know what that meant? Dessert was coming!
“It didn’t mean a cup of Jell-O or pudding or even a dish of ice cream. You don’t need a fork for that. It meant the good stuff, like chocolate cake or cherry pie! When they told me I could keep my fork, I knew the best was yet to come!”
“That’s exactly what I want people to talk about at my funeral. Oh, they can talk about all the good times we had together. That would be nice.” “But when they walk by my casket and look at my pretty blue dress, I want them to turn to another and say, ‘Why the fork?’ That’s what I want you to say, I want you to tell them that I kept my fork because the best is yet to come.”
In Faith, we look at all our struggles either personal, social or political and let us continue to hope and pray for a better Philippines and say to ourselves….. The best is yet to come!