Amen.

It was with immense grief that I visited the remains of my aunt, Sister Dorothy, yesterday. She was 86.  She was the last remaining sibling of my dad and Uncle Leony who came from a brood of 7.  It didn’t help that my dad broke down when he went close to coffin.  She was after all his fave Acheng Viding (from her original name Fredesvinda, before the Benedictine Order changed it to Dorothy).

Tita Madre was soft-spoken (rare for a Pampangan woman), cheery and kind.  She was not loud, haughty and overbearing, unlike some members of the religious who manage to disenchant more and more Catholics today.  When she left a rather privileged life with my Lola to join a monastic order, she vowed to devote her life to prayer, education and music.  And she continued to do so until Alzheimer’s wore her down.

When my belief in the shepherds of God and the goodness of man wavers, I’d just have to think of Sister Dorothy.  Life’s too short to recompense meanness with more meanness. Must not forget the kindnesses around us, like Dorothy’s.

[A clip from a small 1963 film entitled "Lilies of the Field", where Sidney Poitier won a Best Actor Oscar.  A most inspiring film about faith, perseverance, tolerance and the kindness of strangers.]