Life is one big mystery and a paradox difficult, if not well nigh impossible, to understand. It is a never ending dynamic tension between being and becoming. I long for ease and comfort, a stasis where I would rest easy just being me. And yet, I am also always restless – seeking, searching, straining, and struggling to become more, better and more fulfilled.
In the end, I have to learn and re-learn and learn all over again that it is in being poor that I am blessed with riches; that it is in mourning that I am blessed with comfort and joy; that it is becoming meek and humble that I am blessed with the glories of life; that it is in being hungry and thirsty that I become filled and fulfilled; that it is in being merciful that I too am blessed with mercy and forgiveness; that it is in emptying and purifying my heart of all its inordinate desires that I am blessed with the presence of God; that it is in being persecuted, excluded, derided and ridiculed that I am blessed to come into God’s Kingdom.
These are hard lessons to learn. Many have given up. But many more have succeeded. We venerate them and call them ‘Saints’. And we celebrate their lives today. They would include Ima, Tatang, Papa, Mama and all my deceased loved ones. At one time or another in my life; they have helped me along in my journey, in my struggling between being and becoming. That is why I also call them ‘Saints’.