Love in today’s popular culture is often portrayed as the romance between two persons, with a strong focus on its physical and sexual manifestations. Love is richer and deeper than just the romance or the physical or the sexual. I have met many people and have gone through many experiences that show me love is more than these.
Ping became my best friend as I was leaving the seminary. We started off on the wrong footing. I dissed him once on the way he played the organ during mass and, for a music-person, that must have really hurt. He did not allow that comment to fester nor did he allow it to get in the way of our becoming very good friends. We eventually became very close, our thoughts and minds seemed to be in perfect sync with each other. We could anticipate word for word what the other was going to say. People often mistook us for brothers. He has chosen to remain single and has served as surrogate father to his many nephews and nieces, making him the ‘Tito ng Bayan’. And now he is playing Super Lolo to an ever increasing number of grandchildren. I can also see the love he is capable of in his various commitments and engagements. He has had a very fruitful career as an IT professional. He has mentored a host of choirs in the many places where he has lived. And he has maintained contact with former choir members. His life exudes a joy and exuberance that only a man who truly loves is capable of experiencing.
Tessa was our colleague in Xavier School. She was the eldest of seven siblings. She was very smart, articulate and lady-like pretty. She was a very good teacher, promoted to be department head in record time. She then shifted to a corporate career and rose up the corporate ladder quickly. She could have made a perfect partner for Ping but she had other things in mind. She came from a poor family. She sent all her brothers and sister to school. And when they were all done with college, she went to become a nun. Not just any nun but with the very severe contemplative Poor Clares. All the time, she put her dreams on hold to care for and nurture her siblings. Now, in prayer, she still cares for her many spiritual brothers and sisters. Even as a nun, we still strongly feel her love for us for the blessings that Anabelle and I enjoy must partly be due to her incessant prayers for us and our family.
I thank God for people like Ping and Tessa in my life. For through them, I have known love and I have known it in its many and various incarnations.
Blessed be the name of the LORD both now and forever.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and remain in his love.
I have told you this so that my joy might be in you
and your joy might be complete.
This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.”
John 15:9-11