Yesterday, we visited Joe for the last time.
We went to his funeral mass.
I remember him guitar in hand, singing his songs
with a coterie of young children trailing behind him.
He brought joy and happiness wherever he went.
We, his classmates, fancied ourselves as would be philosophers,
and conducted fancy discussions about life and its meaning.
Joe simply lived the life we were philosophizing about
and made people happy with his songs.
The people he left behind – Sylvia, the family, the many friends –
were thankful for such happy and melodious moments.
We drove to Joe’s funeral mass with Edwin and Jijing.
On the way there, Edwin was telling me about his health issues.
And he had a lot; he was once diagnosed with sarcoma.
But these have not tied him down.
He spends more time thinking of projects he can do to benefit others.
He is very good at putting people together.
He has a great talent for keeping people in touch with one another.
He has formed and nurtured a community of brothers over time and space.
At Joe’s funeral mass, we met up with Rai and Ped.
To describe Rai as a character is an understatement.
A sexagenarian, he still competes in brutal martial arts tournaments.
Ped and their children try endlessly to dissuade him – to no avail.
But beneath all the physical challenges he puts his body through,
there is a great spirit in Rai that is wants to be expressed.
Through discipline and self-denial, Rai chisels out at his body,
to liberate the spirit within him.
In the evening, we met up with Rogel and his new bride Riza.
Five years ago, Rogels world simply crumbled when he was widowed.
A lively person, in the prime of his life, had the one person
who gave him happiness taken away from him.
Devastated, he lived a very lonely life all these years.
And then Riza comes into his life and it is as if
somebody turned on the all the lights again in his life.
What a difference a person makes in another person’s life.
Rogel is today celebrating life and its joys as he has always had for most of his life.
What a difference a day makes?
Yesterday was a deeply gratifying and fulfilling day for me.
It had nothing to do with wealth, power nor fame.
There was a time in my life I quested for these like crazy.
Today, wealth for me is the wealth in friends and people
who make my life rich beyond what money can buy.
Power is the strength I share with friends and family
to change lives and create joy and meaning
whatever the circumstances.
Fame is the joy in being with people I can sing songs with,
do good projects with for others,
free the great spirit among us,
and share with one another all and any joy,
in whatever form and circumstances it may come.
Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry.
The tempter approached and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.”
He said in reply, “It is written:
One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”
Matthew 4:1-4