President/CEO
Center for Family Ministries (CeFaM)
Delivered at the Ateneo de Manila High School Covered Courts
Septmeber 08, 2009
A story is told that in heaven, it was decided that every newly arrived soul should sing a song outside the gate. One’s song would determine whether he or she was worthy to enter the gate or not. Archangel Raphael posted this instruction at the entrance of Paradise.
It happened that the soul of a great patriot, who died fighting against a corrupt government, arrived in heaven. He stood outside its gates and read the instruction.
The patriot took a deep breath and begun to sing…
“To dream the impossible dream;
To fight the unbeatable foe;
To bear with unbearable sorrow…”
After the song, the gate of heaven opened and the patriot entered Paradise. Then the gate was locked.
Then came a woman philanthropist. After reading the instructions, she began to sing…
“Climb every mountain, ford every stream,
follow every rainbow, ‘til you find your dream.
A dream that would need all the love you can give…
Again, after her song, the gate of heaven opened. Joyfully, the woman philanthropist entered Paradise and the gate was locked again.
Two souls, who were both hardened criminals on earth, arrived and read the instruction posted at the entrance. After reading it, both of them shook their heads in disappointment. “How are we to enter heaven?” the first criminal asked his companion. “While on earth, the only songs we sang were vulgar and obscene ones. Our songs would reflect our earthly life, heaven’s gate will surely not open for us!” And both of them went away heartbroken.
Then, a lady came. She was a simple mother. She read the instruction, not without much difficulty. She knew not many songs. There was only one she knew. And then she began singing…
“Ang puso ko’y nagpupuri, nagpupuri sa Panginoon.
Nagalak ang aking espiritu, sa ‘king taga-pagligtas.”
Sapagkat nilingap niya, kababaan ng kanyang alipin.
Mapalad ang pangalan ko sa lahat ng mga bansa.”
Once more, after her song, the gate of heaven opened. Gratefully, the Lady entered Paradise. But from then on the gate of heaven was never locked again. And since then, every soul was assured entrance into paradise in her stead. Thus, countless got the chance to enter the gate of Paradise despite their unworthiness. The Lady’s name was Mary.
Can you be an Atenean without a special devotion to Mary? Can you call yourself an Atenean without a rosary in your pocket? Can the days of October pass by without you proudly wearing the medal and blue ribbon on your chest? Can you end a game at the UAAP without singing a hymn to our Lady, win or lose? Here in the Ateneo our special devotion to Mary defines who we are. She is our model, our inspiration, and our mother.
In Mary we find a model. Holy Mother Church teaches us that Mary was the first Christian, the first follower of our Lord. She listened to him because she knew him. She followed him because she loved him. She served him because she believed in him. Mary showed us the way to know, to love and to serve Jesus, and thus she is our model. We only look up to her and we find Jesus her son.
Mary is also our inspiration. Despite her lowliness, she was able to do the will of God. By recognizing the power and compassion of the almighty, she was able to say her Fiat: Let it be done according to your will. From her lowliness she was exulted by God and prepared to be the mother of the Lord. We too can say yes to God if we take our inspiration in Mary. And our experience has shown us that like Mary, we can say yes to God if we recognize his compassion and care for us.
Finally, she is our mother. In the same way that she took care of her son, she takes care of us by interceding for us. How many times have we run to her when we were engulfed in fear and uncertainty? We have the boldness to approach her because we know that she is our mother. And as our mother, she will never refuse us. We are confident children of our Lady.
And today, our Lady’s birthday, we celebrate this Eucharist to honor her. We gather as a community to sing hymns for her, to pray together with her, to honor her as our patron and most of all to thank God for giving us Mary to be our mother. These are the reasons why on her birthday, we give thanks. Gratitude is our response. It is also our gift to her. We thank Mary for her life. We thank her for her openness and for her yes. We thank her for how she raised Jesus to be so full of compassion and a friend to sinners and the poor. We are grateful to her for after she entered the gate of heaven, it remained open welcoming everyone despite all unworthiness.
So today, Mother Mary, our inspiration and model, on your birthday, as sons and daughters of Ignatius, we pray his prayer: Dear Mary, place me with your Son. Let me know him, love him, follow him and serve him more closely. Stand guard over my heart and let the gift of peace remain there especially when the challenges of life confront me and uncertainty haunt me. And when my final hour comes, pray for me and be with me—now and forever. Amen. Hail Holy Mary, my Queen. Pray for us your children.
