Sr. Girly
“Blessed are the Pure in Heart, for they shall see God.”Mt 5:8
“Jesus said, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them!
For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children." Mt.19:14
The picture above speaks volumes for Sr. Girlie. This picture was taken during my 2008 visit. We met in Paco and we conversed. Gazing at this picture, I noticed several things:
a) The picture of Girlie is aglow against the background of Our Lady, the cascading water fountain and the fishing elf. There is something magical about the composition of the scene - Girlie na Girlie. Her faith in God, her devotion to Our Lady and her creativity and also naughtiness… Girlie loved putting together beautiful things and rather artistic, given the opportunity and the means
b) Girlie’s enigmatic smile! Open and full of gladness; making light what may be heavy at times.
c) the basket weave background – a reminder of her fondness for the native back pack. She is rooted to our people, upholds our culture and resorts to inculturation when possible and feasible.
My recollection of her rests mainly during the times we worked together at the Diocese of Nueva Ecija Catechetical and Lay Formation Center in Baloc. Like this basket weave, she was a people person, a connector, a linker. She does not conceptualize and then acts – She flows and reaches out and learns along the way and her catechesis becomes a matter of the heart: making Jesus known to making Jesus loved naturally intertwined in her approaches to catechesis.
As a matter of the heart it became largely catechesis “creating echoes” of love in a heart that has began to learn to love in action, to share attitudes and to communicate the God experience. There was Sr. Girlie not much resource at the center when she started to make it function, but somehow, she managed with her simplicity and her smile to invite the parish priests to bring their catechists and their food and monetary contributions to the center. She was trusted by the Bishop. With twinkle in her eyes, she obtained what the catechists needed. She was ever so grateful for whatever anyone brings along. She supports and then disappears.
Possessing the heart of a child and the keen awareness of the needs of the people she was entrusted to serve, Girlie did not spare herself. She walked her talk about love of the poor and how we are to serve them. She covered the length and breath of the San Jose Diocese using all means of transportation. The catechists were so at home with her. When the former parish priest of St. Jerome started to dramatically shift positions and perspectives and began opposing Bishop Drona, Girlie maintained a humble and reconciliatory stance without surrendering what she believed needed to be upheld.
Her childlike heart expands in awe at the newness of sharing the good news. Her humility absorbs fast the human and Christian wisdom that needed to be taught in a way that her audience can capture. Where others may see walls, Girlie sees possibilities. Her humility allowed her not to take herself too seriously as to take offence for long, in case something did go wrong. Forgiveness flowed naturally for Girlie.
I learned much with Girlie – we slept on the floor with catechists; took our turn in the tabo-tabo bathing; ate more rice and bagoong and salted fish with little or sometimes no meat. We had plenty of rice, fragrant rice, newly harvested rice. I remember one Christmas novena of Masses when I started to grumble and informed her that it was going to be our seventh pinakbet dinner so proudly prepared by the assigned family. My eyes were beginning to bulge with pinakbet and my uric acid was shooting up! She weaves her own tales, but it is only so that people involved can understand better the unfolding situation. Girlie was a good story-teller of God’s saving action in the lives of ordinary people. She was indeed a courageous reconciler after the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
I will miss you Girlie. Please pray for all of us; for all catechists of our faith. Rest in the Heart of Jesus.