Homily delivered by Fr. Jett Villarin, SJ on the occasion of Sr Meny’s Golden Jubilee Celebration
I do not know if Meny entered the Cenacle 50 years ago in mini skirt. Minis were in vogue back then. What I heard though was Sr Angie, her novice mistress, chiding her (gently I can imagine) if she could please lengthen her skirt a few more inches. Can you imagine Meny in a mini?
When I first met her, it was in the college chapel, early 80s. I do not remember what she was wearing (wala na yung mini skirt) but something about her exuded feminine elegance. Ay madre, sabi ko sa loob. Madre pala. As the colegiala Bubbles would realize some years later, may ganoon palang madre. Walang belo, eleganteng simple, magandang sapatos.
Meny is probably cringing inside now. Meny will be the first person here to insist that she does not want to be the center of attention today. Yes it is her golden jubilee but today also celebrates the queenship of our Lady. Si Maria, hindi sya ang reyna. Meny would rather recede so we can remember to honor Mary the unpretentious mother of our Lord, who wanted nothing more than to be God’s humble servant offering only her fiat of love.
And so honor Mary we shall. Today’s jubilee is also our thanksgiving to Mary mother of our Lord, queen of heaven and earth. We celebrate her queenship that is unlike any other. Quiet, hidden, maternal, vigilant, as it was in the upper room with the disciples, the first cenacle. We give thanks for such a queenship that is not over us but one marked with deep faith, unassuming service, loving devotion. Mary’s queenship inspires us to offer our own fiat of love. Like mother, like child. Like Mary, like sisters of the Cenacle. Like Mary, like Meny.
And like Meny, we will move off-center. After all, we are not the center of our lives. We will heed her when she tells us, please look, look instead at the One I love. Look to the One who has loved me all these years. Look at the One to whom I have promised all of my life. Turn your heart to the One who has my heart.
This is not to say we are not in Meny’s heart. All of us here today know that we are in hers as she is in ours. Meny will be the first to confess that one of her most cherished gifts in life is our friendship with her. The love of friends, she says, is love that is free. There is no coercion in the giving or receiving, no quid pro quo or entitled exchange when friends love.
Look to the One who has loved me all these years.
The love of Christ has meant all the world to Meny. Her name is Filomena, rooted perhaps in the Greek philoumene, “the loved one”, “beloved”. Beloved of us, beloved of Christ, Meny would dearly want us to believe that this too is our name. We are beloved of each other. We too are God’s beloved. And so, however long it might take us, we will let the love of Christ mean all the world to us.
Look at the One I love, the One to whom I have promised all of my life.
Surely, promising her love has not been without loss or sorrow. Some of us here have been privileged to have caught some of her tears. And yet here she stands, for all her worries and feelings of inadequacy. Despite her anxious and nerviosa self, still she risks her love in return for love. Today once more she professes: here but for the grace of God I am, for the One I love. I am here only because of Him who has my heart.
And so turn we shall to the One who has Meny’s heart. Then might we realize we are here only by the grace of God. Then might we confess how we lose our way, walking the darkness were it not for the light of our Lord. Gladly, generously by the grace of God we live. Faithfully, forever but for the grace of God we love.
In the Gospel today, we hear once more Mary’s fiat of love: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
After all these years, what has God done to you, Meny? Ano ang ginawa ng Diyos sa iyo, Meny? Knowing her, most probably she would say, of all the things he has done to me, the only thing that matters really is that he has loved me.
Thank you Meny. Gratefully but for the grace of God, we will turn to the One who has your heart.
Queenship of Mary
Jose Ramon T VIllarin SJ
Pentecost Church
22 Aug 2022