Christmas Stories


Merry Christmas. Bleak Christmas. Are there such a thing? 


Last week, I asked my friend, Lagumbay, if he can spare me sometime to a bottle of Emperador. He profusely excused himself for the moment, disclosing in the process that he has to attend a retreat at Sibaguan, Capiz. 


The invitation was meant to process his traumatic experience. Lagumbay and his family have barely recovered from the flood of November 15. His house was one of the eight houses washed out by the raging waters off the Jal-o. I was entertaining to sense some tinge of resentment on his voice. But his was placid. He promised me in a placating tone to make out some time of talking out some things over a bottle of brandy after the retreat. It is a priority: to confront his Creator of the miseries and trials of his life. He wanted to give his God the benefit of doubt. Like the prophet Job, my friend fight on to keep the faith: "Naked I came forth from my mother's womb and naked shall I die. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21)


Tonight, I watched on TV a man frantically cleaning his damaged house off the City of Cagayan de Oro. There were mud everywhere. His daughter is still missing, washed off by the flash flood which came like a thief in the night of December 17. He is cleaning the mud out of his abode that he and his wife can "celebrate" Christmas even without the presence of his beloved child. He is struggling to make things normal. Life has to go on amid the defined evil that cause so much chaos and death on his community. Christmas is something that cannot be postponed, no matter what. After all, it is not about partying or blinking lights or garish Christmas trees. 


As I reclined on my bed, I gave those encounters some thought and asked myself a question: Can we qualify Christmas as either merry or bleak? 


I really do not know. But what comes to mind is these words from St. John, "This is real love--not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins." (1 John 4:10) It sends me to sleep deep and sound despite the evils that haunt my mind and heart these days. 




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