Healing, 'chance' encounters gifts from the Sto. Niño

Saturday, January 14, 2012

IT’S something like a minor miracle, the gifts we get from the Sto. Niño in these modern times when we tend to forget, in the breakthroughs of science and communication, and in the dizzying array of goods in malls, that we do have a reason for our existence other than being consumed by consumerism and dazzled by the latest gizmos.

Every so often, He makes sure we remember, and we turn to Him for solace, for guidance, for solutions to our problems, whether major or minor.

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The Sto. Niño of Cebu draws people to Him, not just because He is such a lovable figure, but also because He is known to be generous in answering prayers. We asked Val Sandiego and Ben Chua to share some of their experiences with the Child God.

Choreographer Val Sandiego knows for certain that his prayers were answered. He cites two gifts he received from the Sto. Niño. The first is his wife, the former Ofelia Zozobrado, for whose heart Val had asked the Sto. Niño. The second is the gift of life, of good health for his second daughter, Andie.

They were then in the United States, and Andie was having splitting headaches that made her constantly cry. A doctor said she had some kind of meningitis. Val was in a quandary, not only because of the condition of Andie, but also because as a devotee of Our Lady of Carmel, he had made a promise to be in Cebu for Her procession in Barangay Mabolo and it was time to leave for Cebu.

In his distress, he remembered that he had this handkerchief he always carried whenever he traveled: it was a handkerchief that he had wiped on the original statue of the Sto. Niño of Cebu.

He explained that when he was a choreographer for the Colegio del Sto. Niño, the rector, Fr. Galindez, would invite some people to venerate this particular statue in the room where it was kept, before it would be brought down for the yearly procession, and they were permitted to wipe the Niño with their handkerchiefs.

Val took that handkerchief and placed it on Andie’s head and soon enough, she calmed down, stopped crying and the following day, was fully well and playing without medication. Val was able to fly back to Cebu knowing that his daughter was well.

For businessman Ben Chua, the Sto. Niño granted his prayers in a specific way, “in His time.”

Years ago, when Colon St. was still a busy business hub of Cebu, he asked the Sto. Niño for a place for his business in Colon St. along where the yearly Sto. Niño procession would pass. True enough, he was able to get a place for his business, right across Gaisano. When malls opened and business in Colon became slow, Ben asked the Sto. Niño again for a place he could buy somewhere in Osmeña Blvd., still in Cebu City.

Ben specified that he wanted a place where the Sto. Niño procession would pass. And true enough, he was able to find one; at first he found the price too steep but later on, it was the owner who approached him if a particular price was agreeable to him.

I have experiences of the Sto. Niño working in my life, too. Some decades ago, on a random day, neither a Friday nor a “Mass” day, I decided to make a short visit to the Niño at the Basilica del Sto. Niño in Cebu City. It was a pleasant surprise to meet Prof. Felix B. Bautista, my former University of Sto. Tomas professor and also my former editor at the defunct Evening News, at the Juan Luna entrance gate of the basilica.

It turned out that he had flown to Cebu particularly to invite me to be a stringer for the Union of Catholic Asian News based in Hong Kong. He did not know my address and I’m not even sure if he knew my married name, but he was positive he would meet me at the basilica! Wow! What trust he had in the Sto. Niño’s power and how right he was in his trust.

Another time, two years ago, I was at a wake where a woman (I never got her name) had this mission of distributing statuettes of the Sto. Niño, not particularly great-looking, with a stack of folded casino bingo cards as their base. A cousin asked her to give me one because, she said, I commute so I have a need for the statue.

Going home later that evening, my car died on me right before the corner of N. Bacalso Ave. and Maria Gochan St., Cebu City. I called Wheelers so the car could be towed.

While waiting for the tow truck, an old man asked me if I wanted my car towed and I said yes, please. He nodded, walked across the street, and never came back.
Then a younger guy, this time on a motorcycle, stopped and asked if I needed help. When I said yes, he told me he would park his vehicle (he happened to live in the corner house) and then come back.

He not only pushed the car to Maria Gochan St., he also tinkered with the engine and told me flatly that my engine was dead. He said he was a mechanic and if I needed one, to call him on his cell phone the following morning when stores would be open and the needed car parts could be secured. Since my mechanic lives in another city, Talisay City, and the car would be towed to my children’s place in Cebu City, I certainly needed one.

I had to pray to the Sto. Niño that the mechanic would give me the “right” numbers because my cell phone, also in a dying mode, would not register two digits, 5 and 6, when pressed. Eureka! His number skipped them! To this day, that statuette, minus the bingo cards, is glued to my dashboard, a constant reminder that He is there, always on call, whenever I need Him.

There are more of these stories of the Sto. Niño in our lives. No wonder He is the biggest crowd drawer to Cebu. Happy fiesta, dear Sto. Niño de Cebu!