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Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Flavier: The parable of the religious woman
By Sen. Juan Flavier
THE farmer's wife was, without question, the most pious and religious person in the whole barrio. Without fail, she went to church in town every Sunday and each day of holy obligations.
She was an institution in the barrio because of her distinctive brown dress with golden sash as a devotee of San Francisco. In the small barrio chapel she was the invariable leader of every occasion. This was specially so during the annual fiesta.
The altar would be repainted and the chapel redecorated. Her shrill voice and endless chatter would dominate the sacred halls. The other town folks preferred to shy away because of her domineering and noisy stance.
One Sunday morning, the old woman proceeded to town on foot to hear the early mass. As a sign of courtesy, a granddaughter about eight years old accompanied her.
One the way back, the old woman was full of complaints.
"The church was so hot today. They still did not provide a good bentilador (electric fan)," she said half herself and half to the young granddaughter.
"Why, I could have burned. The whole place was like an oven. Or, maybe just like impiyerno (hell). And did you notice the choir? The frogs behind our nipa hut are better. At least, they croak in unison. The singers in church were a bunch of discordant individualist (kanya-kanya). What do you think?" The apo (grandchild) though for a moment and replied simply, "You are right, Lola (grandmother)."
As though encourage, the old woman continued," And the sermon... I swear I could have fallen asleep. So monotonous. In fact, I already heard the same piece a hundred times before. And the mikropono (microphone) was full of static, wasn't it?"
"Yes, Lola," said the young girl without feeling. Then with the same hesitation she added, "Of course, it is expected because the entrance fee was quite cheap."
"What do you mean?"
"Because when the collection was passed, I saw you pay only two pesos."
(June 1, 2004 issue)
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