Sunday, July 06, 2008 Bennett: At 26 and 29 By Nonnette Bennett Stories
THE second week of May saw China in the worst earthquake disaster.
Almost two weeks after the story of a police woman, 29, who breastfed some nine hungry infants became the story of hope in the international news.
Jiang Xiaojuan was declared as a national heroine two days after the May 5, 7.9 earthquake struck China for her selfless feat of feeding the babies who were separated from their mothers. She was quoted as saying that it is a mother's reaction and a basic duty as a police officer.
We have a 26 years old mother, Cristina Flores, who is like other mothers at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center who gives her breast milk to other babies who need it at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Not so much that the babies were orphaned but that the mothers of the babies have little or no milk to give their children yet.
Cristina's own baby Steven Cedrique Flores was born seven months after conception because his mother did too much laundry and triggered her contractions from fatigue.
Born a mere 700 grams, Steven struggled to survive in the incubator. Her prayers for the survival and strength of her child did not blind her from the needs of other mothers who had babies at the NICU.
She gave her milk and pumped it out to save in sterile containers for the babies who needed to be fed through droppers while their sucking reflexes were not strong enough to sustain them.
Cristina said that it was her Catholic duty to look after other people's needs. She said that it was the least that she could do for others.
These 26 years old Filipina and the 29 years old Chinese woman have so many things in common. They have the mother's instinct to nurture and protect.
They are both Asians with a different base of values of filial piety. They are both the same age range and they are both faced with a situation that calls for a sacrifice. But the difference lies in faith.
Cristina looks at her giving as a way of doing her faithful duty to the Lord and to emulate His sacrifice. While, Jiang said it was her duty as an officer and a mother.
When Christians talk, they no longer see themselves moving or acting but more that the Lord has made them act and move. This is the true presence of our faith.
Not so much the presence of the priests, nuns, or the holy people but more an exercise of what we believe in spiritually.
It is this faith that makes for the new Christian or Catholic who lives their faith just as God made human the teachings of important virtues and values when Jesus walked on the earth.
This is the meaning of church, the church being the people who are members of the sect and the Christianity in their hearts and not the physical structure of the sect.
