COVID as Crown or My Life
BY CYNTHIA U. SANTIAGO
Chapter 5
Miracles
WATCHING the news on television, I saw people expressing anxieties over getting this COVID, afraid it would kill them.
And I was like, “Bakit, ayaw nilang mamatay? Ayaw ba nilang makita
si Lord?” Why, don’t they want to die? Don’t they want to see the Lord?
So, when I got COVID, I kind of got excited that I would already see the Lord. But, I worried I would not qualify to be in Heaven. So, in the hospital, I asked a nurse to go and get me a PRIEST—you know, confess and have a last-minute cleansing of my soul.
But the nurse, eyebrows raising ahead of me up to Heaven, just said, “Ay, no visitors allowed.”
At the time, I didn’t have my battle gears. They took away my bag where I had my Bible, my rosary, my eye glasses… And COVID took away my sense of smell and taste.
No eyes, no nose, no tongue. All that was left were my EARS. Yes, I guess, so I would hear and listen to the One I could really talk to, the great Trinity– God the Father our Creator, Provider, the Son our Savior, and the Holy Spirit our Healer.
And TRUE enough, I got these miracles…
- BUBBLES AND RAINBOWS. One of the Bible stories that impressed me most was about the Great Flood—about God doing away with the flood putting a rainbow on the clouds as a sign of His Covenant of love for us (Genesis 9).
Since then, when I am down, I’ve always wished a rainbow would
appear as a sign of God’s Presence comforting me amid my “floods.”
One of our problems during our dreary COVID days was deep
breathing—prescribed to hasten air to get into our weakened lungs.
But COVID immobilizes not only your muscles but also your ability
to inhale-exhale. I got so tired of the exercise that I wondered if God was still with me. So, this was the time I prayed for a RAINBOW as sign of His Presence.
From the window, I looked up the sky and to my dismay, I didn’t get
to see one.
Then, to help us in deep breathing, our doctor gave each Ed and me this toy BUBBLE MAKER—you know, with a straw which you dip into a bottle of liquid soap, and then blow to make bubbles– making you inhale- exhale.
Ed and I happily blew bubbles. And soon, our room was filled with these bubbles, which reflected MULTIPLE COLORS—as in the COLORS OF THE RAINBOW—from rays of sun illuminating our room!
And so, I realized, to my delight and amazement, that God’s Presence has always been with us! I just couldn’t see Him! So, He must had sent bubbles that I might see!
LESSON: When you think God is missing, blow bubbles, using liquid soap which cleans off dirt—and the soap serves as well as God’s cleansing soap—His love that removes cobwebs in your doubting mind and heart.
- PENTECOST. I called on the Trinity, especially the Holy Spirit, to heal me. In my mind, again and again, I sang…
Come, Holy Spirit, I need You
Come, Holy Spirit, I pray…
Oh, let Your sweet Healing Power
Touch me and make me whole…
So, I was healed.
HOW do I know the Holy Spirit was instrumental in my healing, you ask.
Aside from my Bible, my rosary, my eye glasses, my bag also contained my Mac computer and my IPhone mobile. So, I continued to cry to the Holy Spirit, “Come, come!”
By His grace, when I already got better, the nurses finally gave me back my Mac. So, I was able to log onto the FEAST-AT-HOME, the LOJ prayer gathering online.
And, would you believe, this was on May 23, 2021, PENTECOST
DAY!
For me, this was beyond coincidence.
You know Pentecost was the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles—then cowering in fear in an Upper Room in Jerusalem after Jesus’ crucifixion. As the Lord promised, the Holy Spirit empowered the apostles to have the courage to come out and preach Jesus’ Good News of Salvation.
And did the Holy Spirit come and empower me too in my fight against
COVID?
TRUE: After the Feast-at-Home, I was telling myself, “I’m done being
VICTIM.”
Indeed, I claimed I am already VICTOR– just as Jesus made me and all of us when He endured the scourging at the pillar, wore the crown of thorns, nailed our suffering on the cross, and said, “It is finished.”
- LITTLE FAITH. One desperate, lonely night, when I still needed someone to guide me to the comfort room, I didn’t have the heart to wake up my overworked watcher.
In my despair, I had the temerity to talk to Jesus and said, “If You are with me, if You really love me, don’t let me wake up my watcher. Just let my watcher wake up now and guide me to the CR.”
TRUE: In the next few minutes, my watcher, apparently also needing
to go to the CR, passed by my room.
I could hardly believe this—this beyond coincidence chance to have
my watcher just as I needed her.
But I could hear the Lord telling me, “You of little faith!” LESSON: Oh, well, even the littlest faith can get you Jesus by your side!
- SOLUTIONS. No, God does not give us trials. During my COVID confinement, it dawned on me that these we call TRIALS are actually SOLUTIONS to our problems. COVID solved many of my problems. I’ll mention here just one.
Don’t ask me for details, but because of some legal complications, we
lost our house—part of what Ed inherited from his parents.
Yes, one November, we were asked to leave our place. So, the following December, we were like Joseph and Mary hastily looking for a house—except I was not pregnant with the Son of God.
We had to settle on a unit on the third floor of a townhouse – which had no elevator. Since we were not getting any younger, we planned to transfer to a flat where we don’t have to climb stairs. We couldn’t find one we could afford.
When we got COVID, Paolo and Cy, bless them, got us a unit in the
condo where they live. Kuya Noel sent money to augment our rent budget.
- MARY. For good measure, I also called upon our Blessed Mother Mary to come to my aid.
Mother Mary did not disappoint me.
HOW do I know, you ask.
We’ve been told that we live out the name we are given. Like the Lord renamed Simon as Peter which means ROCK—for he would be the rock on which the foundation of our Church would be built.
So, I’ve gotten the habit of looking into the meaning of the names of
people playing a role in my faith journey.
TRUE: Mother Mary manifested her presence during my COVID days
through my caregivers—who all happened to be named after Mary. Here, all recruited by daughter-in-law, thank you, forever, Cy from the Internet:
MARITESS – Nickname for Maria Therese. Maria also reminded me of my best friends LORETO and LOURDES —named after places where Mary miraculously appeared. Thinking of Mary, I was reminded of my best discipler in the Light of Jesus Family—CHELLE, or CONSUELO —from another title of Mary, Our Lady of Good Counsel.
Maritess’ middle name is ESTRELLA—also last name of my closest
LOJ caring group member, beautiful BELLA ESTRELLA.
And thinking of my best friends, I am reminded of my very first best friend in the workplace, and remains so, IMELDA, whose name means warrior woman, powerful fighter — like she has always been for me!
So, in a sense, through Mary, my BFFs were all with me too.
And it definitely is also beyond coincidence that Maritess’ last name is RESURRECCION. For isn’t it I somehow died and then resurrected to this my new life?
By the way, THERESE is the name of our PATRON SAINT back in the parish where we once lived, of whom I’ve been devoted too. Not surprisingly, she was with me too in the hospital.
CARMELA. She’s my second caregiver. And it must be also beyond coincidence that the name Carmela is from Mt. Carmel, another place where Mary appeared.
MARY GRACE. Cy hired her to be our housemaid, and would you believe, she had experience in caregiving because she once took care of her ailing grandpa.
Mary, you know already the meaning. And for me, Grace is the amazing word for this miracle about the people who saw me through my illness.
GRACE is also the name of my sister born next to me.
MAY, our youngest sis, is actually named MAY
MARIE.
- SAINTS AND ANGELS. Over a hundred of them all came around to
make Ed and me feel we were not alone. A great miracle!
REALLY??? you ask. Read on…
