10 Years with Mary
Today,
August 15, the Catholic community celebrates Mary’s assumption to heaven, and
my 10th school year in Assumption San Lo. That means I have
celebrated 10 special masses with my Assumptionista girls, have eaten 10 slices
of Assumption tarts, not including the ones I snuck from my unsuspecting
colleagues, have tried to escape 10 dress codes of pants and white shirt (I
really dread wearing pants), and have sung 10 Assumpta est Maria in full blast, hence the reason why it always
rains during the celebration.
10
years.
10
years of being challenged to live a life like Mary.
How do you exactly be like Mary?
She who was chosen to be without sin.
The poster-girl of perfection.
The mother of God.
I am
a mother – just like Mary. Although my journey in motherhood is nothing
compared to hers, but a mother nonetheless, and there I found a strong
connection.
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| White, gold, and blue - Assumpta est Maria! |
I am
proud of my 10 years in Assumption, and I am grateful that I have been a
witness of Mary’s untiring love far longer than I can count or sadly,
recognized.
It
is through the mysteries of the Holy Rosary that my family draws strength from whenever
our faith seems to waver because of daily grinds of life – when Charley got
sick but we didn’t have enough money to send her to the ER, when Charley has to
skip a booster schedule (again), when the company we’ve prayed for didn’t call
back, when my brothers and I were shaken by a problem in the family, when ‘Ayat
and I wish we have more.
It
is through each bead of our rosary that we express our gratitude for all the
answered prayers (even those that were
answered not the way we wanted to) and the hope for all the blessings to
come –our paediatrician allowed us to consult her through Viber, thankfully
Charley never got sick despite the erratic weather, my father-in-law shouldered
the costly training expense, my brothers and I find strength in each other, and
‘Ayat and I realise we have just enough and that’s okay.
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It
was Mary who received all my heartbreaks and sorrows when my husband and I lost
our first baby last 2013. We knew that amongst all mothers, it was she who
would understand me more even though that the grief I felt that time was
nothing compared to how she felt when she lost hers.
It
is through Mary, with the intercession of Saints Marie Eugenie and Thomas
Aquinas that we prayed for a healthy baby girl when the time was right. Yes, a
baby girl who would be our Assumptionista then later a Tomasino in the future,
and a baby girl we have been blessed a year after we lost ours.
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| Our own "Maria" |
Finally,
it is with Mary that I celebrate each milestone no matter how simple, each oops, oh no, and yikes, each finally, yes, and
hooray, each yet, soon, and maybe next
time I’ve had and will have with Charley.
Mama
Mary has been there in every sorrow and joy my family and I have had, who has
been our light so that we will see every experience as a glorious moment with
God.
Mary’s
assumption to heaven reminds us that if we live less for ourselves and more for
others, if we live a life for Jesus and in Jesus, we too shall share His glory
in heaven.
This
year is my 10th school year in Assumption San Lo; this year I
continue to celebrate God’s glory every day.
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| Assumpta est Maria! |
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