THROUGH UNTRUE
Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P.
In English, it is all right to say: apple, pear, or grape. It is also correct to say in Spanish: manzana, pera, uva. But if you notice, our Filipino names for these fruits always appear in the plural form: mansanas, peras, ubas. I'm sure you haven't heard someone say: "Ang sarap ng uba!"
I have a theory. Maybe we do not have a singular form for these fruits because there was a time when these were so expensive in the Philippines that we could only taste them during Christmas. So when people bought these and pronounced their name, there was an accompanying hope that they would have these abundantly.
Christmas is a season of abundance because we believe that God is not a stingy minimalist who gives out blessings in small portions at no cost to Himself. Rather, as St. Paul writes: "Although Jesus was God, He did not deem equality with God. Rather, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born like us, human beings" (Philippians 2:6-7). Christmas is about God going out of Himself to share with us bountiful joy, happiness, and peace. Let me share with you this story that illustrates this.
A group of Overseas Filipino Workers in Hong Kong organized a Christmas raffle draw. A raffle ticket cost 100 US dollars, but everybody bought one because the grand prize was a roundtrip ticket to the Philippines with a whopping 5,000 US dollars as pocket money.
A few days before the Christmas raffle, Pedro, one of the OFWs, received the sad news that his son had figured in a terrible accident and was in serious condition. Pedro wanted to go home, but he did not have enough savings, and his employer would not lend him money. So he bought a raffle ticket hoping to win the grand prize. He also told some of his fellow OFWs to pray for his son.
When the raffle night arrived, Pedro's heart was pounding. He kept praying to win for the sake of his son. When the most awaited draw came, the emcee went forward, and amidst great excitement, he picked out the lucky ticket, read the name written there, and shouted: "The grand prize winner is Pedro!" Hearing his name, Pedro unashamedly cried and jumped for joy.
The emcee was about to throw the rest of the raffle tickets into the trash can, but out of curiosity, he spent a moment to see the names written on them. He was shocked to see the name "Pedro" written on almost all of them. He then realized that practically everyone in that group of 100 OFWs had given up their chance at winning for the sake of Pedro and his son.
So, on Christmas Day, the family of Pedro, especially his sick son, had the greatest surprise of their life — seeing him back in their arms. But perhaps, happier still were the OFW’s who wrote the name of Pedro on their own ticket. All of them must have been thinking that it was their ticket that was drawn, and which allowed Pedro to go home and enjoy Christmas with his family.
This is indeed a beautiful story with a great lesson about abundance. It tells us that it is easier to experience a bountiful Christmas when we wish the happiness of others more than ours. For, if we come to think of it, we have been blessed in such overflowing measure that there is always enough to go around, and we don’t need to envy, hoard, or steal from each other, just to enjoy these.
May our cup overflow with fulfillment and satisfaction this Christmas by making others happy. Let's minimize our malignant self-love and narcissism. For, if we are too full of ourselves, we will always feel empty.