I had a final chance to be around Jaime Cardimal Sin before his retirement a couple of years ago. It was a Sunday Mariapolis event at Rizal Coliseum hosted by the Focolare community. The Sunday Mariapolis is a whole-day affair where members, adherents, volunteers, and friends of the Focolare gather for witnessing the basic tenets of the movement. The program started promptly at around 9:00am. At around 11:00 am, a little skit was being played out on the stage, when the host halted everything to announce the arrival of Jaime Cardinal Sin, then already feeling the weight of old age. There were loud cheers as people gathered to kiss his hand. And as he staggered his way, I asked myself how long has it been since this great man was "fanning the flames" of discontent against the Marcos regime? Many years after, he was still around, this time sharing the faith with his flock. When he made it to the microphone to speak about how happy he was that he made it to the Mariapolis that day, tears fell from my eyes. There was no burning issue of the day. No president to topple. It was just an occasion for an old cardinal to be with his flock, and the struggle was for the strength to make it to the stage. The thought came to explain the tears, this man truly loved his flock. And his politics was not about power for himself or for a dynasty. It was about God's love. And like God's love, his politics was constant and consistent. You can not accuse Jaime Cardinal Sin of ever being on the wrong side. His place in my history book is secured.
I feel blessed to have lived in the time of Jaime Cardinal Sin. May he rest in peace.
1 comment:
there were instances na nasa wrong side din siya ng politics. he supported the cafgu deployment during the late 80s resulting in grave human rights abuses in the countyside, he condemned the right of women to use contraceptives, he urged the people not to march to mendiola during the second EDSA People Power and he lobbied for the censorship of the film 'live show'. i will remember him as one of the pillars of EDSA I and the dakilang alalay sa likod ng popemobile ni pope john paul II noong world youth day 1995.
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