Our Lady’s Humor

Mrs. Carol Rono, wife of the former National Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), one day invited me to bring the message of Our Lady to her hometown in Calbayog, Samar.

 

When we were about to go I asked her, “Can I take the image of Our Lady of Fatima from Portugal?” (the image that was mentioned in an earlier blog post How the Cenacle of Our Lady started).

 

“Oh no,” she answered, “it is not necessary. There is plenty of Fatima images in Calbayog. What is important is that you can share to them the message of Our Lady.”

 

I obliged and meekly followed her.

 

When we arrived at the Manila Domestic Airport the airport administration announced that all flights were cancelled until further notice. No reason was given.

 

Mrs. Rono was worried. Everything was already prepared in Calbayog; and here we are stranded due to the cancellation of the flight. Then I informed her. “Sister, if I go in this mission of Our Lady, this would be the first time that I go without the image of Our Lady of Fatima which I was commissioned to carry when I am to give her message.”

 

“Is that so?” Mrs. Rono responded with concern. “By all means let us bring the image of Our Lady with us. Let us fetch her then.”

 

I went home with her driver to Project 4 Mission House to fetch our Lady’s replica. As soon as Our Lady arrived at the airport, the Philippine Airlines announced. “The schedule of flights are moved back because there will be a special inaugural flight of the first jumbo 450 seater jet plane.”

 

We were scheduled to take the jumbo jet in its maiden flight to the island of Mactan, Cebu. So Our Lady had that special flight. We waited at the departure lounge. I placed the image of Our Lady on the chair between me and Mrs. Rono.

 

When the flight was announced, Mrs. Rono stood, got her ticket from her bag, but could not find the boarding pass with it. She became worried. People were already lining up for boarding; and here Mrs. Rono was still flipping through her bag looking for the boarding pass. She could not find it.

 

“Why, that’s not a problem.” I told her, “You can go to the counter and ask for another boarding pass.”

 

“No,” she said. “The boarding pass was just here. It was with the ticket. It is impossible that I don’t have it.  The ticket is here but the boarding pass is nowhere.” She was really worried. I could see it in her face.

 

In the meanwhile, I took the image of Our Lady from the chair. I held the base of the image with my left hand and the body of the image with my right. To my great surprise, the boarding pass of Sis. Carol got stucked at the back of the image of Our Lady’s shoulder. How was that possible? We did not know how the boarding pass got stucked up there on our Lady’s back, when Sis. Carol did not even touch the image. To her great surprise, Sis. Carol slightly struck the image of Our Lady and said, “Mother, you are making a joke on me.”

 

Then I told her jokingly, “Sis, of all the devotees of Our Lady, you are the first one that I have seen who is able to spank Our Lady.” She laughed. She apologised to our Lady. Mother Mary has a sense of humour too.

 

We took the flight. Another pleasant surprise was we were assigned to take a seat on the front row of the plane. Our Lady, her replica, was given by the stewardess the centre seat on the front row. Our Lady graced that first beautiful flight to the island of Cebu – the maiden flight of the first jumbo jet in the country.

 

We rested in a hotel in Cebu that night and proceeded to Calbayog the following day by military helicopter. It was a sight to see the people of Calbayog below as we were about to land. The children of Calbayog City were running near where the helicopter had to land. The parish priest and the leaders of the town were already waiting for us near the helipad. Our Lady really made us feel that she was with us.