The best Christmas gifts I received this year
As a corporate and labor lawyer, Law professor, and consultant to several companies, I have received many Christmas gifts in varying kinds, But none of them excite me anymore. At my age, I have lost interests in material and financial presents. My best gifts this year are one of a kind. I will never get them again.
I received these gifts much earlier than December, and I am forever grateful to the Lord for them. First, my son John Paul passed the Bar. Ask any lawyers, they will tell you there’s no greater joy than to see a son or daughter take lawyer's oath. I was so excited when I took the Bar myself. But when it was my son's turn came, my excitement, stress, and tension were a hundredfold. I would feel that I failed if he didn’t not make it because I have been teaching Law since 1977. He passed, and now I can die.
My second gift was the wedding of my youngest son, Jeremiah, to an international flight stewardess, in a ceremony held in Coron, Palawan, last November 17. My two elder sons, the lawyer and the HR executive, wed their respective wives earlier and my elder daughter, a bank executive, also married earlier. But my youngest son's wedding was different. There were a fewer guest but they came from all over the world. The ceremony was very touching and everyone was in tears.
My third gift was a reconciliation with my late father, who had the humility to ask forgiveness. Instead of me, the son, asking for pardon, my father insisted I visit him in Seattle where he asked that I forgive him for the many hurts he caused me since my childhood. I carried the pains and the sadness for more than 56 years. But I rose over my feelings and forgave him. In no time, he left his world. I gave him a heroes' burial, being a veteran with a US Medal of Honor. He was given a gun salute and I saw in him with peace and serenity when he faced The Creator.
My last gift was my month-long pilgrimage to Europe with my family. We went to Fatima, Lourdes, Vatican, Assisi, etc. We also visited monasteries, ancient castles, famous museums, and hundreds of churches, cathedrals, and all the major basilicas in Rome. This is our third visit to Rome but this one is different because we had a priest with us, and we had Mass each day. I felt a special closeness to God, similar to when we went to Israel, Palestine, Egypt, and Jordan. I am blessed to have a client who funded our pilgrimage.
This year, the Lord has been extra gracious and kind to me, a simple barrio boy from Argao, Ronda, and Dumanjug, a former school janitor who lived in a squatter area, a working student with simple dreams and joys. I’m having a very blessed Christmas, and I give back to Him who is the source of all these blessings.
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