Celebrations!

If this were a “Normal” year, this week would have been one of my busiest weeks, or rather the two most active days in my calendar. It is because I will be celebrating my birthday (May 24) and my Sacerdotal Anniversary (May 25).

This year, I will mark my 10th Sacerdotal Anniversary, and as for my age, you better guess it. Early January 2020, I was already planning how to make my anniversary a little special by having a celebration, which would have been different from the usual way I am celebrating my anniversary every year. After all, this year marks a decade of my priestly life! However, with the disruption brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, those initial plans went nowhere. Indeed, as it was said that “Man proposes, but God disposes.”

The first two years of my ministry were marked with heartaches because I did not feel especially appreciated. I do not want to go into details of what happened, but all I can say is that the insecurities of people around ruined those two years.

This is the reason why during the succeeding celebrations of my priestly ordination were always low-keyed. When I was assigned to the Cathedral, my rector was a kind man who would ask me how I would like to celebrate my birthday and anniversary. I would always resist any idea of a large celebration. A simple meal together with my fellow priests in the rectory is enough. I would not even invite Bishop Navarra, who lives next door in the Bishop’s House, to celebrate with us. I would not even give him a hint that it is my birthday or anniversary. If people will remember me, lovely, when people do not remember me, no love lost either.

However, it was during those years in the Cathedral that I came to appreciate the people who cared for me. These are the kapilyans and the Barangay sg Birhen, who every year would wake me up on my birthday with a mañanita. The memories of those early morning serenade warm my heart whenever I recalled the simplicity of their hearts. Other significant people came to my life, and they, in turn, made my Birthday and Anniversary, dates to remember in my calendar year.

It was only when I got my chaplaincy that I was able to celebrate my anniversary with joy.

Now, I do not want you to get the wrong idea about how I celebrate my birthday and anniversary.

It is just a simple celebration starting with a mass then followed by a simple lunch. That’s all, nothing fancy. I would only offer two simple viands so that more people can be accommodated, given my limited food budget for my anniversary celebration, which comes from my pocket. No bands, no programs, no singing or dancing, just a simple celebration.

I do not allow my chaplaincy to spend for my anniversary because I told them I would just ask them to spend when my 10th Sacerdotal Anniversary comes. Then, COVID-19 happened.

Because my Birthday and Anniversary followed one after the other, I usually do not celebrate my birthday anymore. Ginatingob ko na lang sa May 25.

However, last year, I celebrated my birthday with a few of my friends in a hotel. It is because I told myself that I have to acknowledge that before I am a priest, I am a son. So, it was a celebration of gratitude and thanksgiving for the love that my parents’ gave me.

This year, however, is different because I am not planning anything at all. My celebrations this year are going to be simpler than the usual simple celebrations than I have in the past.

I think this is one of the lessons I have learned during this pandemic; we need to go back to the simplicity of life.

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