I was listening last Saturday to the homily at the 5:00 pm mass. The priest was reminding the congregation that it was the end of the Christmas season and the celebration of the baptism of Jesus Christ. which should make us recall our own baptism. I have a great respect and admiration for this particular homilist who can always relate our faith with our everyday life.
He pointed out the fact that Jesus Christ lived an ordinary life just like many of us, for thirty years in a little village known as Nazareth wherein the population at the time was about 150 and laughingly compared the place to the area he came from in New Brunswick. I had been to Nazareth and could picture in my mind what he was talking about. You can compare it to the little rural areas in the Philippines.
While we have heard very much about the circumstances of Jesus’ birth and his early life, there was very little said about those thirty years before he left Nazareth and started his ministry. The priest pointed out that it must not have been easy for Jesus to leave the place where he grew up where he had settled with his family, where he had familiar surroundings, to venture in a place where he did not have people he knew very well. He went because the call of his Father was to be heeded.
He saw the parallelism of Jesus’ life to our own. In particular, he mentioned that he had the same struggles, which he believes many of us have experienced.
Early as a priest, he was sent to Japan. He found it difficult most especially because he did not speak the language of the country, with people whose way of life is very different from what he was used to. He struggled to learn the language. In two years he was assigned back in New Brunswick. He vowed that he would not go back.
After a while, he was asked to go back to Japan. He was hesitant but the call was there. He felt in his heart that he had to go. And he went — and stayed for twenty-six years, He learned the language, loved the people, the food, the country. And now that he is back in Canada he terribly misses Japan.
As this priest talked, I could feel that he was speaking directly to me. It was as if he was narrating those experiences and feelings I had more than thirty- five years ago.
I did not intend to stay permanently in Canada. I just took a year’s sabbatical when I left the university where I was teaching then. I had a comfortable life in the Philippines; I was earning three times as much as the public school teacher, I enjoyed the respect and the prestige of my position and I loved my work with young people preparing to become teachers. But the political upheaval in 1972 changed, many things. Many of the freedoms were curtailed and I felt I needed a respite. I have a sister here in Canada who helped me come to this country, “I thought I would stay for a while until the political situation improved, I did not expect the Marcos Regime to last for almost two decades.
My early adjustment experiences were not easy. I came in December and the change in climate for me was very abrupt. I was fortunate in some ways because I have a member of my family here; She and her friends helped me tremendously in my early months in this new environment. My educational qualifications and work experiences enabled me to find a job in my line of training. My first job was also working with young people.
Still, adapting to a new environment was not easy. I did not come here very young and my ways were already set. I never did housework in the Philippines and I learned to do them here for myself. Laundry here is easy; you just throw your clothes in the washing machine and then to the dryer. In the Philippines a lady came to our house five days a week to do the laundry, iron the clothes and help my mother in cleaning and cooking. Even handkerchiefs, pillow cases and underwear were ironed! Here I learned to buy clothes that do not need ironing, I do not use handkerchiefs. I always have tissue paper in my bag.
I went home every other year until the early nineties when my mother was still alive. I looked forward to those visits meeting my relatives, friends and former co-workers in the university where I used to teach. But as time passed, my friends and relatives either died or moved. My mother had also passed away. The lady who did house chores was still there until the 90’s. She would still get all my clothes when I changed and insisted on washing them. I realized that I did not want her doing my laundry.
I did not like my clothes to be soaked and bleached; they faded and looked worn out after the washing.
I realize I have changed in many ways. I have been involved in more community awareness and volunteer work because I have the time for these kinds of activities, which I did not have in the Philippines. My work hours n the Philippines were very long that I did not have time for other things that interest me. I hardly had time to read anything not related to my work.
I have met and worked with people of different races, beliefs, orientations and religions and I believe these experiences have widened my horizon, understanding and tolerance, I am comfortable sitting with anyone from any walk of life, any age group with or without any educational or professional background and expect to be treated as an equal. I can also easily express my views with utmost respect to other ideas.
The Philippines is very dear to me. It is my birthplace. I have two sisters there and numerous friends with whom I have kept in touch through all these years, but I feel more at home in Canada now. This is now the place that is familiar to me. This is the place where I feel I have connection with the people around me. The concerns of Canada are also my concerns, its issues are also my issues, and I have developed a deeper interest in global problems. Every calamity, natural or man-made, saddens me as every news of a storm in the Philippines rushes me to the phone to inquire about my family.
Many friends often ask me especially in winter like we are having now, why I do not go home to the Philippines. I am now retired. I do not have to suffer the cold. My response is: Canada is now my home and winter is part of it. I do not suffer the winter; I know how to live with it. And like the priest I listened to, I shall terribly miss Canada if I go back to the Philippines.