A LENTEN SACRIFICE

A LENTEN SACRIFICE

After the Sunday Mass a woman whispered to me that she was requested to relay to me the message that a close relative of our family died at a nearby Baranggay. She told me the name of the deceased and some of her relatives but I didn’t know anyone of the names mentioned.

I was hesitant to go to the wake as it has been my experience before not to be noticed or talked to by anyone in a wake simply because no one knew me and I knew no one. But the following day another woman reminded me about my dead relative.

Early in the morning the day after, I decided to go to the wake to see my long lost relative. As I expected nobody there present knew me nor did I recognized anyone familiar to me. I viewed the 95 year old dead woman but I couldn't in my deepest memory remember her.

I introduced myself and asked the daughter-in-law how I was related to the woman. From by my side answered another old woman who traced several family trees to end up how my mother was a very close relative of them. Stories about the dead woman and my also already dead mother were recalled and retold while everybody was interestingly listening. So, we were distant relative but that was not important.

My coming to the wake gave a lot of sunshine to the clan. I did not know that my presence could be that important to them. After giving my little donation, animated exchange of by-gone-days stories followed to the extreme interest of all present. My attendance to that wake was not in vain.

The place was not easy to reach. It took the tricycle that I hired three long turns and a short rough road before we finally reached the end where the house was located. Sometimes doing a little sacrifice can mean so much to some distant and almost forgotten relatives. I considered what I did as one of my offertory sacrifices this period of lent.