FIESTAS & BIRTHDAYS 2009

WE AGREED THAT IT is to be held on a Sunday on the feast of Saint Lucy, a day which fall under the date of December 13, 2009. It will be the fiesta celebration in our little neighborhood in a little corner of little Tinago, Cebu City. The fiesta is an annual affair since a chapel was established near my place in 1978.

Saint Lucy, by the way, is the patron saint for the blind and for those who have ailments located in the eyes and is venerated by my late grandfather, Gervasio Lavilles, for whom a miracle was bestowed upon him during his childhood. As a child, he was stricken with German measles causing him instant blindness on both his eyes that sank the heart of her mother.

But his ever pious mother, asked for a miracle from the kindly saint. After finishing the ninth day of her novena through the intercession of Saint Lucy, a shout of glee from little Gervasio was heard from within another room of their house. Her curious mother decided to abandon her chores and witnessed a very colorful bird fluttering about the room and saw little Gervasio jumping up and down with joy pointing at the strange bird.

Obviously, a prayer had been heard and the message is delivered by a beautiful bird, whose species is unknown in their locality of Lambunao in Iloilo Province, and Gervasio's sight is thus restored! All for the glory of Christ Jesus!

On the other hand, Cherokee, the youngest of my two sons, will celebrate his 14^th birthday on December 14, 2009, a Monday. As had been done in the last two years, we decided to celebrate his birthday to coincide with the feast of St. Lucy upon his suggestion. That way we could manage better and put to good use of what little budget we have.

For sure, Cherokee will have company, as guests, his Farmville-playing neighbors and some classmates. His sister, Laila, and husband, Chokie, probably would come also along with their son, Kurt. Christy, his kuya Charlemagne's girlfriend will be there too and the house will be full at the seams and that will create problems for little Gabriel and Jarod. Their running space will be constricted.

Anyway, I will use the big space upstairs and transfer my PC there for the benefit of the youngsters. My wife cooks the best-tasting food this side of town and you are cordially invited to celebrate fiesta with us!

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FIESTAS & BIRTHDAYS

TODAY, DECEMBER 13, IS the feast day of Saint Lucy (Santa Lucia), who was martyred for the cause of her faith and who is the patron saint of our little neighborhood here in Cebu City, the Philippines. She also happens to be the patron saint of all those who suffer from blindness and those who are suffering from different eye ailments.

Now let me tell you a story about my late grandfather, Atty. Gervasio Lavilles. At the turn of the 20th century when little Basyo was still five years old he suffered from blindness borne out of complications from the contraction of measles. It so happened that his mother, Sebastiana, was a devout Roman Catholic and prayed her special intentions for the speedy recovery of Basyo to Jesus through the intercession of St. Lucy.

She was doing the novena prayers for that purpose and on the ninth day of her novena she heard her little Basyo inside their room gleefully calling her mother to come inside and to watch a beautiful bird fluttering about inside the room. Together with relatives they decided to investigate Basyo's object of interest.

True, indeed! There was a beautiful bird that was rare in their locality of Lambunao, Iloilo and was fluttering about in the room until it flew out of an open window. But, wonder of wonders, little Basyo could see again!

In honor of St. Lucy, our neighborhood decided to erect a chapel in 1978 and celebrate her feast every December 13th of every year. Tonight we will be having guests and we have prepared some special food.

Tomorrow, December 14, will be the 12th birthday of my youngest son, Cherokee. We decided to celebrate his birthday in advance today to coincide with the neighborhood fiesta. As we were eating breakfast today at 6:45 AM, two full rainbows appeared in the southwestern sky. Seeing rainbows in their full arch are rare nowadays, especially, if they are a pair!

May God bless us all!

Document done in OpenOffice.org Writer 2.2, Trebuchet MS font, size 12.