December 27, 2014
Feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist
Gospel Jn 20:1A and 2-8
“… and he saw and believed.”
John came and saw and believed. What did he see? Most likely it was an empty tomb with burial cloths all rolled up in one place. John saw the same empty tomb that Mary Magdalene saw earlier. Was there any difference? I don’t think so. They saw the same empty tomb with burial clothes rolled up. But Mary reported that “they have taken the Lord from the tomb and we do not know where they put him.” John and Mary saw the same thing but witnessed two different things. Mary saw an empty tomb and thought that someone took the body of Jesus. On the other hand, John saw the same empty tomb but knew probably deep in his heart that the Lord Jesus has resurrected and is alive.
I am also sometimes ‘the Mary’ and some other times ‘the John’. But let me share the time when I was ‘John’. I remember the time many years ago when my wife was pregnant with our third child. She was then three months underway when she had a bout of pains somewhere in the area of her stomach. It was very painful, and she was brought to the hospital. The doctor diagnosed it as stones in her gall bladder and recommended that she be operated. During those times, the operation of gall bladder stones was invasive, which means she has to undergo anesthesia and other drugs necessary for an operation. But the doctor’s recommendation for an operation was a bit complicated. The doctor went on that because my wife would be subjected to anesthesia and the drugs, there was a great probability that the child inside would be born with deformity and/or disability, and the best way was to abort the child. Our doctor went on that even if we chose not to abort the child, still the risk was imminent that the child would not make it and would be aborted because of the stressful nature of the operation. I remember that we (my wife and I) were left alone in the room to make the decision. And we prayed and took the unlikely choice; we told the doctor to go ahead with the operation but decided against the abortion of our child. When our doctor came after the operation with my wife’s ob-gyn doctor to check on the child using a Doppler scan, one of our doctors exclaimed, “Ay vibo el bata!”
After the operation, my wife developed urinary tract infection (UTI) and had to be administered with antibiotics again. To make matter worse, the first set that was administered did not cure her UTI, and so our doctor recommended a higher dosage.
I do not want to brag nor sound like I am bragging, for I cannot – we cannot, but I have to share about God, and the miracles He would do if only we believed in Him, if only we believed in His plans and in the gifts He is giving. Today, our child is a young man of 25 years old. Four years ago, he graduated cum laude in computer science and gave the valedictory address for his batch.
We prayed; we saw, and we believed.
Engr. Stevan S. Dimaguila
Director, Office of Student Affairs
