sed libera nos a malo

“No nos dejes caer en la tentacion, y libranos del mal…”

“Do not lead us to the test, but deliver us from evil…”

My old sire has returned home after almost spending two weeks in the hospital for some prostate problems. He had a benign cellular growth common to his age which weakens the urinary system. He still has his catheter on, which according to the doctors, would take about two weeks before another test can be done in order to determine whether he can urinate normally.

He is also suffering incontinence, also due to his old age, and because of a pinched nerve in his lower spine which probably added up as a factor. My old sire is a baby once again. He’s wearing a diaper.

It ain’t life threatening, however, any person would find it difficult to muster the fact that one’s grand sire, a former military man for that matter, would eventually deteriorate in such state. I feel so much pity for the grand sire who pampered me in my youth with all material wealth that I desired… who in one of my baby pictures placed a cigarette in my mouth and laughed, who was called by many people in the years far gone as “Don” despite the fact that the title has been relinquished by the Family after the demise of my great grandparents.

He is the youngest of the seven children of the First House of Bernardo (there being three). He is a war veteran. He went to Mindanao in his teen years during the war and worked in Zamboanga building the airport for the Japanese until he escaped to Davao or some other part of Mindanao and hitched back to Manila, whence the Tranvia was still in existence from Manila to Malabon. He was an army reservist, a businessman, a politician. In his golden years he knew the powerful and mighty in Malabon, from Mayor Espiritu, Peng Oreta, Boy Vicencio, Tessie Aquino-Oreta, Msgr. Florentino, the now present Archbishop of Lingayen Oscar Cruz, Msgr. Antero Sarmiento, the members of the military during the Marcos and Cory years. He was both Catholic and Aglipayan. He is my grandfather… my grand sire.

It is quite difficult for me to see him in such state, somehow, he reminds me of the plot in “Autumn of the Patriarch” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but not quite really. In stark contrast, my grandmother is strong, although diabetic, and has clarity of thought. My grandfather is somehow slowing down, but not senile.

He will live a long life. That I will proclaim will a prophetic tongue. He will receive the love from his most favored grandson for that matter. It is I who will inherit most of his affection. I shall own his legacy. All of his grandchildren (and a great grandchild) are in the United States, except for me and my brother, his name sake. Perhaps, fate, despite circumstance, planned something else. I was supposed to be one named “Tirso II”, however, due to my parents’ excitement, they forgot the pact and named me as a metamorphosis of Romulo.

For me though, this event in our life as a family is a challenge, as always. I am supposed to concentrate on my life and studies for now as I near the Bar Exams. But recent events prove otherwise. What I have learned two years ago when we were in the brink of insolvency is that family matters, no matter what. You must always fight for them. You must have patience, you must have strength, you must have courage, you must have faith above all.

For us, this is just a test, and we will be delivered…