Irene’s Paschal Mystery

For the first time in my 55 years as a priest, 40 of which as a bishop, I experienced a mysterious happening. I’m happy and grateful for it as one witness among many.

I am referring to the unusual behavior of Irene Sagrado Tabada a week before she died of dengue fever. Without making any comment on why a mosquito bite could trigger her death so suddenly, I felt Our Lord was sending an urgent message to all of us Church leaders through Irene’s mysterious behavior. I’m emphasizing here the word “mysterious” which I now understand as a revelation.

Revelations from religious perspectives are really unusual in a secular society like ours. What is revealing was Irene shocking her friends when she told them she was going to die, and appeared normally happy. After this shock came a joyful realization.

What I realized is actually a paradox, a seeming contradiction. If the Archdiocesan Commission on Prison Welfare (ACPW) I had established several years ago, which a busy woman like Irene had to manage for lack of interested priests and religious, is an important ministry for the Church and a great help to the government, why would God get Irene out of it so suddenly? It looked seemingly unfair and contradictory. It was not. God has a reason which reason does not know.

This is what I realized and it seems reasonable from the standpoint of faith: Irene had difficulty getting priests and religious for the spiritual ‎needs of the priests like before. For the health, legal and family needs of the inmates she could get help from lay organizations some of which are not church-based. She organized concerts to raise funds for the male and female inmates. She undertook all these with faith even as she served as lector and commentator at San Pablo Parish while holding office as staff member of the regional office of the Department of Budget and Management.