WORDS OF GRATITUDE

MARIA LOURDES QUILALA SINGIAN

FEBRUARY 11, 1916 DECEMBER 29, 2015
Your Excellency, Most Rev. Victor Ocampo (Bishop of Gumaca), Rev. Fathers of the
archdiocese, Rev. Fathers of the Dominican community, leaders and ministers of the church,
our enlarged family, the Benedictine and Dominican communities
Relatives, Friends, Family members, Mang Belen (Mas only sister),
And all those who have supported us, have shown love and care throughout,
Good Afternoon!
I humbly take the honor of speaking in behalf of the Singian Family to express words of
gratitude to God, to my mother, and to everyone.
The evangelist, St. Matthew wrote: From the fullness of ones heart, the mouth speaks.(Mt
12:34)
Who among us here did not come from a mothers womb? While this query may sound silly as it
has only one answer, it ushers us to the universal truth that God gave each one of us the best
mother that we needed. And no one could ever replace our mother in our hearts. Being born
from the kind of parents that you and I have was not a matter of our personal choice. God, in His
wisdom and goodness fashioned us from mothers who He knows would be best for us.
When I asked my siblings what they are grateful to God for, these are what fill our hearts and
what we want to share with you:
Today, my siblings and I are one in special praise and thanksgiving to God for gifting us with a
wonderful mother, a great and valiant woman, a devoted wife, a great friend, and a prayerful and
faithful daughter of God. We thank God for blessing Ima with such great faith that moved
mountains. We thank God for blessing Ima who shaped in our minds early on from childhood,
a God Who is truly caring, loving, and providing, the Source of all good things, and with Whom
nothing is impossible. We can never thank God enough for all the blessings bestowed upon our
family through the prayerful pleas of Ima to the Almighty! Mothers folded hands, bended
knees, and eyes lifted up to heaven brought us to where we are now. Koya Romy will never
forget how my mother coached him whenever he would knock at the door of the Benedictine
Clausura, when he would Sr. Michaelis come out, Koya would say, Mother, my mother said,
give me milk.
I do not have the liberty of time to enumerate the good deeds of my mother. What is astounding
though is her selfless offering of her children for the service of God. Literally, all nine of us
were Imas pearl of great price. We were her true treasures, and yet, she did not hesitate a bit
to give us back to God. Sr. Del, her Cinderella, Easter angel, and alter-ego was offered freely to
the Benedictine mission. Her Kasti, Fr. Larry was freely offered to priesthood, and eventually to
the Dominican mission. Ima sacrificed parting with my other elder siblings for the service of
others so they could help in the family provisions! Atching Elda recalls how my mother would

ask for vale from her earnings to bring food on the table for the family. Being a mother myself, I
cannot fathom the pain and grief of separation from my children for that same noble cause.
On my part, I can never forget Imas positive disposition about my personal decision to give up
my lucrative career in 1998 to give way to a new vocation. She was unafraid of the
consequences of this decision, which included among others, uncertainty of material gains. I
became a brave woman because of Ima. She taught me how to embrace holy indifference, and
to obey the will of God without reservation and without fear of being left with nothing. Her
great faith in God brought me to do volunteer work for the church without condition. Ima dacal
salamat!
Another thing that I would like to thank Ima for is her unconditional love for my father. Imas
loving devotion to my father throughout her life is very evident. I fondly recall a very recent
encounter with Ima last December 11. Being a non-working holiday in Pampanga, the visit gave
me the chance to stay longer with Ima and an opportunity to walk her down memory lane. One
of the events that Ima remembers is her being either valedictorian or salutatorian when she was
studying. She remembered her grade of 100 in Religion. And yet throughout the years, my
mother did not brag about such achievements! She did not steal the limelight from Tatang. She
humbly accepted the perception that we got our intelligence from the Singians.
If Ima were given the opportunity to say something today, I think she will thank each and every
one of you. Mothers grateful heart remembered every good deed of our benefactors. She kept
telling me the names of her generous benefactors and the ones who made mothering easier for
her. I was amazed that she recalled events beginning from her First Communion at age seven.
She had a lot of things and persons to thank God for. And one thing that amazed me even more
is whenever I whispered, Ma, I love you, her spontaneous reply was, Thank you. Wow, what
a grateful heart! Who will not love a mother like Ima? She was our champion! She was the
epitome of love and self-giving. She gave us the true meaning of Christmas everyday in our life
by experiencing Emmanuel God with us!
I wish I could still hug you, just like the way I have been doing before. I wish I could still make
lambis to you and say, Ma, dedi ku keka. Ma, once again, I wish to tell you, We love you
very much. Thank you for being our mother. Ima, The Lord has given you to us. The Lord
has taken you away from us. Blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21)
And to all of you, dacal pung dacal salamat.
Finally, keng capatad cu na menese cang Ima, Atching Elda, dacal dacal salamat. Gewa mu ing
emi agawa kang Ima.