Simbang gabi was started at December 16 and earlier this morning is the 3rd day of it. Here on Philippines, Filipinos believe that once you complete simbang gabi then you can wish anything you want then it will come true. For me it's just a saying however the true meaning of Simbang Gabi is to give effort and time to go in churches and sacrifice our sleep then praise the birth of Jesus. I am dedicated to complete 9 days this year that's why I always alarm my phone at 3:30 AM since the simbang gabi starts at 4 AM. I am attending the mass at Sto. Nino Parish located at signal village and a hundred of meters away from our house. I have companion which is my neighbor friend that is early bird. He always wake up early that's why I accompanied him in Simbang gabi.
The problem is he's not focusing on mass instead he's looking at different cute girls surrounds us, at first day of simbang gabi there are lots of girls around and they are all cute, however I strengthen my will that I will focus on God and those interruptions around me must be eliminated in my mind. We also sense outside the church since there are lots of people inside, we are also taking measures since pandemic is still there. You can't believe what we are wearing, I'm just wearing a shirt then a short with rubber shoes and a badminton bag at the back of us. The main reason is that, after we attend the mass we gonna go to heritage park to have a jogging and also play badminton.
Despite of all circumstances, I manage to take the homily of the priest and it made me realize something, on the 3rd this morning, he asked us, is it worth it that we are living on this world?. This homily is for those people that lose hope to live, I understand that all humans have purpose to live. It's normal that we face struggles and failures and sometimes those struggles crash us into tiny pieces, the priest also said that once we experienced lots of problems and no one to talk about it. We just need to look at above then talk God, he's always there to listen to our problems and we can ask guidance from him, he will give signs to help you in overcoming those problems.
As I roaming my eyes around, I saw this burial assistance which there's a coffin inside and people guarding it. A tears suddenly falls from my cheeks, I remember the exact scene happened 3 years ago when my sister died. I hide my face so that no one will notice that I'm crying, I just focus myself in listening on homily. When mass ended, we took our way to heritage park. I think it's still 5 AM and as we approach the park it's still dark but there are lots of people around. We then find a good spot, yesterday it's also what we've done and we met a common people around us. I've met this girl which I thought she's just 16 years old however when I asked her she's already 19 years old. She's with her siblings and we play one on one, I asked her where her parents then she told me that her mother is left on the house while her father died last month.
When I hear what she said, I immediately became sad and said sorry to her. She also confess to me that she already had a child, he's a boy that I played with badminton. She got pregnant at 16 and now his baby boy is 3 years old, I don't feel any judgment towards her but I feel pity since the father of the child is not giving support on her, they left the father of his son since she feel that the boy is not responsible. I don't make any further discussion cause it might feel awkward and she might feel that I'm stepping out of the boundary.
We can't judge nor mock those teenage girls who got pregnant at early age since it's a mistake that they've done and we humans are not perfect. The most important thing is, she handled to deal with those problems that she encountered and her son is so cute just like her. The most important things that she can do is to support her son and give the best on him. The life is not ended oncewe fail, we can still rise up from the past and move on to the present, we need to prove that those mistakes can be an opportunity to achieve the true happiness we are seeking in this life.
Thanks for sharing the story of the girl and I am happy that she is now coping up with having a child. It is not yet end for her, I have a friend who is also like her, hers is different, the boy was a married man. But I am glad that she chose to change her destiny, she went abroad and go back to school when she came home.It's noy yet too late for that girl to be back to school especially now, CHED has many scholarships.