One interesting topic that has crossed in my mind these past few days is about the next Filipino saint next to San Lorenzo Ruiz. As I have strived to grasp the accounts and the life story of this “improbable saint”, I wonder; “What are the qualities or the criterions in becoming a SAINT in the Philippines?” Perhaps in this question alone, we’ll take years to decipher what is the rightful supposition for this, for it brings about issues that can be questioned and apprehended because we all know that our culture is to stifle preconceptions before it actually happens.
Modern-day icons, personalities and celebrities arrive to them an ego of being a saint, possibly on their appealing persona and character of which the people may have believed that they are true, or worse, it may be false. A couple of months ago, I had met an ex-seminarian while riding a van back home in Cavite. As both of us conversed, he knew from the start that I was a seminarian, probably because I wore that time a crucifix on my neck. He said that the easiest or the quickest way for a person to be a Catholic saint is to become a perpetual martyr. It is believed that when you martyred for the sake of our faith, you go straight to heaven.
Of course, on my part, I cannot help to ask who his favorite saint is. His answer was simply straightforward. “Si San Lorenzo Ruiz” he replied. Luring my attention, I was totally surprised with this man. (Even though he looked like half-Chinese living in Binondo, Manila) I never expected that a person like him would admire and hold devotion on our very own Filipino saint. A martyr, a family-man, a devout Catholic and an ideal saint, St. Lorenzo Ruiz is indeed a true son of God and a role model for the youth.
Looking on the present generation, we can’t just stand still on relying on martyrdom alone to become a saint, but being Christ-like in living what you do and what you believe. The next Filipino saint could come to our eyes very soon, and this shall remind us that the time for its arrival is only the aftermath of what we have shared to them. We can be branded as “Ang Santong Pinoy” if we only try to become natural and inherent of what the Christian values have taught us in reality. It would take less miracles, less evidences and less testimonies in the legitimacy of our own understanding of sainthood if we could follow the trail of these saints whose life are dedicated for the glory and the salvation of God and mankind.
