While on board the ship back to Surigao City, I happened to meet the wife of my former fellow Philippine National Bank (PNB) employee who died last Thursday, May 16, 2019, in Cebu City. With her, at the lowest deck of the vessel, was the coffin within which the cold physical body of Sir Jun Pedro Espina was laid and ferried as a delicate cargo back home. At early dawn of such a lonely sea voyage, I was awakened from a dream that I was writing for him a tribute. At home, I tried to scour the words and phrases which were in my dream, dictated by my sub-conscious mind. Then I wrote this fitting tribute to a dear friend.
I was saddened by the news of the passing of my most humble of friends at such an early productive life of 53. He had been living a healthy life style---from choice of food to putting limits and restraints to vices that defeats physical health and vigor. Accordingly, the result of his laboratory showed all vital signs and essential body functions in normal condition except for cancer cells in the spine, as related by his wife. My thoughts then compared him to a young tree which was blown down by the fury of a devastating hurricane---a tragedy of enormous consequence---as for him to have been shattered flat so early in life. Yet, we could not question the wisdom of God and the reason and purpose why Sir Jun was called back home into His presence this early. It was fortunate though that the two fruits of the conjugal partnership he had with his wife---his children---are now gathered in and made ready to face the highly competitive employment square.
He was a tremendous loss to the family, yet to his wife---Rowena---it was such a restful relief from a heartrending experience of witnessing daily her dearly beloved Jun, suffered with so much distress and anguish from immeasurable pain resulting from a debilitating affliction, which only a tender smile, even in agony, provided comfort to her distraught and worried heart and that of her daughters.
To the late Sir Jun Pedro Espina, (I always address him sir because of my highest respect for his noble character and virtue as a person), his demise is a final repose from an awfully painful and excruciating physical condition attributed to a cancer of the spine, to join with his Maker---His Lord and Savior. He died on the exact date of his 53rd birthday---May 16, 2019.
Earlier I was told by Rowena when we meet inside a common room in the ship that before his death, he struggled to write such words as “going to the Supreme Court” and “as a child.” She tried to ask what he meant, but he did not elaborate.
In my dream I was brought to the words of the apostle Paul as he said: “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day…” (2 Timothy 4:6-8, King James Version).
Such must have been the meaning of his intuition and premonition of him “going to the Supreme Court,” representing his journey to the judgment bar of the great Jehovah, as did Paul.
His presentiment of his being “as a child,” reminded me of the account of the Lord Jesus Christ where the people, “…brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
“But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
“Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein” (Luke 18:15–17, emphasis added).
His last words and premonition, therefore, presented an awareness, comfort, hope, and assurance for Rowena and her children that he is going like “as a child,” calm as the early dawn of the May summer, ready and prepared to one day stand before the “Supreme Court”---the judgment bar of God---to be judged by the righteous judge of all, even the Lord Jesus Christ.
I have known sir Jun for several years as a fellow employee of whom I have a supervisory authority. I knew him to be a man of sobriety. He was an honest and respectable man. He might have his weaknesses and imperfection as common to all, but generally, he was a man of virtue and of righteous predilections. He possessed an admirable tendencies of being good and kind to everybody.
As a family man I found him exemplary. He is a loving husband and a very responsible father. He lives a provident life and Rowena can vouch for his being a good provider for the family, that even at his passing he did not leave her so much of financial concerns. According to her, the benefits of his preparations for times of family crisis and tragedies, just came in surprises. His discipline in many aspects of living is a paragon worthy of emulation.
I have the best memories of him as a man of integrity and rectitude, his word is his bond. His gentleness, benevolence, compassion and charity are some of the noble components of his grand character. I have been a beneficiary of such attributes when on many occasions of financial scarcity resulting from supporting my college students in Cebu City, he is always the one gracious person who had an ever willing heart to extend a hand of help by allowing me to use his credit account when mine was already fully availed. He extended the same kind of generosity to others as well, even from the cash reserves in his blessed wallet. His words were soft and his countenance often invited respect and honor.
He was one uncomplaining guy as a worker. He was willing to use of his own personal resources if only to accomplish his assignments. He was a diligent worker and during those long years working with him prior to my retirement, I found him to be one best person to work with. He still have more potentials for growth, but God has his own reason and purpose, He being at the helm of our lives. As in the words of Thomas S. Monson, “Death is not the end. It is putting out the candle because the dawn has come.”
All of us will have our own endless end like sir Jun. Not one of us will be stranded in this troubled world. One day each of us will have our time to slip into the other side of the veil. The stretch of our mortal journey differs from each other and only God knows when our book of life will be closed. Some are summoned to leave this frail existence in the tenderness of childhood; some are called upon during the warmth of youthful summer and glorious expectations; to others are cut short the journey to prosperity and greater success; to the old and weary travelers, the heavy portals of death are opened for their final peaceful rest after a long and enduring mortal journey. But all of us are given the same and common warning to prepare to meet God.
While in this mortal probation we are taught to choose what kind of life we wanted to have in the hereafter when our mortality finally ends and we are carried into the world of waiting spirits. We are here to decide whether to receive a crown of righteousness as the apostle Paul described above and allow God to “wipe all tears from [our] eyes” (see Revelation 21:4), or prefer a day and night of endless torment with the devil as expressed by John (see Revelation 20:10). The choice is ours.
Sir Jun made his most humble choice by living a lifetime of righteous paradigm, and willingly go “as a child” to stand before the “Supreme Court”---the judgment bar of God---and submit himself to be judged by the righteous judge of all, even the Lord Jesus Christ. His most tender smile amidst untold pains, as revealed by Rowena, leaves a wonderful and glorious indication that he had spent his last hours in communion with his God.
I express my deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to Rowena and her children and the rest of the bereaved family as I conclude my tribute to a dear friend.
Farewell my dear friend, sir Jun, farewell!
No comments:
Post a Comment