Thank you and goodbye, good Cardinal

Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal will be laid to rest today. He has carried out his mission well. He has served his flock to the best that he was able. He was loved deeply and respected greatly, both for what he achieved, and for what he never tired trying to. Born a Marinduqueno, he died a Cebuano. He will long be remembered for his presence and then missed in his absence. Goodbye, Cardinal.

But let not our goodbyes be said in sadness. Cardinal Vidal did not pour out almost an entire lifetime trying to make us understand the purpose of life only for us to end up still not getting it. He is now where he had been telling us all along where life ought to lead us – an eternity of peace and grace in the presence of God. He is now where sadness does not exist.

Let us congratulate him instead for succeeding where so many of us are bound to fail, and that is by keeping to the straight and narrow. If there is one final act that we can do for him in gratitude, let it then be a commitment, a promise, to carry on, to pick up where he left off. We do not want to disappoint Cardinal Vidal by dispersing like lost sheep without a shepherd. And while we cannot all be angels, the least we can do is to at least try to spread our wings.

Cardinal Vidal always wanted us to become better persons, not saintly personages. He was down to earth enough to know what was possible. Had we all had the promise of sainthood, he would not have wasted his time with us to perfect what already is. He always knew us to be sinners. What he did was to perfectly understand our capacity to be changed. That is what gave him hope. That is what gave him life.

His getting summoned by the Father indeed holds a significant message for all of us. It implies the accomplishment of what Cardinal Vidal was set out to do. He has done enough. He can do no more. It is up to us to finish the long trip home. And the only way to do so is to try and change, to try and transform ourselves in the manner Cardinal Vidal wanted. We can do no less as a matter of gratefulness and thanks.

There is of course no stifling of genuine feelings and the conveyance of good intentions. Let them who prefer it that way not be stymied therefore by doubt or hesitation. But let it be made absolutely clear on this day of temporary parting that, till we meet again at God's appointed time, we will miss indeed your presence in our midst, in both your solemn moods and in jolly times.