Guest Blogger: Lynley Ocampo: Mama Mary Answered My Prayer

 

2024 Update: A Catholic religious book that I collected and edited has a new edition - MAGNIFICAT: MAMA MARY'S PILGRIM SITES gathers 24 people's accounts of Marian sites wherein they found comfort, solace, and sometimes miracles. The pilgrim sites include familiar shrines in Lourdes, Vailankanni, Guadalupe, Fatima, Ephesus, as well as lesser known ones including several in the Philippines (Antipolo, Manaoag, Odlot, Caysasya and more).  It is available from Amazon.

The book was issued an Imprimatur by Archbishop Antonio G. Tagle D.D. of Manila and Nihil Obstat by Rev. Fr. Rufino C. Sescon, Jr. Chancellor. 

Bishop Leopold C. Jaucian, SVD. DD, Bishop of Bangued, Philippines praises the book as follows:

 Profoundly Marian and beautifully written by the contributors as these are personal experiences! To our fellow devotees and would-be-devotees of the Blessed Virgin Mary, you will surely fall in love with Magnificat: Mama Mary's Pilgrim Sites, and love Our Blessed Mother ever more."

This book is part of the Marian Collection at the  Marian Library of the University of Dayton, Ohio.

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I was thrilled to hear back from a contributor, Atty. Lynley Ocampo, a lawyer from Cebu City, who emailed me to say her prayer has been answered with the help of Mary:

"I am happy to announce that my family and I have moved to our new home in ____. This was an answered prayer -- as I mentioned in MAGNIFICAT .. more than two years in the making. We moved in last 12 June, significantly as if to declare our independence from abusive and oppressive landlords/landowners. Bittersweet, as we’ve spent almost 80 years - beginning with my grandmother, mother, down to the more recent generation - in our old place."  

She included two photos of their beautiful pristine and airy home and said, "Our new home."

I am sharing the original article Lynley Ocampo wrote for the book, MAGNIFICAT: MAMA MARY'S PILGRIM SITES, wherein she attests to religious changes in her after visiting our Lady of Odlot in the Philippines. Please read the excerpt with her writeup:

Gemino H. Abad, Philippine National Artist for Literature from Cebu

 

Cebuano Gemino H. Abad has just been named Philippine National Artist for Literature. Congratulations to Jimmy Abad!

He joins another Cebuano, Resil Mojares, who was named National Artist for Literature in 2018.

Top photo shows Jimmy Abad flanked by Cebuanas at a book festival l-r: Rose Villa Poblete, Marina Hamoy, Gemino H. Abad, Cecilia Brainard, Lorna Lardizabal Dietz.

Lower photo was taken in 2013 in Cebu during the visit of another National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose, l-r: Seated l-r: Resil Mojares, F. Sionil Jose, Tessie Jose: Standing l-r: Hope Yu, Cecilia Brainard, Marlinda Tan, Jobers Bersales, Erma Cuizon, Hendri Go.

 Tags: Philippine literature, Philippine writers, Philippine authors, Filipino writers, Filipino National Artists

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Certificates of Appreciation for Cecilia Brainard

 I did a number of lectures in 2021 and 2022, and here are some of the Certificate of Appreciations I received. Many thanks to these institutions: The University of San Carlos Cebuano Studies Center, The Philippine Consulate of Jeddah, the Philippine Embassy in the US, the Literature Educators Association of the Philippines, Inc.

I did more talks but because of the pandemic these Certificates have been sent via email; I can't find the others. 

Most of the lectures I did are in YouTube, search for Cecilia Brainard.

Tags: Filipino Education, Philippine literature, Filipino literature, Filipino authors, Filipino writers