JUST PURE COINCIDENCE OR A MIRACLE?

      The year was 1977, I was then a second year college student at the Notre Dame of Tacurong College, Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat.  As a self supporting student, I was serving as a sacristan to Fr. Romulo Dela Cruz, DCC, the parish priest of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria Parish of Tacurong. At that time, the areas under the ministry of Tacurong Parish included the town of Tantangan in South Cotabato where a  holy mass was celebrated once a month for the Catholics of the said town.

      It was around 7:30 in the morning in the mid-1977 that Fr. Dela Cruz and I was traversing the rough and dusty road from Tacurong to Tantangan for the scheduled monthly mass. We are aboard the parish owned green jeep which the young parish priest was driving when halfway to our destination, somewhere along Barangay Mangilala, the jeep's engine sputtered and died.  Fr. Mulong, as we fondly call him, tried to restart the engine many times but failed. He glanced at me with a questioning look, I explained that I have checked thoroughly the vehicle earlier, the engine oil is in perfect level, the water in the radiator is full and the gasoline tank as well is full.  He tried the horn, its shrill blast echoed in the early morning, an indication that the battery was well charged. After many trials, the engine still would not start.  Fr. Mulong, worried about the waiting extended parishioners, decided to go ahead and to hitch a ride on the first vehicle that would pass-by enroute to Tantangan.  As per plan, I was to be left behind and to ask assistance from any driver to tow  the vehicle  back to Tacurong.  With a worried look,  the good  father silently picked up the bag containing the equipment  for the mass, as he alighted from the jeep, I saw a young woman running, from a house nearby, towards our direction and approached  Fr. dela Cruz.  In between sobs she told the good father about her ailing grandmother and asked the young priest to administer to her the last rite.  Without a word, Fr, Dela Cruz followed the woman towards the house. I was left behind in the vehicle trying to check every wiring connection  that might have loosened while travelling along the rough road.  After a while, Fr. dela Cruz came back, still with the woman, who before leaving thanked the young priest profusely for giving her grandmother a hope for a heavenly after-life.  Just as if on cue, a bus loomed from the horizon and upon seeing Fr. Dela Cruz in a priestly white robe stopped to ferry the good priest to his destination.   I stood along side the jeep watching for the first vehicle that might help me in towing the jeep back to Tacurong.  Minutes passed by but not a vehicle coming from any direction was in sight, as the sun rose higher and perspiration started to form in my forehead, I decided to take a refuge inside the jeep.  I sat in the driver seat and subconsciously  turned-on the ignition key, and I got the first shock of the day, when the engine sputtered to life!  Instead of going back to Tacurong, I decided to follow Fr. Mulong at Tantangan.  I arrived thirty minutes later after driving slowly and praying hard that the engine will not die down anymore. An hour later, Fr. Mulong came out of the chapel  and saw me  smiling beside the jeep, he asked me who fixed the engine.  He was amazed when I told him the engine just came to life when I turned the ignition key on.  We came back to Tacurong later without any engine trouble at all.

(P.S.  I came to remember the event few days ago when I, with my three kids, passed by the said place, on our way to Koronadal City, and the  event flashed back in my mind as if it was only yesterday.  The then young priest is now Bishop Romulo Dela Cruz, DCC DD of the Diocese of Kidapawan)