Are you ready?

"Kung wala ang puso mo sa pagluluto, bumili ka na lang sa karinderya. Nalalasahan sa pagkain ang puso ng gumawa nito." - from Litsonero, 2010

That was a line taken from the movie Litsonero where a young aspiring chef learns how to cook lechon and has to ensure that he cooks it well and that it tastes good. His future depended on it.

There is a line in the movie that asks "handa ka na ba?" on the eve of his cook-off. And the same question echoed in my mind when I was in Lyon, France this weekend.

I partook of a pilgrimage to install the replica of Nuestra Senora de La Naval Manila in the Notre Dame de Fouvrière in Lyon. Desiring to catch a glimpse of the Virgin Mary as she made her journey to the crypt where she would be kept and where devotees can come visit her, I ran to see her face. Not successful, I followed the mob taking her to her final resting place. I had not planned on going so far. I had nothing with me, no bag, no camera. I had left it upstairs in the main body of the church with a friend of mine.

Before I knew it, I was at the front of the mob, standing next to the president of the foundation that maintains the statues of the Virgin Mary from all over the world - India, Poland, Portugal, among others - the Philippine ambassador, the archbishop of Lyon, the entourage of diplomatic personnel and many more. I had no camera!!!

All I could do was take mental pictures. And I know how those mental negatives tend to fade over time. The colour wears out and sometimes, the picture is totally erased. It depends on the age of the human camera and if has a high resolution and high memory capacity.

This had happened to me before. Pope John Paul II was so close and I didn't have a camera on me - at least that one could decipher the Pope. I had my low technology phones which could only give you VGA-quality images.

There's a saying "where two or more Filipinos are gathered, there is picture-taking". Our culture is one of no show no tell. Show me the picture and I will believe you.

And I had nothing to show for myself after standing there amidst everything.

Handa ka na ba? echoes in my ear.

Readiness is a state of being and a state of resources. It's difficult to be ready for everything. Sometimes, we're caught off guard and don't know how to react to certain situations. What if it was Jesus who had come that day instead of the image? Would I go back to my bag and take a picture of Him or would I try to be at the front of the queue so I could finally see this man they called Jesus.

In Litsonero, what if he didn't learn under the tutelage of a master lechonero? Would he have triumphed and achieved his dream?

Going back to the quote, consequently, how much heart do we put in into the things we want to do? Can anyone who comes across it feel your heart in it?

How often have we been unprepared, just winging it? Does the expression "Bahala na" ring a bell?

What am I trying to say? What if God came today, would I be ready? Would you be ready? Could God see how much heart we put into Him??
javascript:void(0)
-end-