TODAY, I yield my column space to this excellent reader-response essay on my story “Father Olan, God, and the Rain”.
It is written by Adonis C. Gonzales of DepEd, a senior high school teacher of Oral Communication at Calinog National Comprehensive High school in Calinog, Iloilo.
Gonzales is also a poet, and was the second prize winner of the Peter’s Prize for Poetry last year.
*
The Miracle of a Story
by Adonis C. Gonzales
*
In this time of global crisis, this Covid-19 pandemic, prayer and reading is the perfect combo for the soul. Prayer for salvation and healing; reading to calm the nerves.
The exquisitely crafted, award-winning story of “Father Olan, God, and the Rain” by the icon of Hiligaynon literature, Peter Solis Nery, is a comfort for my weary soul amidst the uncertainty of the moment as we experience the chaotic upshot of the pandemic. Furthermore, this story, although written seven years ago (in 2013), feels timely for at least two things: 1.) it teaches us to restore our diminishing trust for one another; and most importantly, 2.) to believe and strengthen our faith in our Almighty God. The story cleverly illustrates that whatever dreadful circumstances we are facing, or whatever horrible turmoil happening around us, we have a God who hears the cry of His people. And He will never forsake us. Nery didn’t make it so easy in his story though, that is why it is a real pleasure that it still reads “like new” every time one reads it.
The story itself has a life of its own. For example, the nickname of the protagonist—Olan, is a homophone for ‘ulan’, which translates into English as ‘rain’. So, in fact, in the Hiligaynon version, the story about a long drought is “pelted” with the words ‘ulan’ and ‘Olan’. (It is something lost in English translation because, well, ‘rain’ does not sound like Olan unlike ‘ulan’). However, in the original Hiligaynon, and in the exquisite brand of Nery Hiligaynon, the repetitions hypnotize, and make you believe, make you wish yourself that the characters in the story will have their rain. But again, Nery didn’t make it so easy in his story. Still, the crisp descriptions of the narrative, the symbolisms they entail, the intriguing motives of the characters, and the enthralling plot (this is not a plain Point A to Point B story) make for a great reading, if not spiritual, experience.
One plot device that struck me most was the “story within a story” episode of Our Lady of Candles. The legend of the growing statue of Our Lady of Candles is a popular story in Western Visayas. But before Nery’s “Father Olan, God, and the Rain”, it was never told so convincingly. Without the anecdote of the growing statue, Nery’s story can stand tall with all the previously mentioned merits. But with the miracle of the statue set up as a mirror image, it makes for an even more wonderful story in the end. The drama created by the anecdote intensified the irrational claims that indeed there are things, which humans, or science, cannot explain. As a reader, my view was totally persuaded to embrace the possibility of these occurrences, these miracles.
Definitely, the anecdote of the growing statue of Our Lady of Candles tailored deftly in the story was not only a supporting detail, but also another source of bizarre facts that were put together by a brilliant author to produce one of his, and Hiligaynon literature’s, greatest masterpieces. Nery’s hypnotic masterpiece is like the rain in the middle of our spiritual drought. It comes unexpectedly, replenishing and washing our blurred vision to see another spectacle of life and literature. It makes one believe that, indeed, we will get through this Covid crisis. (500tinaga@gmail.com/PN)
