I had often heard him say “When I get sick and grow old, I will just receive, ‘lo que hay,’ whatever is there.” And so he did. He was the very model of acceptance and surrender. We thank God for this wonderful person, our Dad, who has received gratefully whatever is there, lo que hay. Through all his 81 months of being bedridden, he was the epitome of acceptance. When he was at the hospital and I got mad because of a gaping wound on his feet brought about by the emergency procedures, he just looked at me as if pleading and saying, “Hija, lo que hay.” But God in his Providence provided him with great care, love and the comfort that he needed. Indeed when we stop choosing, God will choose for us. This is what Meister Eckhart said, and how true it was for Dad. He had never imposed. He was very accepting. I remember his gentleness. How he used to tell me that our helpers, drivers, companions at work are our special friends who help create a balance in our life. We cannot do all things alone. We need people. For him, there was never a functional relationship. All relationships are special and personal. I learned many of my contemplative attitudes from him, his acceptance when he would say, “Well, El hombre propone, pero Dios dispone.” Man proposes or plans, but God disposes or directs.

Our parents chose to join religious life at the peak of their careers, when they were 49 years of age. We were already professed Sisters then. We were never together for long, each of us assigned in the North, East, West, South. At one time, I, Sr. Matt was in Hawaii, and Dad in Letran College. And I, Sr. Eppie, in Iloilo and Mom was in Davao. Dad and Mom have always been true and faithful parents to us. From them, we have learned what it means to be faithful and to be supportive, the way they were to each other… the way they were to us.

Dad is gone now. We never realized we would miss him this much. Even this magazine is so delayed, because, we just missed Dad. It is an effort to write. But Dad is here, the way he was with me, when I was a young Junior Professed Sister, and he, a Postulant. I was crying when he said he would go to the Novitiate in Manila. It seemed so far away from one who has always lived in Iloilo. I was so sad. I did not have the energy to write my school report about Goethe’s Faust. Dad did my report for me in an old typewriter. It was a gesture of love as though assuring me; all would be well even if he would be far away.

When Dad fell in love, his brother, Msgr. Panfilo Brasil, took it upon himself to help arrange his marriage with a rich lady, high in stature, in culture, in education and in beauty. The lady of his heart, Amelia Fernandez, daughter of a Chinese businessman seemed so far above a simple man from the small town of Tubungan. She wanted to be a nun, but it was too dangerous to travel to Manila at a time when the Japanese were all over the place at the height of the war.

So the lovely morena, Amelia Fernandez, Nena to her friends, agreed to be wed. She fainted after saying yes to the proposal. She had friends in high places, has lived in the undisputed queen of mansions in Iloilo, the Nelly Garden. Nonoy, Domingo Brasil, never forced Nena Amelia to love him immediately. He was vcry patient, waiting all the time, waiting until Nena would one day fall in love with him.

Then slowly, the rich Nena saw in Nonoy the patient and loving husband she wanted in life. No force, no violence, no expectation, just love. She fell in love within marriage and they had a baby, after almost 3 years of waiting. That was me, their first born daughter Rosemarie or Sister Matt.

During the postwar time, Nena finished her post graduate course in cosmetology in Manila. Meanwhile, Nonoy Domingo got accredited and finished high school and took up Commerce. Three years later, I, Teresita or Sister Eppie came to them. By this time, Nena Amelia was head over heels in love with Nonoy.

Nonoy was an ideal husband. He joined the cursillo and continued to be a great provider for the family. One day, he came home bloody and limping. He was in a bus accident. He broke his leg. He was bedridden for almost a year. He lost his job. For three years, he was jobless as he and Amelia worked to make both ends meet. On hindsight, Nonoy said, “During those times I had no work, Mommy never made me feel I was a burden. I shall always love her for that.”

It was so strange that while many nuns and priests were leaving their vocation in 1967, they left their marriage to dedicate their life to serve God. There were lots of challenges during their religious formation. They entered late at 49 with set of habits and set ways of living, but they managed well. Nonoy or Fray Domingo Brasil, OP was assigned to Letran College, Shrine of the Holy Rosary in Manaoag Pangasinan, Sto Domingo Church, and lastly for 13 long years, he worked at the UST Central Seminary as Econome.

One day, when he was asked what the hardest part of his life as a consecrated person, a Lay Brother with solemn vows was, he said:
It was the time when I was sick and Mommy was not there to care for me. It was also the times when my daughters arrived in Manila and we did not have a normal home to enjoy each other’s presence. We have convents with rules and really we missed the time in the comfort and privacy of a home. One time, my daughter, Sister Eppie, tired of all the people in the convent who observed every time I visited their mother, decided to bring us all to a retreat place in Baguio. For once, we felt family again. But no more love-making, we have offered even that to God as I also have vows of Celibacy, so with Sister Amelia who has also made her final perpetual vows.

Brother Domingo lived a very ordinary life but in an extraordinary way. A simple man who had ears to hear and to listen. His words were not from the books. They were words of wisdom. As a lay Brother, he helped in the Kuya Center for street children, assisted his brothers in many ways and spent time praying especially for his community. We now have a powerful intercessor in heaven. On December 3, 2007 at 10:33 pm, he died so gently and peacefully, the way he lived his life. His funeral was a joyful surrender and a grand send-off. Brother Domingo Brasil, OP became one person who received all the 7 sacraments!