Fr. Manuel M. Flores, SJ
Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God
January 1, 2016
Lessons from Miss Universe
People are discovering there is so much more to Pia Wurtzbach than her physical beauty. It is not just her intelligence (she occasionally writes for the Daily Inquirer). She has an inner richness, an inner beauty that can inspire the young. From her interviews especially with Rappler we discover the following.
She pursued her dream to the full
Even as a little girl she dreamed of becoming a beauty queen. It seemed then to be an impossible dream. “At school, I was a wallflower. I was always the last person in our flag ceremony queue because I was the tallest in class. And it was difficult to have a crush because you are too tall for the boy. No one would notice me before. Sobrang average lang talaga ako, walang pumapansin. Napaka-simple ko din. I don’t have circle of friends like others. In fact, I only have one best friend but we lost contact after we moved out to Cagayan de Oro. Sobrang conservative kasi ng parents ko lalo na si mama,” she added.
She recalled the bashing and criticism she went through when she joined the Binibining Pilipinas pageant for the third time. “People were laughing at me and saying that trying hard daw ako. So my answer was, ‘Yeah, trying hard talaga ako.’ I try very hard – I try very hard because this is what I want, this is my dream” she said.
“Climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow till you find your dream.”
Part of her dream is to be of service to others
Before she left for the Miss Universe she clearly stated her goal as she represented the Philippines. “For the past years, it’s always been sob stories about the Philippines. Palagi na lang meron nasalanta, may masamang balita sa TV. Na may bagyo tayo, may ganito at ganyan. Palagi na lang ganun ang kuwento natin. (It’s always there’s a calamity, there’s bad news on TV. We were hit by a typhoon, there’s this and that. That’s always our story.) But this time, I wanna go there and show them, that we’re fun. Why would we call it ‘It’s more fun in the Philippines?'” she said, referring to the Department of Tourism’s marketing campaign.
“I want to show them that it’s fun to be in the Philippines, that’s why people come back here all the time. That’s why I live here alone even if I could be with my family (who live in Europe). Because it’s really the people, the place. And iyon ang gusto ko na ipakita sa kanila (That’s what I want to show them). Let’s stop all of these ‘yung paawa na lang tayo palagi (we’re always pitiful). Hindi masaya. Masaya sa Pilipinas. (It’s not fun. It’s fun in the Philippines). That’s what I want show them.”
She spoke about what she wished would be her impact on other girls. “If there is one connotation I wanna change, it’s that you have to join a beauty pageant to be successful or inspire. That’s not true. I don’t want to give the wrong impression to girls that for you to become like me, you have to become a beauty queen,” Pia told Rappler at a recent shampoo event. “It’s not like that. It just so happen that this is my job, that I am fit for this job. I am working with what I have and that’s why I am a beauty queen. But it’s different for everybody.
“You have to be aware of your strengths, your weaknesses, what you’re good at, and the things you are not good at,” she added. “Work your way around and then you find what your passion is and get the confidence from there.
She fulfilled her dream by being true to herself
Asked what has changed since switching her career from actress to being a beauty queen, Pia said: “I am definitely more outspoken now. When you are an actress, you are a sponge, you absorb everything the directions given to you as actress because that’s your job. You step into the set they give you a role, you have to act out. But as a beauty queen, I play myself.
“This is who I am. Everything that’s coming out, my thoughts, my opinions, are from me. And that’s one thing I feel very different [about] because I am not playing a role but being myself. People are listening, and I really appreciate that.”
“You cannot just be kind, compassionate and positive on the final night of the contest. You have to be that everyday. That has to be the real you.”
Lessons from the Mother of God
No one can compare with the fullness and inner beauty of Mary. Let us look at her inner beauty a bit more deeply. The greatest commandment is to love (and the greatest sin then is the refusal to love). There lies the meaning of the perfection and purity of Mary which far goes beyond mere decency. She loves and God and others more than she loves herself, consistently. And despite having exactly the same natural drives and appetites as ours, she chooses to love God and others over herself, constantly.
We on the other hand often love ourselves more than we love God and others. From our first parents we see our pattern of ungrateful rebellion against God. We see the pattern of enslavement to our appetites for pleasure, sex, honors and power, even when these destroy us and others.
What can we learn from the way Mary loves?
The humility of Mary
There is a Filipino saying “kung sinong may kailangan, siyang lumapit.” We fear that our offer or help may be rejected or even scorned. Thus we wait for others to ask, beg, or even kneel down before we help them. But Mary humbly offered her help to Elizabeth, to the couple at Cana. You do not even have to come to her. She is the one who comes to you. The beauty of a humble love.
The sensitivity of Mary
Humility does not mean thinking of oneself as lower or higher than others. Humility means not to think of oneself at all. Mary could imagine the difficult and even dangerous situation of Elizabeth, how it is to be pregnant in her old age. She could feel the impending great shame of the newly wedded couple at Cana if they ran out of wine, which is a staple even in the simplest table. Mary and other women from Galilee attended to the material needs of Jesus and his disciples as they traveled and did their ministry. The beauty of a sensitive love
The fidelity of Mary
It is easy to sacrifice, share or serve for a day. It is easy to love or be friends with a person for a time. But to continue to be available to a person to the end, this is the most difficult challenge! We have painful experiences of people who loved us for a while but ultimately proved to be undependable. We ourselves are sometimes undependable too causing others so much pain. But Mary was faithful to the end, even up to the foot of the cross. We can be sure that she was someone whom Elizabeth and the couple at Cana could always depend on. The beauty of faithful love.
Mary is the mother of God. Her prayers are most powerful. Let us beg her to pray for us that we may have her inner beauty: her humility, sensitivity and fidelity.
We are hers, and she is ours. You, me, and Pia Wurtzbach, we are all her children too.