"Who Would Have Known?" (A Love Story of an Ex-Priest and an Ex-Nun)

Chapter 5: Another Encounter

In 1994, I was invited by a good friend who was also an ex-nun to work at the College of Business Administration Library, in a State University in Manila. I became the Assistant to the Unit Head Librarian, which provided a better opportunity for my family and personal development. The Chief University Librarian encouraged me to enroll for a Masters Degree in Library Science, which was necessary for my current job. Despite it being unrelated to my undergraduate course, which was Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in accounting, I accepted the challenge and pursued it while working.

Five years after leaving the convent, I met William again while working at state university Library. It was on February 2, 1977, the funeral of our Theology professor in the novitiate. I saw my former confessor, Fr. William, at the back of the chapel garage with my library boss about to leave for our workplace.

We exchanged pleasantries, and William mentioned that he was assigned at a poor community in Palawan, but frequently traveled and stayed at their Religious house in Sta. Mesa. I remembered Faith, one of our friends who once tried to enter the Divine Pastor but did not make it, wanted to see William for her upcoming wedding and introduce him to her fiance. So I happily informed her about William's whereabouts and gave her his telephone number.

A week after, Faith called and requested me to accompany her and her fiance to William's Religious House because they were not familiar with the place. Despite my busy schedule in the library, I agreed to meet them on a Saturday at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. When I arrived at William's Religious House, the guard informed me that Faith and her fiance had already met William and had to leave early for an important engagement. William instructed the guard to call him as soon as I arrived.

During our meeting, William and I shared our life experiences and involvement. I informed him that I was sending my younger siblings to college and secretly involved in giving awareness seminars and training to different sectors of society, particularly in the depressed areas. He was quite alarmed about my underground work. He then shared his present assignment of work in social action and mentioned that he had been contemplating leaving religious life for the past five years. He had been praying to the Holy Spirit to guide and provide him with a sign.

Then he dropped a bombshell. He told me that at that very moment, he was fully aware that the Holy Spirit had already answered his prayer, and the answer was me. I was completely shocked and speechless. I felt the same beating of my heart that I felt when I was younger and had a crush on him at college. I left the place in a daze and walked from Sta. Mesa to Pandacan, crossed the bridge, then headed to our residence in San Ana.

The day after, I received a letter from William. He expressed his sincere desire to leave the society and would ask for a year leave of absence to pursue his dispensation. He would undergo the process of leaving the priesthood, and as soon as he received the dispensation from Rome, he would marry me.