God’s beautiful (morning), Berns! I’d have sung the Mañanita mode were this a video coverage but we were pressed for time. It’s not feasible here besides so I’ll sing you a birthday song later after this you better believe and brace yourself for it, not that it’ll give your “I Am What I Am” stiff competition, but read on.
This prayer introduces a long line of birthday greetings and well-wishing that Tek and I collected from our mutual friends. As it were, we cannot absolutely partake of a meal in your absent honor. So we’ll instead go through the solemn motions of the occasion as though you were with us. Like, lighting a candle for starters.
Then we inhale. Deeply. And exhale. Slowly. Pause. Close our eyes. Remember you. Feel love. Not loss. How can God’s gain be called that! And smile. And pray.
Today we celebrate the life you lived and the graces that you blessed us with during your time on Earth. We remember you, feel you, know you exist in our hearts and in the core of many others.
We will later sip your favorite drink and taste the food you loved, the simple pleasures that are no longer yours, because exchanged for the joy of being Home, having Truth, feeling Peace, seeing only Holiness.
We love you. Which is why, today, in your honor, we celebrate life and, alongside it, the one we lived with you.
Amen.
Here are your friends, whose lives you enriched, whose prayers they now lift up, in praise and thanksgiving, because your 63rd birth anniversary is being celebrated in Heaven.
Miles Balmes:
Most gracious Father, I thank you for the life of Bernie and the opportunity to have spent part of my life with her. Thank you for the bits and pieces of advice that she shared with me when I was a new employee, which gave me confidence in myself to aim for more responsibility in my career. Father God, we recognize the good works she has started as a government official. May those good works continue to flourish and gain wider practice so the lives of our countrymen in the Philippines and in foreign lands will improve and prosper as well as those of their families. Keep Bernie under your wings, Lord, and forgive her trespasses when she was still on earth. Amen.
Amy Torres:
Father God, grant unto Bernie eternal peace as we join her birthday celebration in heaven. Her loving memories will always be in our hearts!
Lulu Santiago:
God, bless the soul of our dear friend, Bernie Catalla. And as she celebrates her birthday in heaven, may she receive the promise of an everlasting life, in paradise, and with Jesus! Amen.
Tess Lora:
Hi, Bernie. Today is your birthday! Hindi mo na kami mabo-blow out, mga anghel na ang makakatikim non na kasama mo ryan. Hindi na raw kami makaka-pray for you, kasi ikaw na raw ang magpe-pray sa amin from there. Pero baka may exemption, so I still pray that you rest in peace, with God and His angels. Pray for us also, as we ask God’s angels and saints to pray for us.
Mga jokes mo hindi malilimutan, maski pang-asar (hehehe). Kasi, cute pa rin. Rest in peace. Ok ka na dyan, kami rito, ang daming confusion. May vaccine daw vs. covid, marami namang text na dangerous daw. Muli, happy birthday, pero baka ang birthday mo dyan yung pag-alis mo rito. Paano mo kaya mako-convey sa amin. Basta, kita-kits sa panalangin.
Tek Cruz:
Almighty and everlasting God, losing suddenly a friend like Bernie we love dearly is quite hard, but knowing she’s enjoying the fruits of her good works there with You makes our mourning bearable. It gives us the peace that surpasses all understanding. We thank You and magnify Your name for loving her so much that You saw it fit to take her back home where she truly belongs.
Tita Bernie, as we remember you on your birthday, we hope and pray that you continue sharing your generous laughter up there. We may not be able to hear it, but deep in our hearts, we can surely feel it like you’re still here with us. We miss you, Tita Berns. Please continue to pray for us, too. Amen.
Rose Mangahas:
Happy birthday in heaven, Amba Bernie. Am sure you are now partying and sharing loud laughter with the angels and saints. But you will always be remembered here on earth by those whose lives you have touched. Please pray for us. We praise and thank the Lord that we have encountered you here. We entrust you to the Father, that you may rest in eternal peace. We pray in the name of Jesus His Son, who lives and reigns with Him and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Betty Cortez:
Hi, Tita Bernie. Happy, happy birthday in heaven. I know that you are happy enjoying everlasting life with our Lord.
Tita Bernie, enjoy your day and please guide us in everything we do especially in this time of difficulty and uncertainty.
Again, happy, happy birthday. We miss your laughter.
Joey Santos:
Happy birthday, Amba Bernie! Lifting up your soul in prayers for your eternal peace. You know that you are fondly remembered, although our most recent emcounters were short – at the airport or at the DFA office. Look upon – and also pray for – us, whom you have left here. Enjoy your birthday!
Cocoy Sardaña:
Dear God, we fondly remember our beloved friend, Bernie, on her birthday. Please keep her close to you, embrace her in your loving arms, and fill her with your heavenly graces. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, O Lord.
Mel Casuga-Cabaero:
Papa Jesus, please continue to embrace our dear Tita Berns in Your most loving arms and continue to grant discernment, comfort and strength for family, friends, colleagues and the many other faceless people whose lives she has touched. Most especially, particularly, Alan and me.
Joji Mañalac:
I commend you, my dear Bernie, to Almighty God, and entrust you to our Creator. May you rest in the arms of God, our Father, who formed you from the dust of the earth. Amen.
Chona Sienes-Yap:
Lord, you have called home your daughter, Bernardita. She has used the gifts you have endowed her to her fellowmen’s satisfaction. As we celebrate her birthday, bring her into your Kingdom and Paradise so she lives with You in Your Light and eternal happiness! All these we ask in the name of Jesus, Your Son, who reigns forever and ever. Amen.
Teng Torres:
Bernie Catalla, my dear friend, you are in a safer place now than we are trying to survive the pandemic. May perpetual light shine upon you. Amen.
Jing Tana-Damo:
May she rest In peace. May the Lord Jesus embrace her family with comforting peace and strength.
Cecille Pili:
Dear Lord, we humbly ask You for the eternal repose of the soul of our good friend, Bernardita Catalla. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“ Amen.
Mitch Duran:
Death only took you away from us, but it can never take the precious bond and memories we have made. My dearest Bernie, I wish you floods of happiness in heaven. We may feel sad that you are not here with us physically, but know that you live forever in our hearts. Thoughts of you do not make me cry, they rather make me smile, and fill my soul with joy, because I know you are peacefully resting in heaven. Till we meet again, my friend.
Lucy Lazo:
Nearly a year since you flew to your new home, the echoes of your laughter linger on. Indeed, you are sorely missed. I pray that as you look over us earthlings, you pray that we succeed in coping with our new normal. Challenges are aplenty and, more than ever, we need His blessing These zoom meetings can make your Tita Lucy crazy but they’re never enough to – of your day heavenly – blur her memory. Happy natal day, you have come full circle. Amen.
