More From Earlie Pasion-Bautista

I wrote today’s meditation at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when quarantine restrictions eased a bit in our province. Our government allowed religious gatherings of no more than 10 adults. So we went to church in rotation while our kids were left with their grandparents, who are senior citizens and were not allowed to go out at the time. We celebrated Holy Communion in church and practiced extending it to our families at home too. Our kids were excited to see us when we came back from church every Sunday. Upon our arrival home, we would gather in prayer as a family and they would take Communion; then the kids would proceed to consume the mansanita fruits!

During that year, God blessed our front yard with our own mansanita tree, which the kids happily climb as soon as it bears fruit. The tree also provides good shade for us to enjoy family picnics. As for the tree in church, it lasted until June 2022. The kids were back in church by that time, and they got to enjoy its fruits again. My brother also had a chance to take its fruits when he made a quick visit to the church for the first time in two years! He was not able to come home and join us in worship since the pandemic started, due to quarantine protocols. 

The mansanita tree became a blessing to many of us—a symbol of pouring out from the Lord—when hopes were low, when people were not able to meet physically, when many were afflicted. Those small fruits shared among us, especially with our children, allowed us to enjoy being in church and being the church during those times when we couldn’t all worship together.