Sampaguita in the Street

A woman in rags, cradling a baby, was selling stranded sampaguita flowers in a street of Metro Manila.

Suddenly, a police squad car appeared and the policeman at the wheel shouted at her, “You have been told that it is prohibited to sell your goods in this street! Give me all your sampaguita. Otherwise, I will send you to jail.  Hurry up!”

In a burst of tears, the woman lifted her baby and said, “Sir, if you take all my sampaguita please take my baby also. It is for him that I am trying to earn a living. My baby and I are sick, and I do not have any money to buy medicines. If I cannot sell sampaguita, my son will not survive the cold and the hunger tonight. Please take him with you. He will die anyway with me.”

Many passers-by gathered around, taking interest in what was happening. They looked at the woman, at the baby in her arms, and at the policeman inside the car.

The woman continued her pleading. She lifted her pale face up towards heaven, her thin neck tensed, straining in agony. She tightened her jaws, gathered her strength, and with eyes closed shrieked, “My God!”

She buried her face into the bundle of rags swaddling the baby in her lap. She wept softly in utter desperation and brokenness. Her cry fainted into a bitter whimper, followed by muffled sounds of surrender. The sampaguita necklaces were strewn around her feet.

The baby let out an innocent cry that stifled the mother’s lament. She laid the baby in the concrete pavement and continued crying.

All eyes focused at the policeman with disgust. He was bewildered and perceived he could do nothing against the woman. He backed up the car and sped away, leaving the woman in a crumple at the sidewalk.

A friendly hand tapped the woman’s right shoulder. She opened her tear-filled eyes. Her scattered sampaguita necklaces were neatly handed to her by a man. Along with the flowers was a P500 peso bill. The man walked away without saying a word.

The woman wiped her tears with her left hand, and gestured to express her gratitude to the man: “Sir …” Her call was cut short as she looked around with wonder - coins were falling in front of her, and paper bills were laid in the hands of her child.

The God Of Compassion :

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me”  (Matthew 25:35-36 NIV).

From the archives of Grampa Ewie