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Talk Shared by Major General Rolando N. Floria AFP (Ret.) with Rotarians and their Friends
During the Special Meeting of the Rotary Club of Holy Spirit, Rotary International District 3780
Last November 17, 2010 at the Don Antonio Homeowners Association Clubhouse, Quezon City

MY LIFE - a testimony of God’s grace, love, and healing power.

Let me start with a quotation from Daniel de la Cruz, a metal sculptor, at his exhibit at the
Ayala Museum which Cyd and I visited last year. According to the sculptor, his metal
sculptures “… epitomize man‟s conscious movement and journey towards a purer level of being.
… man‟s quest to go beyond mortality, to reach a higher plane, and to get closer to God.”

PASSAGE
Man's life is a series of passages, full of arrivals and departures, crossroads and
junctions. It is in our nature to seek beyond our existence, and cross boundaries to reach beyond
our own mortality. As we thread our way through our frailties, we seek redemption and
salvation from our God.
Our life is a journey from our genesis to our last days. We struggle with the world and
with ourselves. It is in this journey that we are defined. Living is the quest itself. It is in the
avenues we choose that lead to our achievements and sometimes even to our mistakes. It is in
our courage to take that leap of faith that makes us who we are.
Our success is in doing everything to make our dreams reality and not in the success
itself. Living is our quest, and life . . . is but a passage.
DANIEL DELA CRUZ

My testimony is how, in the series of comings and goings, of crossroads and choices in
the pursuit of my dreams, my passage in life has always been guided and continues to be guided
by my faith in and obedience to God and persistence in prayer. It is also my testimony to God‟s
grace, love, and healing power.
Let me tell you a little bit of myself so you may be able to appreciate whereof I speak.
I belong to a poor family. I doubt whether my parents ever went past grade six. But they
were literate and well respected in the community. My father was a skilled farmer and carpenter

MY LIFE - a testimony of God’s grace, love, and healing power.

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but earned only P2 per day. My mother was kind and caring. She was my first teacher. At a time
when five centavos could buy 6 pieces of candy or two pieces of bread, my brother and I would
share between us whatever the five centavos could buy. And it wasn‟t everyday that we had five
centavos. But I learned from my parents the values of discipline, hard work, prayerfulness,
compassion, and humility. This early in my life, I think God had started to guide me by giving
my true north who were my parents.

In the higher grades and in high school, school work would be all mine. But I studied
hard and did well in school, thanks to the guidance and nurturing of three special teachers. From
one, I developed my love for English and an appreciation for good writing; from the second,
character and basic goodness, history, literature, and politics. He also told me that Jesus would
always be in the Tabernacle and that I can go see Him anytime; and from the third, my love for
mathematics and problem solving. Again I now see the hand of God in these three teachers.
I would have been a good teacher, a lawyer, or even a doctor. After high school, I tried
for any scholarship available, and fortunately, I got one in civil engineering. But for my
sustenance, I had to work as a clerk for 3 years in the school that I went to. I had to do my own
laundry and everything. There were many distractions in college, as we all know, but God did not
let me stray from the right path.
Then I won a scholarship to West Point, and the tables started to turn in my favor. I think
even getting to West Point was part of God‟s plan. I took the exams twice. I did not pass the first
time. But the second time, I was in the final list. Three of us were qualified for appointment, but
I was the principal candidate. It was really amazing because I did not know anybody in the AFP
or the US Army. I graduated in 1970 the same year my brother was ordained priest. My brother
finished the priesthood through the generosity of many unnamed benefactors. I cannot imagine a
prouder set of parents than mine with one son a soldier of God and another a soldier of the
country, and a daughter who would serve them faithfully through their old age.
It only occurs to me now, but even the Blessed Mother was with me at West Point. While
waiting for my ride a Clark, two companions of mine called on the Filipino base commander. He
had a guest at that time, the Catholic chaplain of Clark. When the chaplain learned that I was
going to West Point, he removed the medallion of the Blessed Mother he was wearing and gave it
to me which I wore all four years at the Academy. Unfortunately, I must have lost the medallion
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in the jungles of Fort Magsaysay.

I did a lot of “hammering” in my life. And by “hammering” I refer to what a wise man
once said, “when nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his
rock, twenty, fifty, perhaps a hundred times without so much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the
hundredth and first blow, it will split in two, and I know then that it was not the last blow that did
it, but all that had gone before.” One valuable lesson I learned here is that nothing happens as a
result of a stroke of genius or a flash of brilliance, but the accumulation of the many good things
done in the past, and persistence in prayer. The Lord has been good to me, and through all these
years, He has held me in the palm of His hand.
Parents, teachers, and now family. We will never be able to fathom how in God‟s own
time and infinite wisdom, we cross paths, life touching life, one supporting the other. Did God
lead me to Cyd? I think so. And I married into a family that further encouraged and strengthened
my sense of righteousness. We have been married for 37 years with no problems.
I think God was also with me throughout my military career. I served and learned early in
my career under two officers who I thought were models of integrity and professionalism. I had
my stints in Ft Magsaysay and in Bicol, and for two years, and I travelled all over Mindanao and
was safe. But God kept me really strong when I was the Deputy of Chief of Staff for Logistics, J4
for 2 years. In that position, I must have approved or recommended for approval hundreds of
millions worth of contract – weapons, ammunition, petroleum products, individual clothing and
combat equipment, transportation. Never once did I entertain the idea of enriching myself
through dubious means, and to the credit of dealers, never once has any of them approached me
with something in exchange for my signature. I think they know that I would not have played ball
with them. The Lord had kept me strong and on the right path. I retired in October 2002.
Until about three years ago, I felt fulfillment in my life. From a life of hardship, I have
risen to a relatively comfortable life. I have been to the best schools. I have traveled far and
wide, beyond my wildest dreams. I have mingled with both the lowly and the mighty. I have
served my country to the best of my ability.
I have a good family in a home where love, faith, and peace reign, with a loving and
supportive wife and two bright and caring children. Together with my wife, we feel we have
given our children “roots” to enable them to survive, grow, and develop, and “wings” to enable
them to soar, explore, and find their rightful places under the sun. In our own simple ways, we
MY LIFE - a testimony of God’s grace, love, and healing power.
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have tried to ease the burden of those we have met or have come to us for help.
Then came the biggest, most difficult test in my life, a test of courage, of faithfulness to
God, and of belief in prayer. Doctors found two big lumps in my pancreas and many smaller ones
in my whole abdomen and other organs. It was a shocking and devastating discovery. Is it the
end for me? What will happen to my family? Will it be a difficult and painful time to the end?
How did I get the disease? Many questions, many mundane concerns. But I never asked why
me? I accepted the truth with calmness and equanimity and prayed for healing, forgiveness, and
mercy. It was also a comforting thought, a story about Arthur Ashe, the great African American
1968 US Open and 1975 Wimbledon champion. He was infected with AIDS with blood he
received during heart surgery in 1983. He received letters from his fans, one of whom asked:
'Why does God have to select you for such a bad disease'? And Arthur Ashe replied:
'The world over -- 50 million children start playing tennis, … 50 reach Wimbledon, … 2 to
the finals, when I was holding the cup I never asked God 'Why me?'. And today in pain, I should
not be asking God 'Why me?'
It was a very difficult time for me and my family. I underwent 6 sessions of
chemotherapy and 45 days of radiation. I had complications of lung infection, ulcer, internal
bleeding, blood deficiency, and immune system deficiency. I had non-stop hiccups for three
months and lost my voice for a year. I had no appetite and was very weak and could hardly sleep.
In the depths of my pain and discomfort, I succumbed to the thought of accepting a quick death,
except suicide and euthanasia. But this would involve many unnecessary deaths and damage to
property, and so I prayed “Lord, I resign to your will. Please take care of my family, and please
ease my pain.”
During my hospitalization and recuperation, I received unstinted and unwavering support
from my immediate family, and I received encouragement and support from friends and relatives,
through visits and text messages. Two messages standout in my mind: one from a coworker at
AFPSLAI who forwarded me the following: “If you give up when it‟s winter, you will miss the
promise of spring, the beauty of summer, and the fulfillment of fall. Don‟t let the pain of one
season destroy the joy of all the rest. Don‟t judge life by one difficult season. Persevere through
the difficult patches. Better times are sure to come. „To everything there is a season, a time for
every purpose under heaven…‟ The other came from Kristine, my daughter. She said “Don‟t
lose hope. Papa. Remember the small miracles that have already happened to us. Let us continue
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to pray to God for mercy and healing.” By small miracles, she was referring to the following:
first, our family doctor led me to the chief of pancreatic surgery at the PGH who ruled out surgery
and who recommended us to the best oncologist also at PGH. Second, the disease turned up to be
not pancreatic cancer but non-Hodgkin‟s lymphoma, which is very treatable. Third, God
prepared us financially and materially for the management of my illness. One particular instance
here is an investment I made in a hospital in Marikina. I did it for Cyd but I ended up using the
privileges as a stockholder which included free room for 45 days in a year and discounts for
laboratory and other procedures. And fourth, one time, I was trying to be admitted at the PGH. I
was in pain and I needed to rest badly. But there were no vacancies. While waiting patiently at
the admissions office, my daughter heard very clearly that my name was called. She approached
the clerk to inquire, She was told that nobody called my name but that if we can wait for 30
minutes and the reserved room is not taken, she will give it to us. As it turned out, we got the
room. Together with her message was this quotation:
Cancer is limited…
It cannot cripple love,
It cannot shatter hope,
It cannot corrode faith,
It cannot eat away peace,
It cannot destroy confidence,
It cannot shut out memories,
It cannot silence courage,
It cannot invade the soul,
It cannot reduce eternal life,
It cannot quench the spirit,
It cannot lessen the power of the resurrection.

Through it all, I must have looked so bad that my brother talked to me one morning and
told me that my children were concerned that I have given up. This jolted me to reality, and from
then on, I resolved to fight the disease and be stronger. Cyd and I prayed everyday at 9 AM,
during the hour of Divine Mercy, and we prayed the Rosary. We prayed for healing and mercy.
We prayed for guidance of my doctors and those attending to me.
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And miracle of miracles, about a year ago, my oncologist pronounced me cured and a
cancer survivor. Thanks be to the Lord!
Where do I go from here? What does God want me to do? I had two dreams: the first
was when I was undergoing chemotherapy. I dreamt that I was with a group of faceless people at
harvest time. I approached one who seemed in charge of the group and asked if I could
participate. He motioned me to just stay put. I woke up and felt good all around. The second
dream was just recently. I dreamt that I took my car to a repair shop, and when I went back for it,
I was lost and didn‟t know where to go. I went to some dark places with menacing people. I look
everywhere but the car was not to be found. Then someone, also faceless, appeared and said,
“Here‟s your key, and there‟s your car.” I also woke up feeling good. Was that God speaking to
me? What does He want me to do?
From hereon, it‟s payback time for me. I have received plenty of blessings in my life. It‟s
time I return some, in whatever way. First, I would like to share my knowledge, especially with
children who have difficulty learning. I would also like to inculcate in them the proper values and
attitude to enable them to make something good out of their lives. Second, I would like to be able
to help those who need help. There‟s no greater pleasure for me than to see people leave me or
my home with a smile or a feeling of relief. And third, I would like to be able to continue doing
the right things in the right way.

The greatest irony in life is probably that we are born into this world without our
knowledge and without our consent. And just as unknowingly, we pass away. Between birth
and death is a universe of infinite possibilities. What one makes of one‟s life is one‟s choice,
one‟s responsibility, and ultimately, one shall be accountable for it. But with faithfulness to and
obedience to God and persistence in prayer, one‟s life will never go wrong.
I now ask God to keep me strong in faith and in prayer, and so live that when my final
Taps is played, I would stand before Him and hear the comforting words, “Well done, my good
and faithful servant. Welcome thou into the joy of the Lord!”

Andy Floria
Oct 13, 2010
MY LIFE - a testimony of God’s grace, love, and healing power.