I have often written in this column about the close connection between the health of the family and that of business. Strong families make for flourishing family enterprises and growing market for all types of consumer goods and services. It is very noticeable how numerous consumer-oriented enterprises target the family in their marketing campaigns.

My brothers, sisters and I are very fortunate that we come from a closely-kit family. We thanked God for this precious gift especially last Saturday when we celebrated the 100th birthday of my mother, Dra. Isabel Malvar Villegas. My father, Dr. Jose a. Villegas died seventeen years ago. During these last seventeen years, it has been our mother who has kept the three generations of the growing Malvar-Villegas clan as intact as it had been when both our parents were alive.

Needless to say, the foundation of this family unity was the conjugal love that our parents had for one another. In this regard, one of the reasons my mother has a deep devotion to St. Jose Maria Escriva, Founder of Opus Dei, is the way she instantly appreciated St. Josemaria’s practical teachings about love and marriage. The Saint of Ordinary Life, as Pope John Paul II called him used to tell married couples that the best gift they could give to their children is their great love for one another. Even seventeen years after the death of my father in 1992, my married brothers and sisters as well as our many married relatives and friends are impressed with the way she honors the memory of my late father. On the anniversaries of his birthday and his death and such festive occasions as Christmas, Easter, Valentine Day, etc. she would paste greeting cards on the tomb of my father filled with the most endearing words expressing her undying love for him. Since I am an avid music lover (a trait which I inherited from my father who was a good singer, pianist and violinist), I always think of my mother when I sing Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On", theme song of Titanic. The words of this famous song are no exaggeration when applied to my mother's love for my father. I am sure such an example of conjugal love will always be etched in the memories of all her descendants who have embraced or will embrace the sacred vocation of marriage.

My siblings and I are quite different from one another in temperament, interests, and even political ideologies. In fact, in the 1980s some television programs sensationalized the political differences among my eldest brother, Joe, the labor leader, who was the youngest ever councillor to serve in Quezon City; Eddie, who was imprisoned for almost two years during martial law as an activist; and myself. But whatever were our differences in political ideologies, we have always been close to one another, thanks to the unifying role of our mother.

Family unity has always been paramount in the way she brought us up, of course with the very strong leadership and collaboration of our father, who was the disciplinarian. I know that my mother was always proud of my academic achievements here and abroad (I obtained a Ph.D. in economics at Harvard). But she always knew how to give the appropriate attention to each one according to his or her need. She was always more solicitous and understanding towards my late brother, Porciano, who was slower academically than the rest of us. My mother epitomizes the definition of justice as treating unequally children who are unequal. As she celebrated the centenary of her birth, her six remaining children realized fully well that the greatest gift we can give her is to show her that we are happy in whatever path we have chosen in our lives. Of course, she misses us when we are far away as I was while studying at Harvard and more recently when I spent some eighteen months on a sabbatical teaching at the IESE Business School in Barcelona. She missed my sister Rina when she spent three years in Rome pursuing advanced studies in education and philosophy. She has missed very much my sister Maria Victoria who has lived for more than thirty years in Toronto, Canada with her family. We know, however, that her greatest happiness is to see us fulfilled in whatever calling we have in life. We are very grateful for this great lesson in selfless love that we have received from our mother. Last Saturday, October 10 when we celebrated her 100th birthday, we thank God for the blessings He has bestowed on through our mother. For comments, my e-mail is bvillegas@uap.edu.ph.