Former president Corazon “Cory” Aquino celebrated her 76th birthday Sunday in a chapel of the Missionaries of the Child Jesus in Makati City.

The mass was celebrated together with her family and friends. The former president said the chapel is special for her since it was built by the late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin who, like her, was also a key figure in the 1986 EDSA revolution that ousted the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and catapulted Mrs. Aquino into power.

“Cardinal Sin happens to be one of my favorite people and it's as if I feel that he is with us now and still praying for me,” said the former president.

Thankful for support and prayers
The former president, who is still fighting colon cancer, thanked those who have helped and supported her and those who have been praying for her all these years. Since the announcement last year that the Cory was suffering from colon cancer, healing prayers were offered not only religious leaders but also by friends and supporters nationwide.

“I cannot thank God enough for the doctors that he has sent me and also for all the people praying for me. Every night, Father [Arevalo] I pray for you and all the Jesuits, I pray for Brother Armin and all the Christian brothers. I pray for Father Manny Domingo and all the Salesians. I also pray for Father Bobby Perez and all the Benedictine priests. I pray for the Carmelites and the Pink Sisters who have really been so faithful in praying for me. I pray for those who have been praying for me.

She also expressed her appreciation for the support from her family.

“I know also that I could not have been able to go through all this if it were not for the help of people like you and especially my four daughters and son. I could not have gone through this without their help,” said Aquino. “I can never thank enough all the people who are praying for me some whom I don't even know,” she would say later.

Mrs. Aquino told the people in the mass that the series of medications her doctors have been giving her have significantly helped in improving her condition.

Learning to accept suffering
For her birthday, the former president said she wanted to share how she had come to learn to accept suffering.

“I was thinking last night what it was that I wanted to share with you and I have always believed that suffering is something very difficult to accept,” she said.

The former president, who is a devout Catholic, narrated that in one her travels a guide told her that Saint Francis of Assisi asked for more suffering.

“I'm nowhere in the category of Saint Francis and I was thinking that I will never ask for more suffering but if the suffering comes I do not complain,” she said.

“I always wanted to believe also that all of us have quotas for suffering. I sincerely believe that I have filled up my quota but apparently there is no such thing and while you are in this world, you will just have to accept suffering and perhaps offer it. Maybe this is what Jesus Christ wanted us to do, to be like him in offering our sufferings for the rest of humanity,” said Aquino.

‘Lived a full life’
She narrated that she had learned how to accept her own sufferings referring also to her ongoing battle with her ailment.

“In the beginning I was telling my doctors, because they were just so distraught and they didn't know what to tell me, I told them: ‘Don't worry I'm really prepared to go. I've lived a full life. I've been president and really and truly there is not much more that I would like ask from the Lord.’”

She said that she learned from her late husband, former senator Benigno Aquino Jr. The late senator was incarcerated in a military detention facility for several years by Marcos during martial law.

“When he was suffering in Fort Bonifacio, I guess it's where I learned from him that all you have to learn to do is to pray and entrust everything to the Lord and everything will be okay,” she said.

For a better Philippines
At the end of her sharing, the former president called on everyone to “also pray for those who are undergoing suffering.”

“I do not ask for more suffering as Saint Francis did but I just pray that whatever God sends me I will be able to accept and I want to offer all of this for our people especially for our poor people,” said the former president.

In a short statement before she left the church, Mrs. Aquino made her birthday wish for the country: “I hope that we will all pray for our fellow Filipinos especially those who are sick like me and we will all work together to have a better Philippines.”

Family thankful also
A member of former President Aquino’s family also expressed his appreciation for the many support and prayers that have been given to the former president

“We appreciate all the prayers that people have been giving Almost close getting to a year later everyone is still praying for her, we thank the entire Filipino people from the bottom of our hearts,” said Kiko Dee, grandson of the former president..

When asked for their birthday wish for the former president, Dee said: “We wish her a happy birthday and a speedy recovery.” With a report from Israel Malasa, ABS-CBN News