Joanna M.

Noveno SEE 7 - Survey of Philippine

BSE - 2B Literature in English

I. Title: Faith, Love, Time, and Dr. Lazaro

Author: Gregorio Brillantes
Reference: Philippine Literature. “Faith, Love, Time, and Dr. Lazaro by Gregorio
Brillantes.” 15 Oct. 2012. http://allaboutphilippineliterature.blogspot.com/

II. Setting:
Place: Dr. Lazaro’s house in the province and Esteban’s hut in the barrio.
Time: Evening up to Midnight in an April night .

III. Characterization:
A. Dr. Lazaro
An exhausted and apathetic doctor who has long ago lost his compassion to
patients as well as his faith in God.
B. Ben
Dr. Lazaro’s youngest son who is still studying college. He is adamantly
religious and loyal to his faith.
C. Pedro Esteban
A humble, polite, and religious man from the barrio who called the doctor
because his baby is sick.
D. Dr. Lazaro’s Wife
A placid, contemplative, and deeply religious woman who likes going to
church with her son Ben.
IV. Summary:
“Faith, Love, Time, and Dr. Lazaro” is a story by Filipino author Gregorio
Brillantes about the life of a doctor who lost his compassion and faith. The story
explores the idea that living a life of indifference and apathy is full of unhappiness,
dissatisfaction, emptiness, and darkness. Dr. Lazaro has lost his compassion to his
 patients and are only doing his job for the sake of compliance. This is the product of
years of hardships and constant harshness from the reality of life. Over the years, his
compassion to pain and suffering diminished and can only look at these hardships as
a normal part of his everyday life. One night, he got a call from the barrio. The caller
introduced himself as Pedro Esteban and he was asking to impose on him to come
see his sick baby. As a doctor, it is Dr. Lazaro’s duty to respond and check the patient
so he went there in the dead of the night with his son Ben. Riding their car, he and
Bean drove through the night with Ben driving and they got to talk to each other
which they do not often do because of Dr. Lazaro’s busy schedule in the hospital.
They arrived at Pedro Esteban’s small hut in the barrio which screams poverty with
it’s size and atmosphere. Dr. Lazaro checked the baby and did his job with undivided
attention but he was too late, the baby is gone. Ben was there and did something he
did not expected. He baptized the baby so that it will be able to see God. Esteban
thanked the doctor as well as Ben for baptizing his baby and the father and son went
back on the road to go home. Something has changed inside the doctor as they were
heading back home. For a short while he found himself wanting to relieve the bright
days when he was a devout christian who has faith in God. He once again glimpsed
the light of faith but it soon vanished as he reached home and emptiness and
indifference settled back in him.

V. Plot:
Dr. Lazaro was sitting in the upstairs veranda of his house in the country
while thinking and feeling nothing at all but emptiness. His wife called for him and
said that someone was looking for him in the phone.
He picked it up and fond out that it was from a man named Pedro Esteban
from the barrio. Esteban was calling to get his baby checked up because he was
severely sick. Being a doctor, Dr. Lazaro had no choice but to respond and go check
the patient. He went the the barrio in his car with his son Ben driving. Once in the
car, he realized that he and his son does not talk much because of his busy schedule
so he decided to use this time to bond with him.
 Once they got to the barrio, Esteban lead them to his small and poverty
ridden hut to check his baby. There, Dr. Lazaro and Ben saw the baby blue with
sickness lying on the floor with his mom. The doctor did all he could to save the sick
baby but he was too late, the baby was gone.
Ben surprised all of them when he suddenly came towards the baby and
baptized him because he fond out from Esteban that the baby has not been baptized.
On the way home, Dr. Lazaro and Ben talked about how he baptized the
baby and Ben told him that he did it so that the baby could go to heaven and see God.

VI. Theme: The theme of the story are faith, love, and time.

VII. Message: Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He
who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12
The story explores how living in the darkness of apathy and not having faith
in life can create a barrier between one and his/her loved ones.