As our lives become more complex and filled with day-to-day anxieties, rare moments of calm reassurance and inspiration are precious beyond words. For that special someone in your life who nurtured you by her affection and showed you that despite the many challenges we face, it is still a loving world, pick out a Mother’s Day gift that is heartwarming and uplifting – written by a mother herself as a memento to her own offspring.

Launched last December, Fingerprint of An Angel: Golden Secrets of Eternal Love is the life journal of the late Cecilia Maria Arnaldo Gutierrez, published by her daughter, actress-environmentalist Chin-Chin Gutierrez. Just over a year ago, mother and daughter were in the headlines after their family home was gutted by fire, with Chin-Chin badly injured from her effort to save her bedridden parent. Her illness aggravated by the incident, Mama Cecilia passed away three weeks later, leaving behind the only legacy that survived the raging flames – the manuscript of her spiritual journal that had been entrusted to a friend.

"By publishing the book, we hope to inspire people by showing that a conscious nurturing of one’s soul journey is possible," says Chin-Chin. Her Mama Cecilia was a Franciscan nun for ten years, leaving the convent only because of a serious injury. Even after becoming an artist, a wife and mother of two, she pursued the life of a missionary and made bringing souls closer to God the center of her existence.

"She would always remind me: ‘Follow God’s will, Chin-Chin my love. We have one purpose in life and that is to find out how to go back to God.’ I believe that God always speaks to us through our mother’s love and we magnify this love as children by recognizing her as God’s co-worker in giving us life. Our mother’s womb is our first home, and therefore a bridge between heaven and earth. This makes every mother and child a sacred presence to each other."