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S. MARIA AURORA SACOTE LLOREN, RVM
(August 24, 1945 – March 03, 2017)
“I belong to my beloved and God is yearning for me. Lord, I want to feel "seized by You.”
S. Maria Aurora Lloren, RVM
S. Maria Aurora hails from Mambajao, Camiguin Province. She was born second among 11 children of Cresenciano Lloren and Rosa Sacote. She received the sacrament of baptism on September 17, 1945 from Fr. John Pullock of the Society of Jesus. She grew up in Lapasan, Cagayan de Oro City. At a young age, she already had her deep affection for the Blessed Virgin Mary which started when she joined the Lady’s Sodality.
She finished Liberal Arts major in English and minor in Pilipino at Xavier University, Cagayan de Oro City. She taught for three years at San Andres High School, Maramag, Bukidnon, and at the end of these three years, she decided to join the RVM Congregation.
S. Maria Aurora was accepted to postulancy on November 30, 1969 and to Noviceship on May 30, 1970. She pronounced her temporary profession of vows on May 31, 1972. She made her perpetual profession on March 25, 1980 and celebrated her silver jubilee on May 31, 1997.
Her mission assignments include the following: Our Lady of Grace, Caloocan City; St. Mary’s College, Meycauayan; Notre Dame of Cotabato, Girls Dept.; Regional House, Singalong; St. Mary’s Academy, Roxas City; Sacred Heart Academy, Guagua; San Ildefonso College, Tanay; and Sacred Heart College, Catbalogan, Western Samar. She served as a Christian Living Teacher, School Principal, and Local Superior. She was also a Directress and Co-directress of retreats in our Betania Retreat Houses in Lahug, Cebu City; Malasag, Cagayan de Oro City and in the cities of Baguio, Tagaytay and Quezon. In addition to the retreat houses, she also stayed in the Mother Ignacia House of Prayer in Benguet.
Being involved in the retreat ministry, she was concerned with the wholistic approach to spirituality, wellness and healing. With this interest, she asked permission to take a special study on Intensive Inner Journey in Missouri, United States of America in 1996. She took up an Internship in the Art of Spiritual Direction and Renewal Program for Women. After her updating, she involved herself in a program called “OASIS”, a one-month renewal program offered to women religious in Asia. She worked with the Cenacle and Maryknoll Sisters.
S. Maria Aurora wrote in her journal her intense desire to be a woman with wholesome personality, and a woman who gives life to the world around her. She deeply wanted herself to be gentle, compassionate, empowering, and loving. She envisioned herself as a woman who wants to be herself, yet influencing the lives of people around her, a woman who accepts people as they are, and a woman who faces life with grace.
True to her desire, some Sisters, close friends and a member in the family affirmed how she lived out her dream. S. Maria Aurora was truly loving and encouraging and she would go out of her way to touch people’s lives. Her zest for life was seen in her openness to what life brings and her ability to balance them. She manifested the joy in her heart in her love for singing, dancing, cooking, eating, and experimenting with art. And this sense of art and creativity was also expressed in her ability in matching colors and coats that suited the place where she was assigned and in choosing costumes appropriate to activities she participated in.
Above all, the radiance in her heart glowed most brightly in her office as a teacher. In or out of the classroom, she saw to it that there would be a learning experience that will take place in one’s encounters with others. S. Maria Aurora likes her name, a Latin word which means “dawn” and a “Roman goddess of Sunrise” for she loved to fill the lives of others with sunrise. Her name also depicts her being unafraid to be herself, to express who she really is.
Whenever S. Maria Aurora was asked how she became a Sister, she would answer by saying, “I had a dream that I was walking up the altar without a groom but at the end, I saw Jesus.”
Before she celebrated her silver jubilee she wrote “I hereby bequeath to all my Journey Companions the conviction and experience that Breath, Movement, Sound, Touch and Healing are interconnected and are necessary tools in one’s journey towards home”.
In 2011, S. Maria Aurora was transferred to St. Joseph Home for medication, but even in her illness, she had sunny disposition; she never complained. She remained calm and composed for she wrote, “I experience greater intimacy with myself whenever I get sick. This is the moment of my vulnerability. My sickness reminds me of my inner thirst for God”. Her long years of sickness allowed her that intimacy with her God.
S. Maria Aurora breathed her last and walked with her groom in the mid-morning of March 3, 2017 as she succumbed to Cardio Pulmonary Arrest. She must have been gone with her very own prayer, “Lord grant me a sleep of refreshment and rest that heals and restores the body and freshness of my soul. Divine Father, source of my existence, your heart is my home, from You I have come and to you I journey.”
Farewell, our dear S. Aurora, and thank you for the 44 years as Religious of the Virgin Mary. God has indeed seized you. You will now be face to face with the Holy Triune God whom you have adored in your life as religious. Mother Mary, Mother Ignacia and all the Saints in Heaven will surely welcome you. Thank you so much, our dear S. Au.
Eternal rest grant unto S. Maria Aurora, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon her.
May she rest in peace.
Amen.
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