IN MEMORIAM

S. MARIA CONSOLACION OGAYAN PAMPLONA, RVM

(June 16, 1928- April 22, 2019)

S. Maria Consolacion Ogayan Pamplona who hailed from Palo, Leyte is the fourth out of six daughters of Sergion Pamplona and Asuncion Ogayan. Among the few memories she had of her parents was the unexplainable joy she felt when she received her first holy communion with her father.

The youth of S. Maria Consolacion was one adorned with pain which molded her heart to beat strongly for the poor and the suffering. She was only four years old when her mother died after giving birth to the sixth child who survived for only seven (7) days. With this death in the family, she and her sisters had to be taken care of by her father’s siblings for he had to be away for business. Her younger sister had to be adopted by her father’s cousin causing her to lose both a sister and a playmate. And when she was 13 years old, her father joined her mother in heaven leaving her and her sisters as orphans. At a young age, she learned to work and earn for a living.

With the absence of her parents, the young Consolacion grew up under the compassionate care of her uncle and aunt. She described them as loving, kind and friendly. She claimed that her family was emotionally mature and stable because through profound faith, love and hope they could let go all tensions and anxieties without much effort.

S. Maria Consolacion got her high school education at Leyte Central Academy, now St. Mary’s Academy of Palo. She took Elementary Teachers’ Certificate or ETC at Sacred Heart College, Catbalogan Eastern Samar. She was a Junior Sister when she finished her Bachelor of Science in Education at St. Mary’s College, Quezon City.

Her vocation to religious life started when she was in high school. The fire within her was ignited when she joined recollections and retreat. It was then that she recognized the magnanimous love of God for her which was especially evident during those times when she was seemingly alone because of the death of her parents. Her personal experience of God moved her to respond to the call without hesitation in spite of the lack of support from her aunts and uncles at the beginning of her journey.

She was in second year college when she left home to enter the convent. She entered postulancy on February 02, 1951 and noviceship on August 14, 1951. She made her temporary profession on August 15, 1953 and perpetual profession on February 02, 1959. She celebrated her silver jubilee on August 15, 1978 and her golden jubilee on August 15, 2003.

S. Maria Consolacion was of great help to the church and to the congregation in her loving service as librarian, teacher, local econome, local superior and social worker.

She recounted that she valued obedience, accountability to her superiors, and openness of heart. It was easy for her to accept the giftedness and the limitations of others. In her life as religious, she looked up with much admiration to Sisters who witnessed to a life of simplicity, poverty and humility, most of whom had worked in the Social Ministry of the congregation.

She was in the Social Ministry for 26 years, and this ministry deepened her zeal and strong love for the poor. With the permission of her Superior, she would share material goods, proclaim the gospel values, and evangelize them. She would empower them materially and spiritually through the assistance of some organizations. And true to herself and in solidarity with them, she lived in poverty and simplicity. She said, “I constantly witness to poverty in spirit and in fact. I choose to have few things, food, and clothing and work without counting the cost. All in keeping with the poor.” She lived in total self-giving in the service of the poor by being available to their needs, listening to them and providing them ways and means to improve their quality of life.

In 2006, her eyesight started to fail so she was taken from the active mission life. She was as steadfast as in her youth in her commitment. She would walk unaccompanied from the Motherhouse to the Main Chapel to join the prayer and Holy Mass. When she transferred to St. Joseph Home in 2015, her eyesight was worsening yet she silently and humbly carried on with her daily routines. If she needed assistance from the nurses or caregivers, she would patiently wait for them. Those who took care of her recounted that their names were recognized through their voices and S. Maria Consolacion would always be grateful for any services done to her and assured them of her prayer.

Like Mary, she pondered things silently in her heart and continued to celebrate life in love, praise, trust and deeper union with the Lord God through her music and her relationships.

S. Maria Consolacion breathed her last at 10:26 in the evening of April 22, 2019. The cause of her death was due to myocardial infarction. She was ninety (90) years old and sixty five (65) years as Religious of the Virgin Mary.

Our gratitude to you, S. Maria Consolacion, for the exemplary and edifying life you lived. Your blindness enabled you to see more clearly through the goodness of your heart. It made you see the world’s grief and joy with the lens of faith.

Thank you for the gift of your person. May Jesus, our resurrected Savior, completely heal and welcome you with joy. May Mary, St. Joseph and Mother Ignacia envelop you with the everlasting joy and peace as they welcome you in God’s heavenly abode. Certainly, you now clearly see the marvels of God’s eternal home where your songs of praises be one with the angelic voice in heaven. Thank you and farewell, our dear S. Maria Consolacion.

Eternal rest grant unto S. Maria Consolacion, O Lord, 

and let perpetual light shine upon her.

May she rest in peace. 

Amen.