Embedded Files
S. MARIA LILIA TALADHAY TACARDON, RVM
(March 23, 1931 – September 19, 2021)
S. Maria Lilia Taladhay Tacardon was the first of ten (10) children of Domingo Tacardon, a pre-med undergraduate turned-politician, and Felicidad Taladhay, a public school teacher. She was born in Guimbal, Iloilo. Her parents who were devout Catholics trained her and her siblings to pray the Trisagio in the morning and the rosary in the afternoon. Her father would also bring them to the church on Mondays to celebrate Mass in honor of all the souls, on Fridays in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and on Sundays as a day of obligation.
She was baptized on May 24, 1931 in Tubungan Parish Church and was confirmed on February 1933 at the same parish. At the age of five, she received her first confession and communion. Together with her siblings, she grew up in a loving environment where the spirit of sharing among family members and concern for one another thrived.
Her vocation to religious life started when she was in grade six, two years after the World War II. She made a promise to follow Jesus if her mother who was very ill that time would be granted healing. Her mother died when she was entering third year high school. Lilia felt that the death of her mother liberated her from her promise to become a religious.
After forty days of prayer for the soul of Lilia’s mother, the bereaved family transferred to Cotabato. Lilia and her three younger sisters studied at the Notre Dame of Cotabato, Girls Department and stayed at the RVM Sisters’ dormitory. The Sisters further trained them to fervently pray and to actively participate in the Holy Mass and other spiritual activities. Lilia considered these experiences as part of her life which led her closer to God. Before high school graduation, her desire to follow Jesus in the religious life was reignited, and she decided to join the RVMs. Her father could not do anything because of her insistence.
With her decision to join the RVMs, she was brought to Lourdes College where she studied college for a year. After which, she and her fellow aspirants were called to Manila. She continued her college education at St. Mary’s College, Quezon City for another year before she was called for postulancy. As a Junior Sister, she finished Elementary Teacher’s Certificate at the Immaculate Conception College, Davao City. In 1971, she finally graduated with Bachelor of Science in Education at St. Mary’s College, Quezon City.
She was accepted to postulancy in February 1952 and invested as a novice on August 15, 1953. She pronounced her temporary vows on August 15, 1955 and made her final vows on May 31, 1961. She celebrated her silver jubilee on August 15, 1980 and golden jubilee on August 15, 2005.
She was in the Education Ministry of the Congregation as religion/theology and history teacher, principal, and local superior. She also meaningfully and joyfully spent her life in the different Social Ministry Centers of the congregation. She volunteered as rural missionary in 1978 until 1981 where she worked with the Sacadas in the sugar plantation in Ormoc City. She was actively involved in the prison ministry as catechist and support to many paralegal concerns of the inmates. She described her experience in the social ministry as the most colorful among her assignments for she got more involved with people. In her involvement with them, she discovered her capacity to face different challenges in answering their material and spiritual needs. For her, she found fulfillment in reaching out to the poor and radiating God’s love and compassion for them.
S. Maria Lilia described her journey as a mixture of joys and sorrows, successes and disappointments, and she took all as the Lord’s design for her towards a deeper and more mature love for Jesus. In 2005, steadfast with her personal vision, she wrote during her 50th year renewal program, “I sincerely desire to continue my apostolate with the poor particularly the poor prisoners and the ‘cariton’ families – to ease their life of misery and for them also to enjoy the service of the government as their rights and dignity as citizens and children of God.”
Due to her unstable physical condition, she was transferred to St. Joseph Home in 2009. On September 19, 2021 at 2:54 in the afternoon, she joined the bosom of the Father as she succumbed to acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by Covid-19.
Thank you, S. Maria Lilia, for the ninety years of earthly life and sixty-six years as Religious of the Virgin Mary. You are lovingly remembered for your great desire to be involved with people especially with the poor. Your heart for them was noteworthy. In your silence and solitude at St. Joseph Home, your heart was surely in solidarity with the painful realities of our country and of the world.
May our merciful, compassionate, and poor Jesus bring you to the eternal home He promised for you. May the Blessed Mother and Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo keep you company in your journey to eternal abode. May all the saints and angels in heaven welcome you with great joy.
Farewell, our dear S. Maria Lilia. Bring with you our love and prayer. Please pray for us as we continue to face the challenge of Covid-19 pandemic. May God grant you eternal rest.
Eternal rest grant unto S. Maria Lilia, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon her.
May she rest in peace.
Amen.
Report abuse