St. Therese of the Child Jesus Inspires New Carmelite Nun

Purely Personal: St. Therese of the Child Jesus Inspires New Carmelite Nun Updated 10:28pm (Mla time)
Oct 30, 2004
By Josephine Darang

Inquirer News Service Editor's Note: Published on page G4 of the October 31, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

IN ONE of my columns in 1988, I wrote about St. Therese of the Child Jesus which Marissa Villalobos, a 27-year-old certified public accountant, read. She had not heard of the saint before and didn't know there was a Carmelite monastery in Laoag City, although she was a native of Solsona, Ilocos Norte.

The seed of vocation was planted after she read my column, she told me after her profession of perpetual vows last Oct. 15 at the Carmelite Chapel.

Marissa searched for a convent where she could be a Carmelite postulant, then found her "home" in the monastery in Laoag. She entered in 1995 at the age of 34 and was a postulant for nine months, a novice for two years. She made her temporary vows in 1998.

On Oct. 15, feast of Sta. Teresa de Avila, she took the name Sister Marissa Therese of the Eucharist as she professed her perpetual vows, kneeling behind the grills of the cloister before Laoag Bishop Ernesto Salgado.

When the choir sang the Litany of Saints, she prostrated herself in total surrender to Her Maker and committed to a life of sacrifice and prayer as a Carmelite nun.

Sister Marissa is the second Ilocana to enter the Carmelite Monastery in Laoag (the first was Sister Pauline Datoc in 1958) and its 11th cloistered nun. There are four extern nuns for a total of 15.

Sister Antonia said the community welcomed late vocations. Interested young women can text Sister Phoebe at 0916-7481756 or Sister Luz at 0916-2509810, call (077) 7221331 or write the prioress, Mother Mary Joseph, Carmelite Monastery, P. Gomez Street, Laoag City.

Women of Carmel

I went home to Laoag for Sister Marissa's solemn profession and found out that my childhood friends had become "Women of Carmel." They hear Mass at the monastery at 6:30 every morning and join its various projects. I speak fondly of Mildred Bustamante-Ranada, Myrna de la Cuesta-Campos, Elizabeth Lazo-Santos, Evelyn Dayoan-Gee and Evelyn Raval-Ruiz.
The other members are Tessie Tiong Ablan, Gloria Pastor, Paz de la Cuesta, Gloria Caluya and Gloria Reyes.

Having been together from kindergarten to high school at the Holy Spirit Academy, I was happy that they heard Mass every day. The grace has helped them cope with motherhood and the business of running their own enterprises. Mildred runs Ranada General Hospital with her husband, Dr. Francisco Ranada Jr., and Evelyn Gee has concocted a special pancit canton with husband Robert in their famous La Moda restaurant along Rizal Street. Ely Lazo Santos runs a beauty parlor in Fairview, Quezon City, but goes home to Laoag to oversee the Lazo Fashion School.

It was what Fr. Paulo Gamboa, OCD, would call "experiencing God's love." Sister Marissa also felt the same when she entered the monastery at age 34.

Family moments

I had to go home to Laoag after four years to experience what my friend Maripaz Godinez called "a special irreplaceable wonder that immediate family gives." I had dinner with my Grade 5 teacher Manuela Savellano and my mother Lourdes Darang in my brother Abe's restaurant. We talked about how God had been very good to our families.

At Texicano Hotel where I stayed, my brother Joe brought coffee from his house nearby and talked to me about his job as Social Studies teacher at the Ilocos Norte High School. I was surprised to find out he could recite "Mi Ultimo Adios" in Spanish.

Going to Mass again at St. William's Cathedral (this time at the Janssen Hall) brought memories of our school days at Divine Word College where Evelyn Raval-Ruiz and I were classmates. It reminded me of our English Literature teacher Elvira Albano, who died in 1997, of cancer. It was because of her I made English my major.

My aunt, Jean Darang-Rillera, a retired court stenographer, updated me on the family. On Oct. 17 before I returned to Manila, my brother Abe and his wife Rose took us (my classmates and I) to their farm in Balacad, where we had Ilocano dishes for lunch.

We bonded with their children, Christina, Jessica, Julie Ann and Elaine. It made me grateful for our blessings.

During my short stay, my classmates and I had lunch with Tessie Tiong Ablan and her husband Nonong at their Palazzo de Laoag Hotel. It was a happy time.

Congregacion is 25

The Congregacion del Santissimo Nombre del Nino Jesus celebrated its 25th anniversary last Oct. 24. Fr. Manuel Bongayan, SVD, said Mass at the Sto. Nino Chapel on Rodriguez Avenue, QC. Leading the celebration was founding chair Ben Farrales.

For the past 25 years, the congregacion has been holding the Sto. Nino fiesta exhibit and the grand procession on Roxas Boulevard from the Philtrade to the Luneta on the last Sunday of January.

Seminarian needs help

Fr. Richie Santos, a Salesian priest of Don Bosco, is asking for help for seminarian Edmon Medes, a third-year philosophy student at the Franciscans of St. Anthony Seminary. Bro. Edmon has not paid his board and lodging for five months amounting to P7,500. For the new semester, he has to pay P10,125 to Claret Formation House where he studies. Every month during the six-month 2004-2005 semester, he needs P1,800 for transportation and P1,500 for board and lodging. The six-month total is P19,800. If a benefactor is willing to donate the whole amount of P27,300, praised be Jesus Christ!

Text Father Richie at 0917-6677043 if you want to help. Bro. Edmon is a "late vocation," together with four others who were in Father Richie's Beatitudes Ministry in three public high schools in Pasay City in 1991. God bless you for your kindness.

Triduum for Ina ng Biglang Awa, Nov.5 at 5 p.m. and Nov. 6 and 7 at 4 p.m. at St Paul's Seminary in San Antonio Village Makati.