The Divine Master visited St. John of God Hospital, Pasay City, Philippines, at 8:28 a.m. today (local time), to call to himself our sister: Armario Sixta – Sr. Maria Concettina born in Legaspi, Albay (Legaspi), Philippines, on 6 August 1933.
Sr. Concettina was a sympathetic, funny, generous, hardworking sister. Her good sense of humor was not readily apparent because her usual expression was serious.
She entered the Congregation in the house in Lipa, Philippines, on 26 June 1953 after graduating from high school. She made her initial formation and novitiate in this community, concluding that stage of the Pauline journey with her first profession on 30 June 1958. When she requested permission to make her perpetual profession in 1964, she wrote to the Superior General that her one great desire was to serve God in the Pauline life she loved so much.
As a young professed, she soon became an expert in the art of typography, where she worked for over twenty-five non-consecutive years with passion, precision, faith and great enthusiasm. A tireless apostle, she skillfully handled the reams of paper required by the machines and competently managed the heavy printing presses in the FSP technical department in Pasay City.
Sr. Concettina had interiorized the Founder’s words strongly emphasizing that the mission of those who prepare the Word of God is sacred and fruitful: “All your work in printing and bookbinding is noble, delicate and precious,” he said; “it is a sacred mission” (cf. FSP34, p 105). Sr. Concettina was a true “teacher” of the postulants, novices and Juniors who alternated turns in her apostolic department, where they learned not only technical skills but also the ability to live in an attitude of unceasing prayer, love for the Pauline mission and cordial collaboration with one another. She displayed great esteem and encouragement toward the young women entrusted to her guidance and prayed fervently for their perseverance in the Congregation.
In the communities of Baguio and Olongapo, Sr. Concettina enthusiastically carried out the itinerant apostolate to families and also organized book exhibitions in schools and institutes. In Davao and Legaspi, she worked in the book center, where she offered appropriate books to the people who approached her with their needs and concerns. Later, she worked for a few years in the Lipa stockroom. In her senior years, Sr. Concettina was very dependable and generous in lending a helping hand in various community services and in the sewing room. But above all, she dedicated herself wholeheartedly to the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification, surrendering herself with great trust to the merciful Father, into whose hands she had placed her entire existence. In her notes, she wrote: “I yearn for holiness and I humbly and constantly pray to the Spirit to grant me this great grace.”
During the last few years of her life, Sr. Concettina was a member of the Province’s Thecla Merlo Home in Pasay because she was no longer self-sufficient after she fractured her femur in 2021. A few nights ago, she was taken to the hospital due to breathing difficulties, caused in part by aortic valve sclerosis and the ventricular wall relaxation from which she suffered.
Sr. M. Concettina’s life was marked by the contemplation of eternal goods and this morning God, our merciful Father, found her ready to accept his invitation, “Come, my good and faithful servant. Enter the joy of your Lord.”