Auntie Inday, Pray for us

“Just pray.”  These are the two words that I always associate with my Auntie Inday, also called Sister Fe Enginco, RVM. 

Auntie Inday loved to live, and this showed in her girth and the laugh lines that adorned her face.  But Auntie Inday’s health could not keep up with her spirit, limiting her movement the last few years to her room and the safe confines of the Religious of the Virgin Mary convent in San Juan.  Her interaction with the outside world came in the few and far in between visits of relatives and close friends, and the occasional trips outside for family get-togethers where her presence was, despite her failing health, expected.  One such gathering happened last January 27, in Siena College where another aunt Sister Jesusa, serves as Mother General.

Auntie Inday was siting very still when we arrived to fetch her.  But she beamed a contented smile when she saw us.  Along the way, she expressed her regrets that she was not able to visit Nanay during her wake, and that she misses her dearly.

On occasions like this, Auntie Inday loved to mingle and hear stories.  But on this particular day, she spent most of her time seated in one corner; simply looking approvingly, nodding and giving the thumbs up sign when asked if she was doing alright.

At one point, she asked to be brought home already.  But since the family was only halfway through the food and the happenings, we told her to stay a while.

She was delighted to find out that there was a bigger gathering being planned by the family for 2015 but she prays that she would be physically able to be there.  When asked to share her thoughts, she said she was only too happy to be given another chance to be with the family for whom she had dedicated her life when she made her religious vows more than half a century ago.  Though we were not always together, she said that we were always with her in her prayers, and that we should continue praying for one another.

Auntie Inday joined her creator this morning, February 5, 2013.  It was a peaceful and beautiful passing.

She is now with Tatay, her brother, and with Nanay who she’ll no longer miss.