Sr. M. Gracia Mag-uyon
“…but I know that your vocation is a vocation of intimacy, of special perfection. Vocation to love… with what generosity will you pronounce your fiat?” (APD 1946,244). These words of our Blessed Founder, James Alberione, I believe, became the program of life of Sr. M. Gracia. She lived her 37 years in the religious life as a Disciple of the Divine Master, in simplicity yet with profound love for Jesus in the Eucharist expressed in her generous and creative self-giving.
Sr. M. Gracia, born on April 3, 1952, is a native of Bohol, one of the beautiful Islands in the Philippines. She grew up there with her parents and her seven other siblings. Even though she was not the eldest of the 8 siblings, she became the bread-winner of the family. While working in Cebu, Philippines, a neighboring City of Bohol, she sent her siblings to school, setting aside her own personal dreams. It was in Cebu that she met the PDDM Sisters as she used to pray in the adoration Chapel of the convent during her break time. It could be that her desire of becoming a religious was already with her even when she was still young but she had to prioritize her family. Her daily intimate encounter with Jesus Master in the Holy Adoration and her constant meeting with the Sisters awakened that desire. It was indeed, Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, who first loved and called her, that lighted up again the flame of her desire of becoming a religious.
Realizing her desire, however, was not an easy one for her. It is not a secret to everybody that in her great desire to become a PDDM, Sr Gracia went through the roller-coaster-like journey. She was already in her mid-30’s when she got to know and fall in love with the life and charism of the Disciples of the Divine Master which is why she could not be admitted in the Congregation. She was advised to join instead the Institute of our Lady of the Annunciation which she humbly accepted and followed. But she never stopped coming for a daily adoration in our community in Cebu. Her “one love-Jesus Christ, one desire-to give Him to souls” (Bl. James Alberione) gave no room for her to give up. It was Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament who became her refuge, strength and great consolation at that moment. Indeed, this constant conversation with the Eucharistic Master made the impossible to happen.
When Mother M. Tecla Molino, then Superior General, came to Cebu for a fraternal visit, she caught sight of Sr Gracia in the chapel intimately conversing with Jesus in the Eucharist. She then asked for Sr Gracia, not knowing that the latter also wanted to personally meet her and express her desire to be a PDDM. Mother Tecla was touched by the appeal of Sr Gracia and got convinced to grant her the necessary dispensation from the age requirement.
Sr Gracia eventually joined the PDDM community and after 4 years of initial formation, she made her first religious profession in Antipolo in 1989 and her perpetual profession of vows in 1995 .
Her program of life which is to give Jesus, her only love, to souls, was seen in the way she lived as Jesus’ disciple. She lived in simplicity and humility, always ready to sacrifice herself for others’ sake. In generous and creative self-giving, she carried out the mandates given to her especially as a sister-in-charge in various communities. Her simplicity which speaks of the singularity of her intention and desire to love and give and Jesus to others, enabled her to see beauty in little things even in those that seem useless, and to transform them into original creations for the celebration of the mysteries of God. She was dedicated in creating and recreating liturgical objects and in designing beautiful and dignified spaces for worship utilizing scraps and seemingly unwanted materials. The delicate and originally fine works of her hands: tabernacles, sacred vessels and vestments, chapels and Church in many Dioceses in the Philippines, are made with much love for God. She is remembered as a responsible and creative person and her life as a PDDM proclaims the Beauty that Saves who is Jesus Himself.
She met her Bridegroom, the one love of her life to whom she generously said her YES, in the very Chapel that she has designed and labored till completion, at a ripe age of 70. On October 28, 2022, right after Sr. M. Gracia finished her adoration of Jesus Master in the Blessed Sacrament, she breathed her last. Finally, she’s with her ONE LONE and ONE DESIRE-Jesus Christ.
As Primo Maestro, has said, “Paradise, the place of eternal reward is proportional to work that is done, to the love with which it is done, to the generosity with which God is served. (APD 1946,535)