Strong Pillar

Every time we hear of the sudden and unexpected death of a person who has contributed a lot to the betterment of our society, we somehow feel a heavy tug at our hearts and a deep sense of loss. These are definitely the feelings of the numerous people who knew Sister Mary Pilar Verzosa, Religious of the Good Shepherd (RGS).

True to her calling, Sister Pilar was doing what she set out to do in life up to the very end. She was delivering a talk to the doctors and nurses of De La Salle University in Dasmariñas, Cavite when she collapsed due to aneurysm which caused her death three days later or last September 9, 2012. She must have been talking to them about “respect and care of life” which was her forte because she was also a nurse.

Sister Pilar’s congregation’s main apostolate was helping any “girl or woman who is in distress because of pregnancy she is not ready for, of being abandoned by the father of the baby, fearful of the anger of her parents and unsure of what her future might be”. For this purpose, they put up a counseling-nursery center, the “Heart of Mary Villa” where they help women and children who are victims of exploitation and abuse.

In her own words, Sister Pilar described their role in this center, as follows: “we discuss her situation, offering confidentiality, a place to stay while pregnant, then go after the father of the baby to find out what he himself intends to do since this is his responsibility, or refer her to an OB for prenatal check up and delivery. Finally we discuss what led her to this pregnancy. If she is single then we discuss about proper boy-girl relationships. If she is married we explain to her the effectiveness of the modern scientific natural family planning methods. We do not advice artificial contraceptives because they fail so often and this makes the woman go for abortion if a baby is conceived.”

Indeed, Sister Pilar spent most of her lifetime as a nun defending and protecting the culture of life as against the culture of death sweeping our modern world of secularism. Even before the current controversy over the anti-life RH bill, she already put up a Pro-Life Foundation obviously foreseeing that eventually the advocates of abortion in the western world would invade our shores and pressure our government to promote abortion under the guise of reproductive health by the use of artificial contraceptives. Thus the Pro-Life Foundation of the Philippines is now at the forefront of the movement opposing the passage of this bill.

Those who met or work with her would readily attest that Sister Pilar was a woman of deep faith and courage. In carrying out her vision and accomplishing her mission, she was down to earth and always ready to admit and recognize the current milieu in our society and the present day realities where there are many obstacles along the way. But as she encountered them, she did not lose hope or get discouraged. She calmly admitted failures and fearlessly met overwhelming odds with deep faith and confidence that in the end God will help her succeed in her mission.

The pro-life movement indeed lost a strong pillar but gained an effective intercessor in heaven, through Sister Mary Pilar Verzosa, RGS. So her legacies will certainly last and her vision and mission will ultimately prevail.

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