+KRISTEL
MAE CLEOFE PADASAS
"Out
of a million who wanted to serve the Lord and see Pope Francis, it was her that
God picked out ," were the
profoundly sad words of Kristel
Mae's grandfather, with deep faith, love and humility.
"Maymay"
was Mr. and Mrs.Cleofe's oldest granddaughter, the only child of their second
daughter, Judy, who herself has 9 siblings , and who have now
given them 17 grandchildren and one great grandson. Judy went
to Hong Kong to become a domestic helper in order to make sure Kristel Mae would finish her college
education. Maymay finished her BS Psychology in Adamson University in 2008.
Kristel
Mae was born on June 22, 1987, in Barangay Tambo, Buhi, Camarines Sur. After
her elementary education she became a
Bridgetine, graduating in 2004. At 27 years, on January 18, 2015, after the
Holy Father's Mass in Tacloban Airport, Kristel was killed by a falling
scaffolding and was pronounced "dead on arrival' at the hospital nearest to the Tacloban airport.
The school yearbook describes her as "malaogma
ever". No one noticed when she had a problem because of her laughter which
she described as the best medicine. They said she was everybody's big sister
because she was always on call, "ate dito, ate doon", a spirit of service she must have inherited from her grandfather, who described himself as one
of the old [RGS] Sisters' helper, in the first years of
St. Bridget School, when the BRSDC [Buhi Rural Social Development Center] was
being established.
Kristel's motto in her high school days was, "What
matters in this life is not how happy you are, it is how happy others are
because of you" Your grandparents proudly say you will be in heaven
waiting for them to introduce them to the Lord, when it is time for them to go.
Kristel, you have made us all in
SBS very happy because of your
example of love and service, and giving your life for others. You volunteered for a whole year to help the survivors of
typhoon Yolanda, as a member of the monitoring and evaluation team based in
Salcedo, in Eastern Samar. On Friday, you traveled 128 kilometers from Eastern
Samar to serve as a volunteer of Catholic Life Services for the papal Mass. You
helped distribute the raincoats: did you hand the one directly for Pope Francis?
And then God chose you to go home to Heaven. What a beautiful way to die! The St, Bridget School Alumni Association,
the graduates of Batch 2004, the whole St. Bridget School, are so proud of you
By Sr. Maryanne Terrenal, RGS
One of the first RGS to be
missioned to SBS Buhi