Her Name was Maria

Once I read a saying that really encapsulates what I would like to say: Life is full of surprises. Embrace the unexpected and find the joy in every moment. 

This has been the experience I went through when my mother Mary, at the beautiful age of 91 years and almost 10 months went to meet the Lord. It happened all quickly at Mater Dei Hospital, precisely at the Stroke Ward. Her bed number 3, reminds me that the Holy Trinity was guiding her. In fact, just two hours before she passed away the Lord showed me to visit her, gave her holy communion, anointed her with the oil of Notre Dame Du Laus which I brought recently from France and prayed for her healing. What a great consolation it was for me to know that she had the grace to receive the Most precious Body and Blood of Our Beloved Lord Jesus Christ!

Thinking of this very important detail naturally brings to my mind the First Admonition of our seraphic father and brother St Francis of Assisi regarding the Body and Blood of Christ:

The Lord Jesus says to his disciples: I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would also have known my Father and from now on you will know him and have seen him. Philip says to him: Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us. Jesus says to him: Have I been with you for so long a time and you have not known me? Philip, whoever sees me, sees also my Father [Jn. 14:6-9].

The Father dwells in inaccessible light [cf. 1 Tim. 6:16], and God is spirit [Jn. 4:24] and, no one has ever seen God [Jn. 1:18]. Therefore he cannot be seen except in the Spirit since it is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh has nothing to offer [Jn. 6:64]. But because he is equal to the Father, is the Son seen by anyone other than the Father or other than the Holy Spirit. All those who saw the Lord Jesus according to the humanity, therefore, and did not see and believe according to the Spirit and the Divinity that he is the true Son of God were condemned. Now in the same way, all those who see the sacrament sanctified by the words of the Lord upon the altar at the hands of the priest in the form of bread and wine, and who do not see and believe according to the Spirit and the Divinity that it is truly the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, are condemned. [This] is affirmed by the Most High himself Who says: This is my Body and the Blood of my new covenant [which will be shed for many] [cf. Mk. 14:22, 24] and whoever who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life [cf. Jn. 6:55].

It is the Spirit of the Lord, therefore, That lives in Its faithful, That receives the Body and Blood of the Lord. 13 All others who do not share in this same Spirit and who presume to receive him eat and drink judgment to themselves [cf. 1 Cor. 11:29]. Therefore, children how long will you be hard of heart? (Ps. 4:3) Why do you not know the truth and believe in the Son of God? (cf. Jn. 9:35) Behold each day He humbles Himself [cf. Phil. 2:8] as when He came from the royal throne [Wis. 18:15] into the womb of the Virgin; each day He comes to us, appearing humbly; each day He comes down from the bosom of the Father [cf. Jn. 1:18] upon the altar in the hands of the priest. And as He revealed Himself to the holy apostles in true flesh, so He reveals Himself to us now in the sacred bread. And as they saw only His flesh by insight of their flesh, yet believed He was God as they contemplated him with their spiritual eyes, let us, as we see bread and wine with our bodily eyes, see and firmly believe that they are His most holy Body and Blood living and true. And in this way the Lord is always with his faithful, as he himself says: Behold I am with you until to the end of the age [cf. Mt. 28:20].

It was her strong faith who kept persuading her that Jesus was with her amidst the life challenges and troubles she had to face. She received him with that strong conviction that no matter how large the problems and challenges in her life were, there was no trial that the Eucharistic Jesus in her could not face, win and turn that situation for his glory. My dear mother Maria, on the example of the heroine of the heroines, the Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our Heavenly Mother, chose to believe even when things were not at all rosy in her life. For her I would like to apply that famous and very apt biblical text of St Paul in his letter to the Romans, which says: We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28).

God’s purpose for my mother was big. She deeply felt the Holy Spirit’s stirring to pray that one of her sons would join the Capuchins. And, that son was me. She told me so months before the Father called her to his dwelling. My mother was a woman of great faith and trust in the Lord. In everything she did her continual little prayer was the following one: Heart of Jesus I trust in you. With how much faith and ardent hope she prayed this prayer. In her simplicity, my mother Maria knew very well the extraordinary power of Jesus’ Heart. In an extraordinary way my mother made her own what Pope Francis wrote to us regarding the Heart of Jesus in his encyclical letter on the human and divine heart of the heart of Jesus Christ, Dilexit Nos in number 48:

Devotion to the heart of Christ is not the veneration of a single organ apart from the Person of Jesus. What we contemplate and adore is the whole Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, represented by an image that accentuates his heart. That heart of flesh is seen as the privileged sign of the inmost being of the incarnate Son and his love, both divine and human. More than any other part of his body, the heart of Jesus is “the natural sign and symbol of his boundless love”.

In her holy life my mother Maria experienced, day after day the boundless love of Jesus for her. Whenever I visited her at the residence of the elderly Casa Maria or called her I noticed that she was always listening to Radio Maria, participating at the Mass, praying the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. It was my joy to give her holy communion whenever I visited her as well as anointing her with the holy oil of the Sacrament of the Sick. 

But my mother did not only love Jesus in words but also in deeds. She kept helping her family and being close to them, especially to my brother and myself with her wise and caring words. She was a visible sign of charity particularly to her roommate who was bedridden. How many times I found her helping her to drink, eat and keeping her company. She also knitted scarves for the unborn children. My mum Maria was a great supporter of the pro-life movement. In all this, she lived that very wise dictum of St Teresa of St Teresa of Calcutta: Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love. My dear mother Maria was a woman who let God do great things through her.

She belongs to the everyday saints of next door of what Pope Francis speaks about in his apostolic exhortation Gaudete Et Exsultate, namely on the call to holiness in today’s world. I love to liken her to the example he beautifully gives of the woman who gives herself to her family: 

This holiness to which the Lord calls you will grow through small gestures. Here is an example: a woman goes shopping, she meets a neighbour and they begin to speak, and the gossip starts. But she says in her heart: “No, I will not speak badly of anyone”. This is a step forward in holiness. Later, at home, one of her children wants to talk to her about his hopes and dreams, and even though she is tired, she sits down and listens with patience and love. That is another sacrifice that brings holiness. Later she experiences some anxiety, but recalling the love of the Virgin Mary, she takes her rosary and prays with faith. Yet another path of holiness. Later still, she goes out onto the street, encounters a poor person and stops to say a kind word to him. One more step (no.16).

Where is now my mum Maria? My innermost heart leads me to that famous passage which we find in the Book of Revelation which says: Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and whence have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night within his temple; and he who sits upon the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Rev 7:14-17).

My dear mum Maria loved immensely Maria, the Mummy of all of us. I would prefer to discover this very important aspect of her spiritual life in a separate article. However, what I would say is that Maria entrusted herself into Maria’s maternal hands and Maria was taken to Heaven thanks to the loving heart of the most humble and great Maria, the Queen of Heaven and Earth.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the great and singular gift of my mum Maria. Thank you Jesus for saving my heart through your most precious and holy heart. Amen.