ARGENTINA, Cecilia Mata. We go through life distracted. We know that God goes in front, he walks with us; the Blessed Mother protects us, educates us and guides us. But when those are evident in daily life, at the least expected moment, we have to fall on our knees saying “Thank you Lord, Thank you Mother!” unconditionally and forever.
This year I had to move after almost fourteen years because, the owner of the apartment announced that my lease would not be renewed. I began the search in mid 2014 to see how the market was moving (there were not many rental properties at that time). I interrupted my search due to family reasons, and I began again in December. Here I will digress; it is necessary and important that you should remember this in the next paragraph– on December 31st I called to greet a priest, who had welcomed me at my neighborhood parish when I returned to the faith in 2004 (and who two years later became my sponsor for Confirmation), among other things, he told me he was a chaplain at the Parroquia San Bernardo Abad [Saint Bernard the Abbot Parish (I had no idea where it was located). End of digression.
I place it in your hands
At the beginning of January, I went to visit a property that did not meet my needs and I thought: “the same thing again”. On Sunday, January 4th, just to kill time, I asked my sister for the newspaper. She pointed out an apartment outside the area I was searching, and immediately I said, “Let’s go see it.” I lagged behind on purpose, and I told the (Blessed) Mother, “I place it in your hands.” The door opened and there was light. It was perfect, we could not believe it, and yet I was doubtful about the price. Then I heard a voice telling me, “When are you going to learn to trust?” The following day a series of signs occurred indicating to me this was the place and no other. Coincidentally the property was three blocks from my work, and when I searched for local parishes on Google, the first one I saw was only four blocks from my future residence. It was Parroquia San Bernardo Abad [Saint Bernard the Abbot Parish]! We randomly set the date for the move on Saturday, the 24th, without noticing that it was the Feast of Nuestra Señora de la Paz [Our Lady of Peace] and also San Francisco de Sales [Saint Francis de Sales]; in speaking to another person, she told me that this was the day of the first Covenants with the MTA of my original parish. And another person from schoenstatt.org told me St. Francis de Sales is the patron of journalists, and that she was traveling to Madrid for a meeting about communication. That Sunday, January 4th, for some unknown reason, instead of using the Covenant medal, I used the Unity Cross blessed by Pope Francis in Rome on the occasion of the papal audience for the 100 years’ Jubilee of the Movement. On one of the mirrors in my new home, there was a small sticker with the picture of the Virgin of Medjugorje (Queen of Peace), and the keychain they gave me at the real estate office had a picture of Merciful Jesus.
The final blow of grace
However, I received the “final blow of grace” on the first Sunday I went to Holy Mass in the San Bernardo Abad Parish [Saint Bernard the Abbot Parish].
I arrived early to look around, and as I went through one gate, there SHE was, yes, our Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt, who said, “Welcome home!”
I do not want to end this narrative without mentioning that on August 18th, the Blessed Mother had taken me to see a perfect apartment that was only three blocks from where I now live and at that moment I said no; I was blind in seeing the sign leading me to her.
SURPRSIE WHILE REVIEWING PAPERS AND NOTES…
When we pack boxes and books, we always take a break to review papers, notes, and the life that happened during those years in the same place. I saw my old notebook when I helped with the Cáritas retreats. What follows is a fragment of one of those talks:
“So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7)
To rest in the hands of God, feeling our strength there. He who is reclining feels the strength, the tenderness of the Father, of God…without any pretensions of self-sufficiency. He does everything; He takes care. Allow us to be in God’s hand. They are tender hands, the tenderness of a Father. They are warm hands; I have to allow myself to be there. The hands of God are like that. “So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.” (Lk. 15:20) They are touched by our closeness. Peter asks us to be humble to fit in that hand. (…) Let us think about the Virgin who reclined in God’s hands– chosen hands of promise and of covenant. “He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,” (Ephesians 1:5).
These are only a few lines from the homily of former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio during the annual retreat of Cáritas on Saturday, November 5, 2005. On that occasion, he gave us a small sculpture, a hand with a baby reclining on it, and he told us, “Look at the hand with the baby reclining. Let us pray looking at this. Let us think how beautiful it is to be in the midst of this tenderness.”
Thank you Father for having me in the palm of your hand!
Thank you Mother for always leading to you!
Original: Spanish – Translation: Celina M. Garza, San Antonio, TX USA
