HOME of the Mother SING, BUT KEEP WALKING... “GOD TOUCHES OUR SOULS IF YOU ARE GOING ONWARD, BOTH THROUGH JOY AND SORROW.” YOU ARE WALKING. SAINT AUGUSTINE Saint Alberto Hurtado HOME of the Mother No. 216 September - October 2020 HEALING AND SALVATION ELISABETH LESEUR CARLOS SANTOS Bº S. Julián, 30 39479 Zurita (Cantabria-Spain) I asked if anyone in the residence had Her weapons were prayer and The Lord “threw me a curveball.” Bimonthly Publication/ www.homeofthemother.org COVID-19. The answer was that one sacrifice, because reasoning When I was told I would be working person tested positive... with her husband was useless... in the ICU, I almost passed out... International Public Association of Faithful www.eukmamie.org/en/ WE Recommend Light on the Path CONTENTS By Fr. Rafael Alonso Reymundo used to find it really hard to believe... I could 3 Editorial not understand how John Paul II had the Ijoy he did as he approached the last days of 4 POPE his life and when, on the horizon, it was clear that Pope Francis’ Message-Annual International Youth Festival in things were going to change—and not exactly for Medjugorje the better. Yet, he always preached about hope. I KNEW SR. CLARE He preached with a joy, assuring us that every- 5 thing was going to be fine. By Sr. Mary Rose Gallaher, SHM ARCHEPARCH JOSEPH TOBJI 6 by the way, i have a cancer There were obvious signs that things were SUFFERING WITH JOY going badly. And things have not improved; they By Sr. Ruth M. O’Callaghan, SHM have gotten worse. What can be done? This is the question: Can we maintain the hope and 8 MATERNITY - A TEST OF FAITH joy that everything is going to be fine and that By Ana Isabel Jimenez, LHM there is going to be a splendid change? Well, that question should be answered with another 10 believe it! This magazine is placed one. If you told me that we ought to have hope and AD TUENDAM FIDEM (III): DEFINITIVE DOCTRINE under the protection of joy, I would ask you: what do you base your hope By Sr. Miriam Loveland, SHM ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE and joy on? That is what we have to meditate on. 12 TRUE FREEDOM Our joy does not depend on the ups and downs By Sr. Kristen Gardner, SHM COORDINATOR: Fr. Rafael Alonso. of history, on how the political affairs of the world are going, on the economy, etc. What do we base mary in the Akathist Hymn Sr. Maria Moro, SHM. 14 ADMINISTRATION: We cannot base it on things that are By Fr. Félix López, SHM our joy on? DESIGN & LAYOUT: so transitory, so changing, and so moveable. On 16 MAMIE and the sick children of Pedrosa Sr. M. Carmen Checa, SHM; Sr. Sara what, then, should we base our joy and our hope, By Sr. Beatriz Liaño, SHM Zambrano, SHM; Sr. Rosa López, SHM; knowing that things will change for the better? At Sr. Sandra Galarza, SHM; the same time, we can ask ourselves: what does a 18 INTERVIEW - amparo medina Sr. Ana Mª Cabezuelo, SHM. change for the better consist in? Well, we have to PRO-LIFE ACTIVIST base it above all and only on the promises of TRANSLATORS: Christ, on the life of Christ crucified and risen 22 HEALING AND SALVATION in a Time of Pandemic English: Sr. Anna Riordan, SHM; from the dead. ight By Luisa Eugenia Lucas Sr. Rachel Mª Hernández, SHM; Sr. Mary Donovan, SHM; Sr. Miriam Elisabeth Leseur, We base our joy on the Word of God, which cannot deceive us 25 Loveland, SHM; Sr. Kathryn Shea, SHM; FOR HER HUSBAND’S CONVERSION nor be deceived, whatever the ups and downs of history may be, Sr. Morgan Medbery, SHM; By Sr. M. Carmen Checa, SHM no matter what happens to us on a personal or community level. Sr. Kristin Maria Tenreiro, SHM. We do not have the right to lose hope; rather, every day we must 32 Halloween and Evil’s Limit Italian: Sr. Elisa Braghin, SHM; base our hope more and more on Jesus Christ our Lord and His on By Sr. Beatriz Liaño, SHM Sr. Ilaria Marchetti, SHM. promises. And like St. John Paul II, we can also say: Look at the 3o INTERView - CARLOS SANTOS ADDRESS: horizon. It is a horizon of triumph. E.U.K. Mamie Foundation 35 BLESSED PIERINA MOROSINI, (H.M. MAGAZINE) Barrio San Julián, 30. Hope must be well founded. If not, the day that we experience MARTYR OF CHASTITY 39479 - Zurita (Cantabria-Spain). pain, the day that we have some misunderstanding, the day that the By Sr. Isabel Jordán, SHM Tlf.: (942) 57 15 36 Fax: (942) 57 15 36 those around us look at us with disapproval, we will fail, we will tremble. We will fall because the house was not founded on rock 37 THE GATE OF HEAVEN [email protected] E-mail: but on sand. By Sr. Alison Van de Voorde, SHM WEB: www.homeofthemother.org 39 LIGHT ON THE PATH Bimonthly Publication Legal deposit: SA-375-2009 L Path 3 THE GATE OF HEAVEN so intensely a woman who had prepared himself for a good con- It was one of the most beau- been so deeply lost in sin. Her fession, and the “cherry on top” tiful weddings I had ever wit- editorial HM face lit up when she learned was that the chaplain obtained nessed. Maricarmen stood about her. permission to give Maricarmen up for the rite of vows and her t by Fr. RAFAEL ALONSO the sacrament of Confirmation in Confirmation, but she had to sit Maricarmen was aware that the wedding as well. back down right away because she was going to die soon, and her poor body could not endure she prepared more and more It was a grace to attend the it. Her husband was also radiant for this step. One day she told wedding at Porta Coeli Hospital’s and looked at her with moving us that she had asked everyone chapel and sing for Mass. The tenderness. God’s grace is a she could have hurt, especially chapel was full of patients, family miracle in the souls of those t is always easier to look at the negative correctness—which does not build up the Kingdom her family, for forgiveness. She members, and close friends. who receive it. God’s ways are aspect of things or events. However, right of God—in order to begin to truly value the Person, looked me in the eyes and said, sublime and beyond our under- now, it is more urgent than ever to look at life, and words of Jesus. In our Baptism the Lord “I have hurt a lot of people, you standing. Only those who had a the positive aspect of things and play our marked us with His seal, and He gave us the know.” It was clear that the rec- vision of faith could see beyond I part so that the positive can become greater Holy Spirit so that we might be able to recognize onciliation with God transformed the tragedy and realize that than the negative. Man’s freedom, enslaved by the Word of God and the correct path that will her and receiving Holy Commu- Heaven was touching earth at an accumulation of negative events, must be lead us to a safe harbor. What must be valued nion prepared her little by little. She was a that wedding. freed. The current situation of the pandemic and above all are the Word of God, the sacraments, The hospital’s chaplain talked spiritual revolution, full of injustice and fear, might prayer (both personal and liturgical), and fidelity to Maricarmen and her partner magnificent Filled with joy and gratitude well suppose a change of direction, as Saint Paul to God’s will, manifested to us by means of our about the Sacrament of Matrimo- toward the Lord for all He had VI—Pope Montini—had prayed for, pointing out how legitimate pastors—those who walk along the path ny. They agreed to get married, work of done for Maricarmen and her necessary it was for the world to undergo a change of holiness. and the chaplain prepared them family, we said goodbye. Weeks of course. The sense of fidelity, the sense of the faithful, to receive this huge gift. later, we received news that God. In Garabandal, Our Lady prophesied that many helps us to trace out well where the virus is going she had passed away. We were priests, bishops, and cardinals were going down and where we can find a solution for it. This viral A few weeks later, she was present at her funeral. Looking the road of perdition, and were leading many comparison is very important today because moved to a hospital for terminal at her coffin impacted me. I there other souls with them. I refuse to be among those patients called When I saw Maricarmen walk thought, “That’s it. Her suffering is also a spiritual virus that destroys human Porta Coeli: who want to correct or find fault with Our Blessed in, she was beautiful! It was a in this life is over.” What mys- beings. If the sacraments are important—and Gate of Heaven. She spent the Mother. Jeremiah prophesied the terrible downfall We very profound, interior beauty; teries! God showed so much we should never doubt that they are—how we last weeks of her life there. of the people of Israel because of their sins: the because witnessed her health deteriorate she was also swollen and had a goodness toward this beloved approach them is even more important, abandonment of God’s commandments and the same wonderful sacrament, for example, the quickly: her physical strength hard time standing.