In his homily for the beatification of Maria Concepcion Cabrera de Armida, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints portrays the new Blessed as wife, mother, widow – and an inspirer of religious institutes and apostolic initiatives like no other.
By Vatican News
Maria Concepcion Cabrera de Armida knew to choose God with an absolute love, and put Him at the centre of her life, while caring for her family and her home. How was the new Blessed able to do all that was required of her? Cardinal Angelo Becciu said she succeeded because “she did not follow her own inspirations, however holy, but conformed to God’s plan for her”.
Faith and imagination
Cardinal Becciu said in the homily for her beatification that Cabrera’s secret was “to live ‘in’ this world and not ‘of’ this world”. Blessed Conchita (as she is familiarly known by her devotees) lived a life of “profound faith and boundless charity”; but also with a characteristic we might not immediately associate with sanctity: namely, imagination. “Her tireless zeal, together with her fervent creative imagination would bring her to raise up new families of consecrated life within the Church”, the Cardinal said.
A leader with the sweet face of a mother
It is difficult to imagine silence in a house full of children, but it was precisely this, along with devout prayer in adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament, that was her nourishment, “her spiritual strength”. Such a great mother could not help but become the mother of all; Cardinal Becciu recalled her concern for the poor, her care for the material and spiritual needs of the sick and dying, and her constant commitment to assisting the poor and needy. Her heart was open to all those she encountered.
From here, the Cardinal said, it was an easy step for Blessed Conchita to dedicate her life to supporting those who “live their vocation every day in fidelity and self-denial”. And so, Conchita became not only a mother but also an example for priests of all times. In her own day, she became a leader in society and in the Church, “a magnificent synthesis”, as Cardinal Becciu described her, “of contemplation and action”. In her, he said, “the evangelical figures of Martha and Mary are fused and synchronized”.
The “science of the Cross”
But all this was possible only by accepting and offering up her own suffering, Cardinal Becciu said. He concluded his homily by speaking about how Blessed Conchita was able to understand “the science of the Cross”. As an echo of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Sorrows, she “was aware that ever sorrow, great or small, had already been experienced by Jesus on the Cross; and in Him she was able to find strength and meaning”.
