I get a lot of emails from Catholic organizations or apostolates. Most of them get deleted. I know that they have good content, but I just don't have time to read every devotion and blog post, nor listen to every podcast or log into every webcast. However, one caught my eye and I read a little bit more, discovering some quotes from today's Saint that I thought would be worth sharing - but first, her story.
Maria Concepcion Cabrera Arias (more commonly known as Conchita) was born in Mexico in 1862, the seventh of nine children of well-to-do, landowning parents. Although she had a normal childhood in many respects, she began to experience supernatural graces at an early age. Even as a young girl she had such a great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament that she was allowed to receive her First Communion at the age of 10 at a time when the normal age for First Communion was 12-14.
Conchita married Fracisco de Armida in 1884. The couple had nine children. Sadly, she was widowed at the age of 39, after only 22 years of marriage. Her youngest child was only 2 years old. Life as a widow was not easy, but Conchita's mystical life flourished during the years of raising her children.
Her spiritual intimacy with Christ began before the death of her husband. In 1894, she entered into what is known as a "spiritual marriage" with Jesus. She never claimed direct visions of Jesus or Mary but spoke of Jesus through her prayers and meditations. She reported that she heard God telling her, "Ask me for a long suffering life and to write a lot . . . That's your mission on earth." And write she did. Her children said that they hardly ever saw her in the process of writing, but her religious writings and meditations total over 60,000 handwritten pages. Thus, her output rivals that of St. Thomas Aquinas. In her writing she aimed to show her readers how to love the Catholic Church. In addition to her writing, Conchita founded several apostolates under the banner of "Works of the Cross."
In one of her locutions from the Lord about the priesthood, she says that Jesus told her, "We do not pray enough for priests, thinking that they are beyond all temptation and passions. My Heart seeks souls who dedicate themselves fervently, zealously and tirelessly, to praying day and night for them." This is the quote that struck me in the blog post that I received in email because I do try to pray daily for "my" priests and "my" seminarians (in my prayers I often call them "my boys"). I think that I need to read more of Conchita's writings - I think I have found a soul sister.
Conchita died in 1937 at the age of 74. Her feast day is March 3. Blessed Conchita, pray for us!
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