Photo Credit - Catholic News Agency
IT IS NOT HER SMILE THAT SHOULD BE IMITATED BUT THE SETTING OF HER HEART AND MIND
A photo from the bed of the Argentine hospital Austral went around the world. The Carmelite's face shone. But Sister Maria Cecilia suffered unimaginably from the Blessed Face! Her smile attracted the attention of social networks that were out of this world!
The story of Sister Maria Cecilia of the Blessed Virgin, a barefoot Carmelite, has already reached thousands. She lived only 43 years, 19 of them in the monastery of St. Joseph and St. Libra in Santa Fe, Argentina.
Why did her smile in the midst of suffering and imminent death attract the attention of social networks around the world!?
However, it is not her smile that should be imitated, but the setting of her heart and mind. She died according to those around her as a saint because she allowed Jesus to love herself without measure, and she loved Him infinitely.
She was born on December 5, 1973 in San Martin de los Andes, the second of ten children. From an early age she was fond of horseback riding, dancing and music. With a cheerful disposition, she was open and polite, she spontaneously established friendly relations.
As a teenager, thanks to the generosity of Juliet's grandmother, she made a short trip to Europe. Visiting the city of Avila, Spain, within the walls of the monastery of Incarnation, she felt the call of Jesus to surrender to Him in the monastery of the Carmelites. After returning from the old Continent, she knocked on the door of the Corpus Christi Monastery in Buenos Aires. However, a few months later she came out.
At the request of her parents, she decided to study nursing. But there was anxiety in her heart: "Despite my best efforts, I could not get rid of the thought of Carmel." On December 8, 1997, at the age of 24, she made another attempt. The choice fell on a convent in Santa Fe, a city of more than half a million people northwest of Buenos Aires. There she felt the desired peace. In this community, for the rest of her life, she learned to be friends with Jesus and to love her sisters.
In December 2015, the symptoms of the deadly disease appeared and her way of the cross began. Six months of Radio and Chemotherapy.
"This persistence is worth it to me - to be attentive here and now, to listen to Jesus (...). What Jesus wants… and how he wants… should be most important to us.” "I sacrifice my suffering with all my abilities to whatever He asks of me, with this deep joy of being loved." Sr. Maria Cecilia
Sister Maria Cecilia died on June 23, 2016, surrounded by sisters, family and friends. For all her weakness, she sought to love "not allowing her own whims to control her." True love changed her face, likening it to the face of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 3:18), a mystery that accompanied her throughout her Christian life.
"The most important thing for us should be what Jesus wants… and how he wants…" - this is holiness - to listen to the aspirations of Jesus and live as He wants!
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