The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree ~ A priest back from the dead

Lk 13:6-9 Jesus spoke this parable. "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. He said to the vine dresser, ‘Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down. Why does it waste the soil?’ He answered, ‘Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it, and fertilize it. If it bears fruit, fine; but if not, after that, you can cut it down.’"

I would like to add a few comments myself before sharing this amazing testimony. Fr Scheier said that when the accident was first reported, all his parishioners came to the church to pray, the local Baptists and many other christian denomination church's gathered and prayed all night for Father. He believes that his second chance was given to him because of the prayers of those interceeding for him.

I think that is a powerful statement. The prayers of the people, praying for the life and soul of this priest. It is a reminder to all the great need to pray for our priests! To pray for their sanctification.

Below is Fr Tommy Lane's homily with the retelling of Fr Stephan Scheier's life after death experience.

"Fr Steven Scheier was ordained in 1973. Unfortunately he was more concerned about what other priests thought of him than about being a good priest for Jesus. His priesthood was not in the service of Jesus but to win people’s admiration. Deep down he knew he was not doing what he should be, that he was not the priest he should be. He hid that to the point that people thought he was a good priest.

Fr Stephan Scheier

On October 18, 1985, Fr Steven was traveling from Wichita to his parish (Parish of the Sacred Heart) in Fredonia, Kansas, 86 miles away. The highway does not have any shoulders, it is heavily traveled by semis, pickups and vans. That morning he had gone to Wichita to meet a priest and was returning that afternoon. He was involved in a terrible accident: a head-on collision with a pickup truck and with God. Three people were in the pickup. No one was killed. Fr Scheier was thrown from his vehicle. His entire scalp was taken off on the right side. The doctors told him afterwards the right side of his brain was partially sheered off and many cells were crushed. He was unconscious at the scene. Behind him in the ambulance on the way to the hospital was a nurse, who later mentioned she tried to help him with the Hail Mary but didn’t know it but he was saying the Hail Mary over and over by himself.

He was taken to a small hospital in Eureka Kansas. He had suffered a broken neck, a C2, the second cervical vertebra was broken, the hangman’s break. Had his head been turned either way at the scene of the accident he would have asphyxiated. The doctor said there wasn’t much he could do and sewed his scalp back on and called for the lifewatch helicopter in Wichita from Lesley Hospital and they brought him to Wichita. He did not know he was being transported because he was unconscious. One of his parishioners who happened to be in the hospital was told he was being given a 15% chance to live. Many people of different Christian faiths prayed for him. He said God hears everyone’s prayer and that’s why he’s still here today. He had no surgery. The accident happened in October and on 2nd Dec he was released from hospital and still had the halo, as he called it, a support around his head. He recuperated at home until they could take the halo off, in April. He returned to his parish in May.

The Barren Fig Tree

One day when saying Mass, the Gospel was today’s Gospel about the fig tree. When reading it in the Church, the page became illuminated, enlarged and came off the lectionary towards him. He finished Mass as best he could and back at the rectory/presbytery remembered a conversation that had taken place shortly after the accident.

In that conversation Fr Scheier found himself standing before the judgment of Jesus. He doesn’t know how long it lasted. He says the Lord took him through his entire life, and showed him how he had failed in his priestly service. Fr Scheier said “yes” to everything Jesus said about his life. Before the accident Fr Scheier had planned that when he would go before the judgment seat of Jesus he would say he was pushed on any day he sinned and couldn’t do anything else. He had a number of excuses all ready. He used to confession regularly before the accident but not appropriately i.e. he was not allowing the sacrament to change his life. He did not have a purpose of amendment.

After the accident he wondered how many of his confessions were valid because he had no purpose of amendment. Before the accident he was thinking there would be time to convert but during this judgment scene Jesus taught him there is no time. Now before Jesus he was talking to Truth and when you are talking to Truth you can’t give excuses. At the end of his judgment his sentence from Jesus was hell. Fr Scheier said “yes” as that was the only logical thing he deserved.

At that moment, however, he heard a woman say, “Son, will you please spare his life and his eternal soul?” The Lord replied, “Mother, he’s been a priest for twelve years for himself and not for me, let him reap the punishment he deserves.” “But Son,” she said, “if we give him special graces and strengths then let’s see if he bears fruit; if not, your will be done.”

There was very short pause, after which Jesus said,

“Mother, he’s yours.”

Fr Scheier sharing his testimonal with Mother Angelica

Ever since then he has been hers. He didn’t have a special relationship with her before the accident but since then she has become everything to him. At the foot of the cross Jesus looked on her and made her mother of the whole Church. Fr Scheier says she takes that very literally and seriously. Fr Scheier experienced Jesus’ mercy but Mary was the one who interceded for him. He has learned this beautiful truth, no one of the Blessed Trinity can say “no” to Our Lady. It is impossible. They will not say “no” to her. He says “Isn’t she someone you want on your side?”

We believe in Jesus, Our Lady and the saints in two ways, with the head or the heart. Fr Scheier believed with his head and knew nothing with his heart. He believed the angels and saints but they were make-believe friends and were not real. After the accident he became aware that they are very real, that we have only one home and its not here. Fr Scheier says a lot of our priorities are mixed up. His priorities were mixed up, his priority should have been to save his soul and save other souls. If he had died his parishioners would not have thought that he would have gone to hell. Jesus doesn’t take a popularity poll, Jesus is the only one that matters when it comes to what others think about us because we are alone before Jesus in judgment. We cannot say somebody made me sin. Jesus knows the truth.

Mother Angelica

Fr Scheier says during his first twelve years after ordination he was not being a priest for Jesus. Instead of suffering for Jesus he was a priest for himself. He always ran from the cross. If we run from the cross there is a bigger one awaiting us. He says he was a coward during those twelve years. His mission now is to let people know that Jesus’ love outweighs justice, that hell exists and that we are liable to hell and also that Jesus’ Divine Mercy exists. I conclude with some of the words of the parable in our Gospel today which has become so meaningful to Fr Scheier,

“Look here, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?” “Sir,” the man replied, “leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.”

~ Fr Tommy Lane Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent Year C

Please pray for Australia - VIP Priest in Focus

Dear ladies, Sorry for the stillness of the blog these days. Life has been so busy for both Anne and I. She has just had months of rehearsals in a stage play and has had major computer difficulties over the last six months. I have been very busy with my husband who is fighting on the forefront of the pro-life movement here in Australia, who always needs my support and with our 7 children, six of whom have just started a new study programme; time has become very scarce.

God has called us to be wives and mothers, to focus on our duties in our own domestic churches where we are working toward heaven being the hearts of the home. Here, where our prayers for our own families and being spiritual mothers' of priests unite. As I go through my day I am always offering little things for all those who have asked for or need prayer. Consequently even though this blog may have slowed I know as I am doing, so are many other women who go throughout their day in a mode of contemplation suitable to their circumstances, are doing too; praying for others but especially for our priests.

This week-end here in Australia we are about to under go one of the most crucial elections ever. Christian values, life issues, morality issues, freedom of religion and many of our vital values will be under threat if the current government returns to power. There will be a big possibility that we could be living under a gradual regime of socialism that will be unprecedented in this country and could alter our way of life forever. This party currently has momentum and is ahead in all the polls however these are secular media polls who have a strong bias toward this Labor government. We hope and pray they do not get back into government.

Please pray for our country! Australian Catholics have been sharing around a request to pray the Nine Hour Novena to The Infant of Prague; a very efficacious prayer, the one prayer that we are trying to encourage everyone to say. In the hope of uniting our hands, hearts, souls and minds toward heaven to save our country from a Fabian form of Obama style government which Ms. Julia Gillard would decisively implement. Join us here on the blog or here on the Facebook page.

For any Australians looking to educate themselves on the candidates for your electorate and how to help you cast your vote consistent with your Christian values, Family Life International has put together a very helpful comprehenive Pro-Life voting guide.

Ladies I hope you don't mind if I deviate a little from the spirit of this blog to ask you all to please pray for our country this week. This week I have intervened on the PIF list to add these two principal men of the Church here in Australia;

His Eminence George Cardinal Pell - Catholic Archbishop of Sydney and
Most Reverend Bishop Geoffery Jarrett - Bishop of the Diocese of Lismore

who have both spoken about this coming federal election. It's times like these that we pray for the hierarchy of the Church to be courageous over the pulpit and over the media.

Priest in Focus for this week is:

His Eminence George Cardinal Pell

Bishop Geoffery Jarrett

Please Pray this NOVENA TO THE INFANT OF PRAGUE for Australia:

(This Novena is to be said at the same time every hour

for nine consecutive hours in just one day).

O Jesus, Who hast said,

ask and you shall receive,

seek and you shall find,

knock and it shall be opened to you,

through the intercession of Mary,

Thy Most Holy Mother,

I knock, I seek,

I ask that my prayer be granted.

(Make your request)
Please pray for Australia

O Jesus, Who hast said,

all that you ask of the Father in My Name,

He will grant you.

Through the intercession of Mary,

Thy most Holy Mother,

I humbly and urgently ask Thy Father

in Thy Name that my prayer be granted.

(Make your request)
Please pray for Australia

O Jesus, Who hast said,

"Heaven and earth shall pass away

but My word shall not pass",

through the intercession of Mary,

Thy Most Holy Mother,

I feel confident that my prayer will be granted.

(Make your request)
Please pray for Australia

HAPPY FEAST DAY TO ALL PRIESTS - St John Vianney's feast day

Today is the feast day of the "Priests priest"; Saint Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney (and my mother's birthday ;)  
Saint John Vianney is known to have said, 

 "Virtue passes from the heart of a mother to the hearts of her children, who do willingly what they see her do." 

 This great saint learned this truth first hand from his own childhood experience. His own mother was truly a good woman of great piety, and she led him into the way of religion at an early age, and taught her six children to love God and to never offend Him" - The Life of the Curé d'Ars

 Here is a simple and concise article written on the life and holiness of St John Vianney  and also some leisurely viewing for you to enjoy on this special feast day!

Dear Saint John Vianney,
your childhood dream was to be a Priest,
to win souls for God.
You endured years of toil and humiliation
to attain the Priesthood.
You became a priest truly after God's own heart,
outstanding in humility and poverty;
prayer and mortification.
Totally devoted to the service of God's people.
The Church has exalted you as model
and patron saint of all Parish priests,
trusting that your example and prayers
will help them to live up
to the high dignity of their vocation
to be faithful servants of God's people,
to be perfect imitators of Christ the Saviour
Who came not to be served but to serve,
to give His Life in ransom for many.
Pray that God may give to His Church today
many more priests after His own Heart.
Pray for all the priests under your patronage,
that they may be worthy representatives
of Christ the Good Shepherd.
May they wholeheartedly devote themselves
to prayer and penance;
be examples of humility and poverty;
shining models of holiness;
tireless and powerful preachers of the Word of God;
zealous dispensers of God's Grace in the Sacraments.
May their loving devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist
and to Mary His Mother
be the Twin Fountains of fruitfulness for their ministry.
Amen.

Simple St. John Vianney Prayer   

"O my God, come to me, so that You may dwell in me and I may dwell in you."

Happy Feast Day!!

July: Precious Blood of Jesus - PIF & SS...

As July is the month dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus it may be a lovely offering to offer all our Masses for our clergy who bring us His precious blood when ever we go to recieve Him at Mass.

The Devotion of the Precious Blood

“The Devotion of the Precious Blood exists from the beginning of ages, since it was the first imparted to fallen man. We must thence infer that it ought to be a devotion widespread as the world. Is not everybody redeemed by the Precious Blood? Is it not to this Precious Blood that each of us owe our salvation? And if, hereafter, an everlasting crown rests upon our brow, will it not be the purchase of this Divine Blood?....The Sacred Heart has indeed loved us with a love of surpassing tenderness; and to that love we owe Its long suffering with us; and yet, neither the Sacred Heart nor the gaping wounds of Jesus have been our Redemption; that which has redeemed us – freed us from hell – is the Most Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Since, therefore, our salvation is the fruit of that Blood, since to It we are indebted for Heaven, with its unfading joys, is it not just that we should, each and all, embrace Devotion to the Precious Blood, render It special worship, even daily homage? Because of the needs of the ‘people of God,’ there has been a surge of devotion to the Most Precious Blood. This devotion has become universal, and is often spoken of as the “Devotion of the Elect,” so fitting a title that seldom is a dissenting voice raised against it.”

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Priest In Focus 

Here are the new names for our Priest in Focus & Seminarian Spotlight for this week. Please hold these men close to your heart in prayer.

We encourage ladies to offer an Ave for the priests mentioned in the PIF spot when visiting this site. You may wish to offer an Ave for these priests at any time in the week or if you are able to offer up a small sacrifice for them, this would be a wonderful blessing also; what ever you can do would be a appreciated.

We many never see the fruits of our prayers here in this world but we hope and pray that in the next God will reward any good that we have done.

You can also find the names of the priests during the week in the top right-hand side bar.

This weeks priests are:

Fr. S Casey

Fr B Winnett OFM

Fr L Foote OP

Fr B Healy MSC

Fr H  Nikel SVD 

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 Seminarian Spotlight

Also we have new names for the Seminarian Spotlight spot this week they all come from 2nd year at St John Vianney Seminary in Wagga-Wagga NSW Australia:

Peter Haack

Almarvin Badival

Sean Byrnes  

Bob Francis Ejekwu

Michael Esteban

Generally we ask for each seminarian an offering of a Glory be... but as above please offer what you can, as any prayers or offerings would be a generous gift for them.

Some Changes in the PIF: Please pray this week for...

 I must apologize for our lack of punctuality posting our usual Thursday Priest in Focus spot. We have both been experiencing computer difficulties in one form or another which has hindered our accessibility to the internet. 

Thank you for your patience with us. For now I will post the PIF priest names randomly once a week or once a fortnight; when I can so please keep popping in to catch up on which priests they will be.

We do the best we can as mothers of big families, trying to home school our children, take care of our families and maintain this blog; please keep us in your prayers as well as the priests we offer for you to pray for, as these names come from you.

We are pleased to offer this special place where we can all come to contemplate spiritual matters, pray for the needs of our priests, to share encouragement in this beautiful spiritual motherhood devotion and to pray and do penance for the clergy.  Please feel free to contact us at spiritualmotherhoodforpriests@gmail.com if you have any ideas or great stories to share relating to SM.

I will endevour to add a couple more stories from the booklet soon. Aussie Annie will be back on deck around August and we will move forward in the direction that Our Lord and King may takes us.

This week we offer these priests names:

Fr A Robbie

Fr Fabian, OSB

Fr H Nikel SVD

Fr J Berg, FSSP

Fr. Antoine Thomas

Please offer a Hail Mary for them or any other offering you may like to do.

Also I am adding on the other side of the blog new names for our Seminarian Spotlight:

Please offer a Glory Be.. for each of these young men who are on the path to the priesthood, giving their life to God in a pure and selfless way.

Br. Paul Marie .

Gerard Philip Johnson

Marshall Kinsey

Priest In Focus - Please pray for these priests.

Every Thursday we change the priest’s names for the weekly  
Priests In Focus.

We encourage ladies to offer an Ave for the priests mentioned in the PIF spot when visiting this site. You may wish to offer an Ave for these priests at any time in the week that you may remember. You can find the names of the priests for the week in the top right-hand side bar.

Of course you may also want to offer more than the Ave's, you may want to offer other prayers and sacrifices during the week for these particular priests; whatever you feel called to do, is a blessing.

  

This week's priests are:

Fr S Ledinich

 Fr P Crotty

Fr G Murray

Fr R Bona

Fr T Stock

Fr D Toups

A list of the individual priests we have prayed for here on the blog, are at the bottom of the right-hand side bar.

 If you have any priests you wish to nominate to be added to the Priests in Focus, please email us and we would be more than happy to add that priest to our list.

"May priests commit themselves, with prayer and good works, to obtaining from Christ the Eternal High Priest, the grace to shine with Faith, Hope, Charity and the other virtues, and show by their way of life, but also with their external conduct, that they are dedicated without reserve to the spiritual good of the people something that the Church has always had at heart".

Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles, bless us with holy, courageous priests!

A Hopeful Message from the Pope.

Booklet for Spiritual Mothers for Priests

MAGNIFICAT ~ YEAR FOR PRIESTS COMPANION

Insight. Inspiration. Instruction.

This little publication from Magnificat has only come to my attention today though obviously it has been out since the beginning of the Year for Priests ~ I received an advertising flyer for it, so it must be a booket that can be used for the Year of the Priests and beyond.

It is not expensive ~ $3.95 and they are offering bulk rates as well which may be handy for any Spiritual Motherhood groups wishing to acquire copies for all their members. A great little apostolate to continue on the greater awareness of praying for priests could be to buy a few at bulk rates and distributing at your local parish or to friends you know would be interested.

Here is some information about this booklet:

A unique opportunity to join our Holy Father's invitation to priests

and laity alike to deepen and strengthen our awareness of the gift

of the priesthood, and to grow in intimacy with Christ the great High Priest.

The Magnificat Year for Priests Companion is a one-of-a-kind spiritual

guide designed to accompany you through this special Year with:

* ~Prayers, devotions, meditations, and essays celebrating the priesthood

* ~A special Novena in honor of the Priesthood, each day highlighting a different

dimension of the priestly vocation (Father, Man of Prayer, Preacher, Forgiver of Sins...)

* ~Meditation texts on significant facets of the priesthood by Saint John Vianney,

Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II, Catherine de Hueck Doherty,

Fr. Walter Ciszek, S.J., Sister Briege McKenna, O.S.C., Alec Guinness, and many others

* ~11 beautifully reproduced pages of sacred art masterpieces

Soft-cover, 112-page booklet - Size: 4.5 x 6.7 inches

Here is an exerpt from the booklet:

The Grace of the Presence of Christ

Father Walter Ciszek, S.J.

The moment a priest appeared on the camp grounds by himself or with a fellow priest, he would be joined by passing prisoners. The moment it became known in a new brigade or new barracks or a new camp that a man was a priest, he would be sought out. He didn't have to make friends; they came to him instead. It was a very humbling experience, because you quickly came to appreciate that it was God's grace at work and had little to do with your own efforts. People came to you because you were a priest, not because of what you were personally. They didn't always come, either, expecting wise counsel or spiritual wisdom or an answer to their every difficulty; they came expecting absolution from their sins, the power of the sacrament.

To realize this was a matter of joy and of humility. You realized that they came to you as a man of God, a representative of God, a man chosen from among men and ordained for men in the things that are of God; you realized, too, that this imposed upon you an obligation of service, of ministry, with no thought of personal inconvenience, no matter how tired you might be physically or what risks you might be running in the face of official threats.

For my part, I could not help but see in every encounter with every prisoner the will of God for me, now, at this time and in this place, and the hand of providence that had brought me there by strange and torturous paths...

The things that are of God are all the joys and works and sufferings of each day, however burdensome and boring, routine and insignificant they may seem. It is the priest's function to offer these things back to God for his fellow men and to serve as an example, a witness, a martyr, a testimony before the men around him of God's providence and purpose.

The Holy Father's Conclusion on the YOTP & The Sacred Heart of Jesus.

AND THEY CAME!!!

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI
Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus & the Conclusion of the Year of the Priest - St Peter's Square  Friday, 11 June 2010

Sacred Heart of Jesus I place all my Trust In YOU!

The Wife, Mother and Mystic of Mexico: Venerable Conchita Cabrera de Armida

The wife, mother and mystic of Mexico.

To celebrate the end of this awesome Year of the Priest, I wanted to share with you the amazing life story of Venerable Conchita Cabrera de Armida. She was one of the most amazing mystics of our time; seeming simple and tangible because of her normal life as a daughter, wife, mother, widow, grandmother, friend and companion. Yet in the spiritual reality of her life she lived in a juxtaposition of earthly normality and in an enigmatic union with God. Her children were to say of their mother that they were unaware of anything supernatural in thier her life except that she was the "best mother in the world".
What Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi was for Italy in the 18th/19th century Venerable Conchita was for Mexico in the 19th/20th century both as wives, mothers, and mystic. She wrote more than any other mystics of the Church. In all she did for Christ Crucified, she did in hiddenness during her period of being a wife, homemaker, serving her husband and family. I will try to paint, and all, but incomplete picture of her here; please discover this remarkable inspiration spiritual mother for yourself, she is a model to us all.
Concepcion Cabrera was born in San Luis Potosi the seventh of twelve children. Her mother was very ill after her birth, so Conchita was taken from her mother to a farm a distance away to be feed by a wet nurse. (Notice this compares to another great spiritual mother patron, St Therese, at the beginning of her life).
She was brought up in a family where her father, the head of the home, led the family spiritually with the rosary being said daily. She loved piano and horse riding and was given many responsibilities in the home from a young age. She was attracted to prayer from an early age and after reading about the lives of the saints commenced doing mortifications and sacrifices imagining how she could imitate the holy people who inspired her.

A young lovely Conchita

She grew up quickly and was often mistaken as being older than she was. This brought many young men visiting in the hope of courtship. She met her future husband Pancho at a dance, which she attended under obedience, she was very young, only thirteen. Her parents recognized she was much too young for any marital commitment so after a year they agreed to become engaged. It was a long and very pure engagement lasting nine years. During this period Pancho was a sheer gentleman, they shared prayers and religious poems together. She continued to socialize but only to be close to Pancho - she never forgot about God, for she belonged to Him first.

Panco and Conchita's wedding day.

Conchita said to Our Lord, "Lord, I feel so unable to love You, so I want to get married. Give me many children so they will love You better than I." They married on November 8th 1884. She only asked Pancho for two things: to allow her to go to Holy Communion everyday and to never be jealous. Pancho kept both these promises and support his wife in all her religious devotions and commitments.

I quote now from: CONCHITA - A Mother's Spiritual Diary:

For understanding Conchita.... A brief statement in her Diary reveals to us her state of soul as a young married woman: "Upon seeing, despite my husband's great goodness, marriage did not correspond to what I regarded as life's fullness, instinctively my heart drew closer and closer to God, seeking in Him what was wanting in it. The inner life of my soul had grown in spite of all the joys of the earth". In the very bosom of the greatest joys of love, she feels the limitations and the ephemeral nature of all human love.

Their first child was Francisco born on September 28, 1885.

Francisco (1885-1982)

Then came Carlos who was born on March 28, 1887. He died of typhoid fever at the age of six. Conchita tells us, “His death was heartbreaking for me, and I felt such pain as I had never felt before.”

Manuel her third child, was born in January 23, 1889. He became a Jesuit priest, while living in Spain he wrote to his mother about his decision to become a priest. She wrote back to him, she gave him this advice

“Give yourself to the Lord with all your heart, and do not hold anything back! Forget about creatures and forget especially about yourself! I cannot imagine someone consecrated to God who is not a saint. One cannot give only half of oneself to God. Be generous with him!”

Manuel (1889-1955) -
Ordained a Priest in the Society of Jesus on July 31, 1922 in

Barcelona.

Maria de la Concepción, (Concha) born on September 29, 1890, was their first daughter. At six months she got seriously ill and they young couple prepared for the worst, she recovered. She got terrible ill once again in the year of her first Holy Communion contracting typhoid fever. For 40 days and nights she clung to life but God had other plans as he wanted this beautiful pure flower for Himself . He dictated to Conchita;
"Concha was an angel, extremely pure, filled with hidden qualities and virtues. Modesty was her dominant note. How many virtues I saw her practice in the bosom of the family and in the intimacy of the home! She was a jewel, a pearl, a precious 'shell' a lily... At fifteen she made a vow of virginity, and at seventeen and a half she entered religion... A pure jewel not made for this world... The Lord chose her for Himself “She entered the convent of the Sisters of the Cross of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on October 23, 1916.

Maria de la Concepción (1890-1925)

Conchita and Pancho had five other children: Ignacio, Pablo, Salvador, Pedro, and Guadalupe.
While she was sewing one day she suddenly heard a voice that said to her, “Pedrito is in the pool in the garden.” She ran to him but it was too late. Had drowned in the garden pool; he was only six.

Ignacio1893 - 1979

Pablo 1895 - 1913

Salvador 1896 - 1975

Guadalupe (Lupe) 1898 - 1980

Conchita loved her husband and family but she had a burning desire of love toward Our Lord. She asked permission to mark herself with a monogram of Christ and had the initials J.H.S cut into her chest (Jesus Salvator Hominun – Jesus, Saviour of Men). After this she had a supernatural force which threw her to the ground and from within she burned with the flames of love for Christ. Vehemently and zealously I asked the Lord for the salvation of souls! Jesus Saviour of souls, save them, save them!
She was transformed and the Spirituality of the Cross was born. Subsequently she began to understand more deeply the imitation of Christ and the joy of suffering. In a vision she saw the Holy Spirit as a cross with a dove, a flaming heart encircled by thorns with tiny crosses fastened to it. This image became the symbol of her spiritual works which she founded, the “Works of the Cross” . She now had a mission outside of her family life yet never neglecting her duties to the state of her life as wife and mother. She considered these duties sacred and carried them out perfectly.

The image Jesus revealed to her for the “Works of the Cross”

The Apostolate of the Cross is an organization whose members unite their sufferings with the sufferings of Christ in order to save souls. The Lord revealed to her an order of contemplative nuns dedicated to this life and a congregation of men that would share this message of the cross for the salvation of souls, to the whole world. This is also shared with the lay man and woman in the Love Crucified Communities who seek to live the spirituality of Venerable Conchita as victim souls to do Gods will for the glory of the Father.

The Lord revealed Himself to her as Victim, Priest and Host. Her entire spiritual doctrine was marked be a priestly character. Our Lord sorrowfully revealed to her the lack of fervour of some priests. He told her," You are destined for the salvation of souls, most especially souls of priests. I want you to be My Host and have the intention of offering yourself with Me on all the patens on earth. I want you transformed in me by suffering, and by the practice of all the virtues, to raise heavenward this cry of your soul in union with me; ‘This is My Body, This is my blood." This was the essence of her Works of the Cross.

"This Cross will chase away the devil, spread warmth and life, cure souls and bodies, and make many miracles" - The Promise of Jesus to Ven. Concepción Cabrera de Armida.

Panco with some of the children

She knew on the night of her husband death that the Lord was asking her to sacrifice her husband, she accepted this within her soul but her present earthly being rejected and refused it. It was like a sword piercing her soul without consolation. Her beloved Pancho died a holy death on September 1901, she was by his side with her four older children, at the time her eldest was only 16. Our Lady was her source of strength, asking her to help in the upbringing of her young family. She suffered terribly the loss of her husband. She meet a priest soon afterward Pancho's death who gave her spiritual consolation and would help her develop and found the "Works of the Cross" – Fr Felix Rougier de Jesus. They would give counsel and advice to one another until the end of their lives.

Fr Felix de Jesus Rougier.

At 44 Conchita was inspired by God to rise up a group of spiritual elite to be consecrated to God in the service of the Church, called the “Chain of Love". This was the central grace of her life.

The Mexican Bishops learned of the Apostolate of the Cross and the desire for a foundation of priests; “The Priest of the Cross.” In 1913 Conchita was requested by the Congregation for Religious to send her writings to Rome which contained the secrets of her soul and her spiritual life. She had a private interview with Pope St Pius X and he gave his blessing and approval to the new congregation of priests with the new name of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit.

Pope St Pius X

In the 1920’s Mexico was undergoing a political crisis and the Church was being heavily persecuted. Conchita prayed fervently for her country’s Church. She prayed without ceasing for priests and bishops and bravely hid them in her home. On March 3rd 1937 she died a quiet and holy death from bronchial pneumonia and other illnesses.

References:

Modern Saints Their Lives and Faces, Book Two by Ann Ball.
Conchita A Mother’s Spiritual Diary. Edited by Marie-Michel Philipon

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“MOTHER, TEACH ME HOW TO BE A PRIEST!”

 This is a beautiful article adapted from the booklet - Adoration, Reparation, Spiritual Motherhood for Priests. It has a different perspective from the top posting; it illustrates Conchita as a mother, a spiritual mother to her son Manuel:

Father Manuel

Jesus prepared her to live a life of spiritual motherhood for priests. In the future, she will be of great importance for the universal Church.

Jesus once explained to Conchita,

“There are souls, who through ordination receive a priestly anointing. However, there are ... also priestly souls who do not have the dignity or the ordination of a priest, yet have a priestly mission. They offer themselves united to me… these souls help the Church in a very powerful spiritual way. … You will be the mother of a great number of spiritual children, yet they will cost your heart the death of a thousand martyrs.

“Bring yourself as an offering for the priests. Unite your offering with my offering, to obtain graces for them.” … “I want to come again into this world. … in my priests. I want to renew the world by revealing myself through the priests. I want to give my Church a powerful impulse in which I will pour out the Holy Spirit over my priests like a new Pentecost.

“The Church and the world need a new Pentecost, a priestly Pentecost, an interior Pentecost.”

As a young girl, Conchita once prayed before the Blessed Sacrament, “Lord, I feel so incapable of loving you; therefore, I want to marry. Give me many children so that they can love you more than I.”

Conchita as a very beautiful young lady.

She had a very happy marriage, and gave birth to nine children—two girls and seven boys, each of whom she consecrated to Our Lady, “I give them entirely to you as your children. You know that I am not capable of raising them. I understand too little of what it means to be a mother. But you...you know it.” She endured the death of four of her children, each dying a holy death.

Naturally, Conchita’s spiritual motherhood was very apparent in one of her sons who became a priest. She wrote about him, “Manuel was born in the same hour that Fr. José Camacho died. Upon hearing the news, I prayed to God that my son could replace him at the altar. … When little Manuel began to talk, we prayed together for the great grace of a vocation to the priesthood. … On the day of his First Holy Communion and on all the major solemnities, he renewed this prayer. … At the age of 17, he joined the Society of Jesus.”

In 1914, she met Manuel in Spain for the last time, because he never returned to Mexico. He wrote in a letter to her, “My dear little mother, you have shown me the way. Fortunately, I have heard from your lips since my earliest years the challenging and saving teaching of the Cross. Now I want to put it into practice.” His mother felt the pain of separation, “I took your letter to the tabernacle and told the Lord that I accept this sacrifice with my whole soul. The next day I was carrying your letter close to my heart when I received Holy Communion and, in this way, renewed my total offering to the Lord.”

“MOTHER, TEACH ME HOW TO BE A PRIEST!”

On 23 July 1922, one week before his ordination to the priesthood, the 33-year-old Manuel asked Conchita in a letter,
“Mother, teach me how to be a priest! Tell me about the immeasurable joy of being able to celebrate Holy Mass. I put everything back into your hands, just as when you held me to your chest as a very small child, teaching me the beautiful names of Jesus and Mary and introducing me to this mystery. I really feel like an infant asking for your light, your prayer and your sacrifice. ... As soon as I am a priest, I will send you my blessing, and then I will receive yours on my knees.”

On 31 July 1922, as Manuel was being ordained to the priesthood in Barcelona, Conchita woke up in the middle of the night so that she could participate spiritually in his ordination. She was overcome by the awareness, “I am the mother of a priest! … I can only cry and give thanks! I invite all of heaven to give thanks in my place because I am incapable of doing it, I who am so wretched.” Ten years later, she wrote to her son, “I cannot imagine a priest who is not Jesus, even less so in the Society of Jesus. I pray that your transformation into Christ, through celebrating Holy Mass, may help you to become Jesus day and night.” (17 May 1932) “What would we do without the Cross? Life would be unbearable without pain; it unites, sanctifies, purifies and attains grace.” (10 June 1932)Fr. Manuel died a holy death in 1955 at the age of 66.

The Lord enlightened Conchita regarding her apostolate, “I will entrust to you a different martyrdom: you will suffer what the priests undertake against me. You will experience and offer up their infidelity and wretchedness.” This spiritual motherhood for the sanctification of priests and the Church consumed her completely at the age of 74.

Prayer That a Child May Be a Priest or Religious

Blessed mother, Mary, the greatest joy and honour of a parent is to train their child, by word and example, to dedicate their entire life to loving your Son, Jesus. All of us are called to this love by whatever vocation we have. In the providence of God, I have been called to love God as a parent, and with your help and intercession, my child has grown to know and love God. I now pray that my child might have a vocation to serve God in a special way by entering into His holy service.

Freely do I give my child (mention name here) to God, for God freely gave my child to me. And in His all-pervading love for us both, we will be reunited in heaven. Let my child see the true values of living in holy and constant communion with your Divine Son. Encourage in the heart of my child a willingness to bear with any burden in order to love God more faithfully, and to love everyone in the world for God's sake.

Please make my child worthy of a call from God to a special and total dedication to God's family here on earth. I ask this of you, holy mother, only because of my deep love for your Son. Help me always to be a good example in my home, so that my child can learn how God's love has been ever with us.

Amen

LITANY FOR PRIESTS:

written by Venerable Concepción Cabrera de Armida, (spiritual mother of priests), September 18, 1921.

For our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, R. Lord, give him your Heart of the Good Shepherd.

For the successors of the Apostles, R. Lord, give them fatherly concern for their priests.

For your Bishops chosen by the Holy Spirit, R. Lord, keep them close to your sheep.

For your Pastors, R. Lord, teach them to serve rather than to seek to be served.

For confessors and spiritual directors, R. Lord, make them docile instruments of your Spirit.

For those who announce Your Word, R. Lord, let them communicate your Spirit and Life.

For those who help the lay apostolate, R. Lord, encourage them to give witness.

For those who work with the youth, R. Lord, may they commit the youth to you.

For those who work among the poor, R. Lord, make them see and serve you in them.

For those who care for the sick, R. May they teach them the value of suffering, Lord.

For poor priests, R. Help them, Lord.

For sick priests, R. Heal them, Lord.

For elderly priests, R. Give them joyful hope, Lord.

For the sad and afflicted, R. Console them, Lord.

For anxious and troubled priests, R. Give them your peace, Lord.

For the ridiculed and persecuted, R. Defend their cause, Lord.

For lukewarm priests, R. Inflame them, Lord.

For the discouraged, R. Give them courage, Lord.

For those who aspire to the priesthood, R. Give them perseverance, Lord.

To all priests, R. Give them fidelity to you and your Church, Lord.

To all priests, R. Give them obedience and love for the Holy Father, Lord.

To all priests, R. Let them live in communion with their Bishop, Lord.

That all priests, R. Be one as you, Lord, and the Father are One.

That all priests, R. May promote the justice with which you, Lord, are just.

That all priests, R. Collaborate in the unity of the Presbyterate, Lord.

That all priests, filled with your presence, R. Live joyfully in celibacy, Lord.

To all priests, R. Grant them the fullness of your Spirit, Lord, and transform them into yourself.

In a special way, I pray for those priests through whom I have received your graces. I pray for the priest who baptized me and for those who have absolved me of my sins, reconciling me with you and with your Church. I pray for those priests in whose Masses I have participated and who have given me your Body as nourishment. I pray for those priests who have shared your Word with me, and for those who have helped me and led me to you.

Amen.