St Maravillas of Jesus

I want to be generous with God and to refuse Him nothing. I do not want to say, “I will go just so far and no farther.”

COMMENT: Today is the feast of St Maria Maravillas of Jesus, a Discalced Carmelite who died in 1974 and was canonised in 2003, making hers one of the fastest canonisations in the Church.

St Maravillas was a latter-day Teresa of Avila, founding numerous Carmelite convents throughout Spain (and one in India) which adhere to strict enclosure and to the original rule of St Teresa. She was also sent to reform the convent of the Incarnation in Avila in the 1960’s. She suffered much during the persecutions of the Spanish Civil War, coming close to death on some occasions.

The miracle accredited to her intercession as part of the canonisation process was quite extraordinary, and involved the immediate and complete recovery of an 18 month old boy who fell into a muddy pool and had stopped breathing and who fell into a coma. The account of this miracle is so extraordinary, I have included a full history of it here: St Maravillas miracle

St Maravillas, just like Fr Doyle and all of the saints, had great confidence and trust in God. One of the great indicators of growth in holiness is a total abandonment to the will of God. Here are two quotes from St Maravillas that echo Fr Doyle’s quote for today.

Holiness is very simple: let yourself go confidently and lovingly into God’s arms, wanting and doing what you believe he wants.

And

Lord, when You want, how You want, what You want: this is the only thing that we want and desire.

Let us pray to St Maravillas and to Fr Doyle for an increase in our own trust in God.