Creative obedience in Blessed Maria Romero

San José (Costa Rica). July 7, 2024 marks the 46^th anniversary of the departure for Heaven of Blessed Sister Maria Romero Meneses (1902-1977), Daughter of Mary Help of Christians from Central America who, like and with Mary Most Holy freely accomplished the Will of God.

“Obedience is realized not by persons blocked at the stage of dependence but by those who are capable of healthy autonomy and decision-making and who, with a sense of responsibility, develop the parable of communion in the community” (Rooted in the Covenant. Formation Plan FMA, 2000, p. 157).

Like Mary Most Holy who, starting from her full experience of the Holy Spirit, freely became the handmaid of the Lord, a docile and creative instrument, mediation of divine Grace, because “when the Word of God, infused with the Holy Spirit, is received with an open heart, it does not leave things as they were before: never. Something changes. And this is the grace and the power of the Word of God. Christian life is at the same time a work of obedience and of creativity. Good Christians must be obedient, but they must be creative. Obedient, because they listen to the Word of God; creative, because they have the Holy Spirit within who drives them to be so, to lead them forward.” (Pope Francis, Audience 27 January 2021).

These two dimensions, creativity and obedience, integrated and merged wonderfully in Blessed Maria Romero. On the one hand, she enjoyed exceptional intelligence, combined with her talent as an artist in music and painting. On the other hand, she had let the Holy Spirit act in her, a profound experience of God that urged her in a constant dynamism to go out of herself to give herself to others, according to the Will of God, overcoming tendencies towards self-pity and to selfish demands.

Sister Maria Romero “loves with a love that touches the depths of her being and lights it up and consumes it like the ‘burning bush’ of Moses: she loves God and her neighbor in Him and for Him. She loves and abandons herself totally to the life-giving action of the Holy Spirit, sanctifying energy of God operating in our lives, which transforms us” (Dalcerri Lina, in Spiritual Writings, Vol. I).

From her mystical experience the desire for the conversion of sinners, the love for the poor, the desire that everyone carries the love of Jesus and Mary in their hearts is born, grows, matures, and consolidates in her. From this comes the “fantasy of charity”, the “ability to imagine ways of caring for others, and the courage to start new projects that give hope to the discouraged and lead to the acceptance of the excluded” (Conesa Francisco, Bishop of Minorca, 20 June 2020).

“Do with freedom whatever charity requires!” (L 35,3): the echo of Mother Mazzarello’s words takes shape in the imagination of the charity of Blessed Maria Romero. In her, this creative charity was brilliant, especially in the first half of the 20^th century. She did not limit herself to working in schools, but went out, through her missionaries, to go from house to house to bring the Gospel and material help. She did not limit herself only to the oratory of her community, but she managed to found 36 oratories in the suburbs, in coordination with the Archbishops and parish priests. She tirelessly propagated devotion to Mary Help of Christians; she opened social works…

“I desire many things and the things I desire, I desire very much, but only for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls. And I always submit these things to obedience, believing that if He does not grant them to me, renunciation will be for the Lord of greater glory and for me of greater good… the thousands and thousands of souls who run and run blindly in the darkness of death… Ah, Mother Margarita! my heart… How I understand our Father [Don Bosco] in his cry: “Da mihi animas…” (Letter to Mother Margarita Sobrero, 10 December 1973).

“I submit all things to obedience” was a constant in her life, in her longing to be configured to Jesus Christ, the obedient Servant of the Father (cf. Phil 2:5-8). And this configuration was not easy. She experienced profound suffering, anguish, crucifixion, death. One director prohibited her from asking for alms for the oratories; another humiliated her publicly; a Provincial interrupted the work of the suburban oratories; she was forbidden to give the water of the Virgin and to receive the people who came looking for her… and these weren’t for days; these were for years… Sister Maria’s greatest suffering was not for herself, but for the good that could not be done. It was her purification and she experienced that her work was not hers but the Lord’s, and He never left her alone.

But believe me, above all, and even above my main desire, for which and around which all others revolve, there is His Holy Will, which I prefer to Heaven itself, because I prefer, as Saint Francis de Sales said, to be a mosquito by God’s will and not a seraph by my own will. For this reason, at the end of my ardent supplications, I conclude by saying to Him, “But not my will, but Yours be done; may it be done to me according to Your word; into Your hands I entrust my spirit” (Letter to Fr. Wenceslao Doležal, SDB, 21 November 1957).

Today, Blessed Maria Romero encourages us not to fall into the double temptation when faced with dreams and projects of good, moving forward with arrogance or remaining stagnant in mortal submission. She encourages us to contemplate everything in the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ, to remind ourselves that the works are not one’s own, they are the Lord’s, and to trust totally and radically in Mary Help of Christians.

“And I am very sure, also from my long experience, that with the help of the Virgin, authorized by obedience and NOTHING MORE, everything will be fine, because She is the one who does everything!” (Letter to Mother Pilar Letón, then Provincial of Central America, 8 December 1972).

1 of 2