Spreading joy

Yet another Carmelite saint who died young! In the life of Blessed María Felicia Guggiarri Echeverría OCD (1925-1959), familiarly known as ‘Chiquitunga’, whose feast day is today, we can discern similarities with Therese of Lisieux.  She was born on January 12th, 1925, in Villarrica del Espíritu Santo, Paraguay.  From a very young age, she demonstrated a great inclination to minister to the needs of the poorest and helpless. She was in charge of caring for people with limited resources who came to her house asking for help.  She was cheerful, vivacious, and always very friendly with everyone.  The motto of her life was: ‘I offer you everything, my Lord’. This phrase headed all her writings.  She obtained her Master’s Degree in 1945. Meanwhile she dedicated herself fully to an active apostolate to the poorest.  She spent long hours before the Blessed Sacrament, and her brothers recalled that at night Chiquitunga could be seen in her room on her knees submerged in deep prayer. In the year 1950 she moved with her family to Asunción and embarked on teacher training until 1952.  In this year she fell in love with Ángel Sauá Llanes, a young leader of Catholic action and a medical student, but he decided to train for the priesthood in Europe. Despite opposition from her family, she entered Carmel on February 2nd, 1955, at 30 years old.  In the convent lit up by her joy and helpfulness, it was said that ‘God sent us Sr. Maria Felicia to put a special note of joy in our house’.  After initial constant and uninterrupted hours of joy, she began to enter a dark night that led her to doubt her vocation and consider the possibility of withdrawing, but in due course she recovered her peace and happiness. She always believed that she had “an iron health” but she fell victim to infectious hepatitis, which had already taken one of her sisters to the grave, and died in January 1959.  She lived her last days with total abandonment to the will of God. At the end she asked to read the poem of Saint Teresa of Jesus: ‘I die because I do not die’. She was beatified in 2018.

Intercessions:

Brian Davis – cancer

Marie, Bernard (and wife Angela) - cancer

Siena, Elara – sick children

Wojtek – massive heart attack leaving him incapacitated

David - housebound

Sophia – blind infant

Rebekah – in hospital

Rogelio Galan RIP