SPIRITUAL MATHERHOOD
of Concepción Cabrera de Armida
(Conchita)
Fr. Jordi Rivero
various sources, mostly Fr. Juan Esquerda Bifet.
Conchita had a passion for her maternal mission.
Since she was a girl Conchita wanted to be a mother and have many children so that many would come to love Christ. She married at the age of 22 and became a model wife and mother of nine.
Sher writes: I feel that my mission is being a mother. With infinite ardor, I wish to encompass in my soul the love from all of Heaven and Earth; the immense and maternal love of Mary (CC 58,44).
Conchita's Fiat with Mary
Conchita identifies
I shall live within Mary, imitating her virtues and her love for the Holy Trinity. The Mystical Incarnation places the soul in an intimate contact with the three Divine Persons. In them and in Mary, I shall fuse my life, and not only the spiritual life, but material as well, fusing it, as well, in the offering of the Word to the Father. I shall within the same offering, eat, sleep, rejoice, suffer, etc., etc.; all of my life simplified in that constant offering, which glorifies all of the Holy Trinity all of my life, in union with Mary, without leaving Mary, imitating her in her love for Jesus, in her total submission to the Father, doing only that which is inspired by the Holy Spirit (CC 46,93-94; Oct. 27 1926).
Jesus desires her love (and continues to seek for spiritual mothers!)
Jesus speaks: Why have I desired that you call me Son? Because those affections and tenderness that I am drawing out of your heart should be rightfully mine.
Once she embraces Jesus as her first son, He gives her many other sons. Through her they will be united to Jesus and and receive His graces.
Conchita´s natural family was only the beginning of her maternity. On March 25th 1906, the feast of the Annunciation, when Jesus became incarnate in Mary by the Holy Spirit, Jesus became mystically incarnate in Conchita. Jesus will call her to mother of many.
Conchita, with Mary, enters a profound relationship with the Trinity: The Father gave her the Holy Spirit by which Jesus became mystically incarnate in her. Jesus took Conchita as His spiritual mother! He thus becomes her "first son", making her spiritual motherhood immensely fruitful, giving life in the Spirit to many. Her sons and daughters are thus Jesus' brothers and sisters and He gives many graces to them. She is mother of nine (including one priest). Also, by the grace of God, she becomes spiritual mother to many priests and of a large spiritual family known as The Family of the Cross. Mons. Martínez, her spiritual director helped her to understand and embrace her vocation, as God was doing great things for her.
"Because you are mother, reflecting Mary, you are mystically Mine and of my priests"
According to the Spirit, I am your first son and if you have other children in this manner, it is the relationship you have with Me that makes them my brothers and sisters: it is due to the proliferation of the Spirit given to your soul by my Father all of the graces that you have made possible for your children, have been given to them because of Me, by the divine action that is operating in you, as an attention to my merits (CC 50,232-237, 21-XI-1908).
And why do you think it is that I have chosen you to be a conduit to my church and those who make it up, through which I can pour out these secrets from my heart? You are a mother with a reflection of Mary; mystically My Mother and mother of my Priests, because, Oh, wonderful secret that you were not aware of: upon the realization of the Mystical Incarnation in your heart, due to the fruitfulness of the Father, the Holy Spirit deposited the Verb into your soul, and with Him, my daughter, his priests as well! You did not know about this origin, you were not even aware of it, but due to your Mystical Maternity of the Eternal Priest, that of the priests (the mystical maternity of priests) reflects in your soul. They will never separate themselves from Him because it is their duty to represent Him, transformed into Him. (CC 50,176-177, 6-I-1928).
Conchita's spiritual motherhood is a vocation to be victim soul.Mary is the prototype of all spiritual mothers. She lived giving herself, culminating at the cross. No woman can become a spiritual mother if she is not ready to embrace the cross, to become a mother of sorrows and to have her heart pierced with Mary´s. (Cf Lk 2,35).
The Lord tells Conchita:
If you want to save souls, transform yourself at the cross (Life 4, 143)
Offer yourself as victim in union with me (Life 3,8)
I have chosen you as special victim (Life 6,125)
"I have asked you many times that you sacrifice for them, that you receive them as yours, through the reflection of Mary in you" (CC50,175-176)
She wants to carry their sins as if her own (cf Life 4, 146)
"For these I fell... and for these you have much to suffer... but graces will pour" (Life 4, 152)
She identified herself more and more with the intimate sufferings of the Heart of Jesus and with His abandonment on the Cross... Her prayer took refuge in the prayer of Christ at Gethsemane. She was united to the feelings of the Crucified... Bifet pg 20; cf Philipon, Diario espiritual de una madre de familia. pp 126.128.
The relationship of a Spiritual Mother with her priest son
Conchita is a victim soul for priests and this is the basis for her relationship with them. As a victim souls, she always follows the indications of Jesus (Vida 4, 152). She also is always under a spiritual director. She always sees and treats the priests as she would Christ. The Lord gave her a specific mission: "You are destined for the sanctification of souls, most specially that of priests" (Life 4,257-258). Thus she sacrifices for them but does not pamper them, nor draws attention to herself. She desires that they become and thus act as Christ, giving their lives to save souls. All of this means that Conchita loves the priests with the love of Mary which is possible due to her profound union with her. Conchita radiates Mary´s purity and virtues. All Spiritual Mothers must strive for the same. This is only possible by going with Mary to the Cross and becoming with her a victim of love. See Path.
Conchita gives her Fiat as spiritual mother of Jesus and mother of all He sends her.
She does so with passion, putting her whole heart into it. Yet that is not sufficient for her. She strives to immitate God's love. God delights in this zeal of the saints.
Sher writes:
Oh my loving, adored and dear Jesus! Overwhelmed by so many delicacies from your Heart of a Son, I come to tell you that I accept before heaven and earth and the seas and in time and in eternity, and before the Father and You, Lord, and the Holy Spirit, the spiritual and mystical maternity in all of its forms so that with You my Jesus, and for the thousands of sons that You wish to give me. They will be priests, men and women, anything You wish, only whatever You wish, because your pleasure will be my pleasure and your desire my desire.
Conchita: I have simplified my life in being a mother, my affections in Him, I beg the Father for a thread of his tenderness; from Mary a beat from her heart; from the Holy Spirit His fire, His ardors, His love of light, that does not cause any harm to caress my Jesus. I work to simplify my life.
In being a mother, mother for Him, mother for all. I want to imitate the Father, being all goodness all mercifulness. The Son, in his life of sacrifice, and in his virtues, and loving Him with a maternal love. And the Holy Spirit, loving Him with His own love, being docile to His inspirations (CC 47,345.356, Jan. 26 and 28 1927).
After pondering this, enter into prayer and ask the Father for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit for understanding. If you are called to be a Spiritual Mother, live it with all your heart.
