WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.660 Welcome to the deep dive today. We are we're 00:00:03.660 --> 00:00:05.440 immersing ourselves in some really fascinating 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:07.960 source material Yeah, we're looking at the Wikipedia 00:00:07.960 --> 00:00:11.220 biographical archives of a woman who just Well, 00:00:11.259 --> 00:00:13.500 she defies almost every historical and spiritual 00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:15.400 category You could try to put her in right her 00:00:15.400 --> 00:00:18.280 full name is Maria Concepcion Cabrera Arias de 00:00:18.280 --> 00:00:20.760 Armida So she's far better known to history and 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:23.059 to the millions who follow her spiritual lineage 00:00:23.059 --> 00:00:26.600 today simply as Conchita OK, let's unpack this 00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:28.760 right from the start. What's the mission for 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:30.920 our deep dive today? Well, the mission is to 00:00:30.920 --> 00:00:34.140 unpack a really profound historical paradox. 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:38.939 We are examining how a laywoman. You know, a 00:00:38.939 --> 00:00:42.140 busy mother, a grieving widow, a citizen living 00:00:42.140 --> 00:00:44.219 through one of the most devastating conflicts 00:00:44.219 --> 00:00:46.640 of the early 20th century. The Mexican Revolution. 00:00:46.899 --> 00:00:49.740 Exactly. How did she manage to cultivate an interior 00:00:49.740 --> 00:00:52.420 life so intensely deep that she's now officially 00:00:52.420 --> 00:00:55.000 recognized as a beatified mystic by the Catholic 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:58.039 Church? It's the intersection of extreme, gritty, 00:00:58.060 --> 00:01:01.259 everyday reality and just towering mystical theology. 00:01:01.460 --> 00:01:03.719 Yeah, and the archives give us a specific metric 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:05.599 that immediately reframes how we have to look 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:08.599 at her. The page count. A page can. I mean, this 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:11.019 is a woman raising nine children in a bustling 00:01:11.019 --> 00:01:14.180 household, and she wrote over 60 ,000 handwritten 00:01:14.180 --> 00:01:17.480 pages of religious and theological reflections. 00:01:17.900 --> 00:01:20.060 It's staggering. Just to put that into a historical 00:01:20.060 --> 00:01:23.459 perspective for you listening, that volume of 00:01:23.459 --> 00:01:26.859 complex theological writing rivals the lifetime 00:01:26.859 --> 00:01:29.959 output of St. Thomas Aquinas. Right, and Aquinas 00:01:29.959 --> 00:01:33.150 was a friar. His literal full -time vocation 00:01:33.150 --> 00:01:36.370 was to sit in quiet rooms, study, and write the 00:01:36.370 --> 00:01:39.510 foundational texts of Western theology. And Conchita 00:01:39.510 --> 00:01:42.590 was changing diapers. She was managing a massive 00:01:42.590 --> 00:01:44.849 household and trying to keep her family alive 00:01:44.849 --> 00:01:48.030 during a literal war. It forces a complete recalibration 00:01:48.030 --> 00:01:50.010 of our assumptions, doesn't it? When we hear 00:01:50.010 --> 00:01:52.590 the word mystic, the cultural imagination immediately 00:01:52.590 --> 00:01:56.060 conjures up. an isolated hermit in a cave, or 00:01:56.060 --> 00:01:58.159 a cloistered monk with a vow of silence. Right, 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:00.060 completely detached from the material concerns 00:02:00.060 --> 00:02:03.140 of the world. But Conchita obliterates that stereotype. 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:05.739 The archival materials make it abundantly clear 00:02:05.739 --> 00:02:08.400 she was deeply, inextricably embedded in the 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:11.319 loud, messy reality of family life. She wasn't 00:02:11.319 --> 00:02:14.240 a mystic who escaped the world. She plunged directly 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:16.039 into the center of it. I think that's the perfect 00:02:16.039 --> 00:02:18.719 place to start. Let's look at the early life 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:21.500 of this everyday mystic. The historical record 00:02:21.500 --> 00:02:25.599 shows she was born on December 8, 1862. In San 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:28.680 Luis Potosí, Mexico. To Octaviano Cabrera Lacavex 00:02:28.680 --> 00:02:32.020 and Clara Arias Rivera. And what we know about 00:02:32.020 --> 00:02:34.580 her upbringing paints a picture of a respectable, 00:02:35.099 --> 00:02:38.259 somewhat standard middle -class reality for that 00:02:38.259 --> 00:02:41.080 era. She wasn't born into abject poverty, but 00:02:41.080 --> 00:02:43.039 she certainly wasn't shielded by aristocratic 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:45.969 royalty either. And amidst that standard upbringing, 00:02:46.069 --> 00:02:49.069 there's this wonderfully humanizing detail preserved 00:02:49.069 --> 00:02:51.330 in her own recollections. Oh, I love this part. 00:02:51.389 --> 00:02:53.969 She openly remembered being a frequently disobedient 00:02:53.969 --> 00:02:56.729 child. I have to admit, that detail is incredibly 00:02:56.729 --> 00:03:00.110 refreshing. Isn't it? So often, biographical 00:03:00.110 --> 00:03:02.969 accounts of beatified figures or saints are just 00:03:02.969 --> 00:03:05.250 retroactively sanitized. They try to paint them 00:03:05.250 --> 00:03:07.550 as entirely flawless from birth. Right, like 00:03:07.550 --> 00:03:10.449 infants who supposedly never cried and toddlers 00:03:10.449 --> 00:03:12.969 who spent all day in silent prayer. But Conchita 00:03:12.969 --> 00:03:15.680 herself... shattered that illusion. She admitted 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:18.900 she was a difficult, unruly kid. It instantly 00:03:18.900 --> 00:03:21.340 bridges the gap between her and the reader. It 00:03:21.340 --> 00:03:24.479 does. It establishes a narrative of genuine human 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:27.580 development. But right alongside that childhood 00:03:27.580 --> 00:03:30.639 unruliness, the biographical texts point out 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:33.860 an unusual, intense devotion to the Holy Eucharist 00:03:33.860 --> 00:03:36.860 from a very young age. So you see this duality 00:03:36.860 --> 00:03:39.479 forming early. She's a regular, occasionally 00:03:39.479 --> 00:03:42.039 defiant child who simultaneously possesses a 00:03:42.039 --> 00:03:45.139 profound, almost inexplicable spiritual gravity. 00:03:45.300 --> 00:03:47.939 She wasn't an angel. She was a human being grappling 00:03:47.939 --> 00:03:50.520 with a deep spiritual pull. And that duality 00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:53.460 only intensifies as she enters adulthood. In 00:03:53.460 --> 00:03:56.639 1884, at the age of 21, she marries Francisco 00:03:56.639 --> 00:03:59.680 Armida. And over the next 15 years, between 1885 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:02.719 and 1899, they have nine children. I really want 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:05.960 you, the listener, to pause and fully internalize 00:04:05.960 --> 00:04:08.479 the sheer physical, biological, and emotional 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:11.199 reality of that timeline. Nine children. In 15 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:13.340 years. This is late 19th century Mexico. There 00:04:13.340 --> 00:04:16.079 are no modern appliances. No modern conveniences. 00:04:16.339 --> 00:04:18.620 And infant mortality rates are staggeringly high. 00:04:18.759 --> 00:04:21.199 She was essentially pregnant or nursing continuously 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:23.920 for a decade and a half. The physical toll is 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:27.000 immense. Understanding it is crucial to understanding 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:29.779 her theology. Add to that the emotional labor 00:04:29.779 --> 00:04:32.060 of raising nine distinct per - personalities. 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:34.959 Managing a large domestic staff. Constantly facing 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:37.139 the threat of childhood illnesses, which, as 00:04:37.139 --> 00:04:39.420 you noted, were frequently fatal in that era 00:04:39.420 --> 00:04:42.259 without antibiotics. The central question her 00:04:42.259 --> 00:04:45.180 life poses is how does a person maintain any 00:04:45.180 --> 00:04:48.139 sense of distinct individual identity under those 00:04:48.139 --> 00:04:50.920 crushing domestic demands? Let alone cultivate 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:54.439 one of the 20th century's most prolific and complex 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:57.540 interior spiritual lives. Because you would assume 00:04:57.540 --> 00:05:00.279 a household with nine young children would be 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:03.420 the antithesis of a spiritual incubator. The 00:05:03.420 --> 00:05:06.579 noise, the constant demands, the physical exhaustion. 00:05:06.860 --> 00:05:08.839 You would think she'd be operating entirely in 00:05:08.839 --> 00:05:11.540 survival mode. But the timeline in the archives 00:05:11.540 --> 00:05:14.480 shows something extraordinary. Her profound mystical 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:16.600 experiences didn't wait for her kids to grow 00:05:16.600 --> 00:05:20.220 up and move out. No, they didn't. In 1894, right 00:05:20.220 --> 00:05:22.480 in the thick of raising these toddlers and infants, 00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:24.899 the records indicate she experienced what is 00:05:24.899 --> 00:05:28.040 termed spiritual nuptials. Now, for someone not 00:05:28.040 --> 00:05:30.759 steeped in Catholic mystical theology, What exactly 00:05:30.759 --> 00:05:33.300 does that mean? It sounds intensely intimate. 00:05:33.620 --> 00:05:36.139 It is intensely intimate. In the broader tradition 00:05:36.139 --> 00:05:38.600 of Christian mysticism, echoing figures like 00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:41.180 St. Teresa of Avila or St. John of the Cross, 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:45.319 the term spiritual nuptials refers to a definitive 00:05:45.319 --> 00:05:47.699 transforming union between the soul and God. 00:05:47.980 --> 00:05:50.500 It's not a fleeting moment of peace during prayer. 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:54.740 It's described as a permanent, unbreakable, internal 00:05:54.740 --> 00:05:58.040 vow. So the soul is inextricably bound to the 00:05:58.040 --> 00:06:00.939 divine. Exactly. What is so staggering about 00:06:00.939 --> 00:06:04.120 Conchita's experience is the context. Historically, 00:06:04.279 --> 00:06:06.899 this level of mystical union is almost exclusively 00:06:06.899 --> 00:06:09.279 documented in cloistered monastics who spend 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:12.420 decades in silent contemplation. And Conchita 00:06:12.420 --> 00:06:15.180 experienced this profound internal milestone 00:06:15.180 --> 00:06:17.720 while she was actively managing a household of 00:06:17.720 --> 00:06:20.160 young children. The mystical breakthrough happened 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:22.720 concurrently with the mundane reality of motherhood. 00:06:22.779 --> 00:06:24.740 That is just incredible. But as we move into 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:27.560 the next phase of her life, from 1901 to 1921, 00:06:28.139 --> 00:06:30.319 the narrative takes a sharp, devastating turn. 00:06:30.339 --> 00:06:34.660 It really does. In 1901, tragedy strikes. Conchita 00:06:34.660 --> 00:06:37.579 is just 39 years old when her husband Francisco 00:06:37.579 --> 00:06:40.199 suddenly dies. Overnight, she is left to raise 00:06:40.199 --> 00:06:42.540 these nine children entirely on her own, the 00:06:42.540 --> 00:06:44.379 youngest being only two years old at the time. 00:06:44.620 --> 00:06:47.060 We have to slow down and really consider the 00:06:47.060 --> 00:06:50.240 socioeconomic reality of a widow in 1901 Mexico. 00:06:50.699 --> 00:06:53.319 She lost her partner, her primary source of financial 00:06:53.319 --> 00:06:55.680 stability, and the father of her nine children. 00:06:55.839 --> 00:06:58.300 The sheer panic and grief of that moment would 00:06:58.300 --> 00:07:01.300 be enough to break almost anyone, but her personal 00:07:01.300 --> 00:07:04.680 tragedy was only the precursor to a massive national 00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:06.759 catastrophe. Right, because less than a decade 00:07:06.759 --> 00:07:09.680 later, the macro context of her life just explodes. 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:13.959 From 1910 to 1921, the Mexican Revolution completely 00:07:13.959 --> 00:07:16.329 ravages the country. The statistics surrounding 00:07:16.329 --> 00:07:18.889 the Mexican Revolution are horrifying. The conflict 00:07:18.889 --> 00:07:21.589 took the lives of roughly 900 ,000 people. To 00:07:21.589 --> 00:07:23.209 put that into perspective, the total population 00:07:23.209 --> 00:07:25.290 in Mexico at the time was only about 15 million. 00:07:25.490 --> 00:07:28.149 That means a staggering six percent of the entire 00:07:28.149 --> 00:07:31.110 country was wiped out in a single decade. Losing 00:07:31.110 --> 00:07:33.310 six percent of a nation's population, that means 00:07:33.310 --> 00:07:36.670 the violence was inescapable. Every single person 00:07:36.670 --> 00:07:38.910 in the country would have known someone who was 00:07:38.910 --> 00:07:41.579 killed. disappeared or displaced. We are talking 00:07:41.579 --> 00:07:44.100 about the total collapse of societal infrastructure. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:47.839 You had warlords and revolutionary factions forces 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:51.279 aligned with Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Venustiano 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:53.639 Carranza battling for control. The violence was 00:07:53.639 --> 00:07:56.360 indiscriminate. The economy was ruined, and the 00:07:56.360 --> 00:07:58.600 daily uncertainty of simply trying to secure 00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:01.519 food and keep a family safe was an omnipresent 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:04.300 nightmare. And crucially for Conchita, the revolution 00:08:04.300 --> 00:08:08.000 also brought waves of intense violent anti -clericalism 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:10.160 and persecution of the Catholic Church. Which 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:12.740 makes her internal state during this time practically 00:08:12.740 --> 00:08:15.100 miraculous. You have the ultimate recipe for 00:08:15.100 --> 00:08:17.740 complete psychological collapse. Sudden widowhood, 00:08:18.019 --> 00:08:20.360 nine dependent children, and a literal bloody 00:08:20.360 --> 00:08:22.879 revolution raging outside her door. And yet the 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:24.970 biographical account and her own writings from 00:08:24.970 --> 00:08:27.430 this exact period reflect what is described as 00:08:27.430 --> 00:08:30.649 an amazing tranquility. How is that even possible? 00:08:30.930 --> 00:08:33.350 That is the defining paradox of her existence. 00:08:34.450 --> 00:08:36.730 To understand it, we have to look at how she 00:08:36.730 --> 00:08:39.710 compartmentalized, or rather, how she integrated 00:08:39.710 --> 00:08:42.370 her reality. She didn't achieve tranquility by 00:08:42.370 --> 00:08:44.529 ignoring the war or the difficulty of her life. 00:08:45.070 --> 00:08:47.470 Her writings are incredibly honest about her 00:08:47.470 --> 00:08:50.370 suffering. But her internal state was so deeply 00:08:50.370 --> 00:08:53.309 anchored by that earlier mystical union, those 00:08:53.309 --> 00:08:56.350 spiritual nuptials we discussed, that the external 00:08:56.350 --> 00:08:59.350 chaos could not breach her core. She achieved 00:08:59.350 --> 00:09:01.809 a state of detachment where her peace was not 00:09:01.809 --> 00:09:04.889 contingent on her circumstances. I want you to 00:09:04.889 --> 00:09:07.649 just think about your own modern anxieties, information 00:09:07.649 --> 00:09:10.610 overload, work stress, and then compare it to 00:09:10.610 --> 00:09:13.149 the literal life and death chaos she lived through. 00:09:13.389 --> 00:09:15.909 That is a staggering level of spiritual discipline. 00:09:16.039 --> 00:09:18.379 And it brings us to the core of her legacy, the 00:09:18.379 --> 00:09:20.519 divine mission she felt called to, and those 00:09:20.519 --> 00:09:23.419 60 ,000 pages of theology she produced. In her 00:09:23.419 --> 00:09:26.240 writings, Conchita documented a specific intense 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:28.360 internal directive she believed she received 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:30.960 from God. She wrote that she was told, ask me 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:33.440 for a long suffering life and to write a lot. 00:09:33.860 --> 00:09:35.659 That's your mission on earth. I have to push 00:09:35.659 --> 00:09:38.179 back on this a bit, because to a modern ear, 00:09:38.600 --> 00:09:42.100 praying for a long suffering life sounds masochistic. 00:09:42.299 --> 00:09:45.379 Almost self -destructive. It really does. How 00:09:45.379 --> 00:09:47.779 does this fit into a healthy theology rather 00:09:47.779 --> 00:09:50.059 than just pure psychological self -harm? That 00:09:50.059 --> 00:09:53.379 is a vital question. Out of context, it absolutely 00:09:53.379 --> 00:09:55.940 sounds masochistic. But within the framework 00:09:55.940 --> 00:09:58.960 of her specific mystical theology, this calling 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:01.639 is rooted in the concept of redemptive suffering. 00:10:01.779 --> 00:10:04.139 Okay, unbacked. It traces back to the Pauline 00:10:04.139 --> 00:10:07.159 epistles, specifically the idea of making up 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:09.240 what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ. 00:10:09.549 --> 00:10:12.450 In this view, suffering isn't sought out because 00:10:12.450 --> 00:10:15.529 pain itself is good. Pain is inherently bad. 00:10:16.029 --> 00:10:18.629 But when suffering is inevitable, as it was for 00:10:18.629 --> 00:10:21.169 a widow in a war zone, it can be spiritually 00:10:21.169 --> 00:10:23.409 united to the suffering of Christ on the cross 00:10:23.409 --> 00:10:25.409 for the redemption of the world. So by asking 00:10:25.409 --> 00:10:28.100 for a long suffering life. she was offering her 00:10:28.100 --> 00:10:30.860 inevitable pain as a spiritual sacrifice for 00:10:30.860 --> 00:10:33.179 the renewal of the church and society. Exactly. 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:36.259 And the directive to write a lot alongside that 00:10:36.259 --> 00:10:38.159 suffering indicates that her navigation of this 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:40.340 pain was meant to be an instructional manual 00:10:40.340 --> 00:10:42.850 for others. That makes a lot more sense. It's 00:10:42.850 --> 00:10:45.309 about finding utility and meaning in the suffering 00:10:45.309 --> 00:10:48.070 rather than just being crushed by it. And I think 00:10:48.070 --> 00:10:50.250 it's important to clarify the nature of her mystical 00:10:50.250 --> 00:10:53.129 experiences based on the source. Her biographers 00:10:53.129 --> 00:10:55.769 note that she never claimed to have direct physical 00:10:55.769 --> 00:10:58.309 visions of Jesus or Mary standing in her room. 00:10:58.730 --> 00:11:01.750 Instead, she experienced deep internal communications 00:11:01.750 --> 00:11:04.889 through silent prayer and meditation. Yes, and 00:11:04.889 --> 00:11:08.110 that distinction grounds her mysticism in a reality 00:11:08.110 --> 00:11:10.960 that is far more accessible while still being 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:13.679 extraordinarily profound. It wasn't about flashy 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:16.299 supernatural phenomena or hallucinatory visions. 00:11:16.440 --> 00:11:18.580 It was about the absolute depths of internal 00:11:18.580 --> 00:11:21.019 contemplation. We get a brilliant glimpse into 00:11:21.019 --> 00:11:23.700 the intensity of this internal life from a diary 00:11:23.700 --> 00:11:27.299 entry she wrote in 1896. She states, in truth, 00:11:27.480 --> 00:11:29.600 after I touched God and had an imperfect notion 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:32.759 of his being, I wanted to prostrate myself. My 00:11:32.759 --> 00:11:34.899 forehead and my heart in the dust and never get 00:11:34.899 --> 00:11:37.620 up again. My forehead and my heart in the dust 00:11:37.620 --> 00:11:40.600 and never get up again. The sheer humility in 00:11:40.600 --> 00:11:43.580 that statement is striking. It perfectly articulates 00:11:43.580 --> 00:11:46.340 the overwhelming nature of the divine. Notice 00:11:46.340 --> 00:11:49.100 her precision. She says she had an imperfect 00:11:49.100 --> 00:11:52.240 notion of his being. Even in her highest mystical 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:55.419 states, she retains the theological sobriety 00:11:55.419 --> 00:11:58.279 to recognize that a Sinite human mind cannot 00:11:58.279 --> 00:12:01.059 fully comprehend the infinite God. But even that 00:12:01.059 --> 00:12:03.779 tiny, imperfect glimpse of the divine is enough 00:12:03.779 --> 00:12:07.320 to completely annihilate human ego. When a person's 00:12:07.320 --> 00:12:10.379 interior life is anchored in that kind of awe, 00:12:10.779 --> 00:12:13.159 the day -to -day anxieties of the external world, 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:15.559 even the terrifying realities of the Mexican 00:12:15.559 --> 00:12:18.419 Revolution, are placed into a radically different, 00:12:18.440 --> 00:12:21.309 eternal perspective. which perfectly sets the 00:12:21.309 --> 00:12:23.470 stage for the sheer volume of her outlander. 00:12:23.730 --> 00:12:25.610 Let's really dig into the logistics of these 00:12:25.610 --> 00:12:28.269 60 ,000 handwritten pages. One of the most mind 00:12:28.269 --> 00:12:30.350 -bending details in her historical record comes 00:12:30.350 --> 00:12:32.649 from her own children. They reported that growing 00:12:32.649 --> 00:12:34.830 up they hardly ever saw her in the process of 00:12:34.830 --> 00:12:37.210 writing. How is that physically possible? It 00:12:37.210 --> 00:12:40.090 is an astonishing logistical puzzle. Let's break 00:12:40.090 --> 00:12:42.049 down the math and the physical reality of her 00:12:42.049 --> 00:12:45.940 era. She lived to be 74 years old. To produce 00:12:45.940 --> 00:12:49.940 60 ,000 pages of coherent, complex theological 00:12:49.940 --> 00:12:52.779 reflection means she was writing multiple pages 00:12:52.779 --> 00:12:55.299 every single day of her adult life. And doing 00:12:55.299 --> 00:12:57.759 it by hand with an inkwell and a pen, likely 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:00.159 by the dim light of a candle or a rudimentary 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:03.379 lamp. To do it so quietly and consistently that 00:13:03.379 --> 00:13:06.419 her nine children rarely noticed implies an almost 00:13:06.419 --> 00:13:08.659 superhuman level of discipline. She must have 00:13:08.659 --> 00:13:10.379 been staying up late into the night after the 00:13:10.379 --> 00:13:12.440 house finally went to sleep. Or waking up hours 00:13:12.440 --> 00:13:15.629 before dawn. before the daily chores began. The 00:13:15.629 --> 00:13:18.590 sheer physical exhaustion of that on top of the 00:13:18.590 --> 00:13:21.309 emotional exhaustion of widowhood and war is 00:13:21.309 --> 00:13:23.649 unfathomable. And it speaks to a very specific 00:13:23.649 --> 00:13:26.049 kind of hidden devotion. She wasn't writing these 00:13:26.049 --> 00:13:28.730 pages to publish bestsellers or to become a famous 00:13:28.730 --> 00:13:30.889 intellectual or to go on speaking tours. She 00:13:30.889 --> 00:13:33.269 was filling that private internal directive right 00:13:33.269 --> 00:13:35.850 a lot. It was an intimate dialogue between her 00:13:35.850 --> 00:13:38.230 and the divine. And the content of that dialogue 00:13:38.230 --> 00:13:41.429 was incredibly robust. This brings us to her 00:13:41.429 --> 00:13:44.370 literary legacy. She wasn't just keeping a diary 00:13:44.370 --> 00:13:46.710 of her feelings, she was developing what we might 00:13:46.710 --> 00:13:50.830 call a theology for the real world. A major overarching 00:13:50.830 --> 00:13:53.610 theme across her texts was teaching her readers 00:13:53.610 --> 00:13:56.870 how to genuinely love the Catholic Church. But 00:13:56.870 --> 00:14:00.090 she provided a very rigorous, challenging definition 00:14:00.090 --> 00:14:03.279 of what that love actually is. Yes, her writings 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:05.799 provide a direct quote on this topic that feels 00:14:05.799 --> 00:14:08.700 incredibly relevant even today. She wrote that 00:14:08.700 --> 00:14:11.139 to love the church is not to criticize her, not 00:14:11.139 --> 00:14:14.419 to destroy her, not to try to change her essential 00:14:14.419 --> 00:14:17.379 structures, and not to reduce her to humanism, 00:14:17.620 --> 00:14:20.059 horizontalism, and to the simple service of a 00:14:20.059 --> 00:14:22.379 human liberation. Instead, she argued that true 00:14:22.379 --> 00:14:24.279 love for the church means cooperating with the 00:14:24.279 --> 00:14:26.279 work of redemption by the cross and obtaining 00:14:26.279 --> 00:14:28.399 the grace of the Holy Spirit to renew the earth. 00:14:28.590 --> 00:14:30.970 What exactly does she mean by horizontalism here? 00:14:31.269 --> 00:14:33.730 Horizontalism is a crucial theological concept 00:14:33.730 --> 00:14:36.269 to unpack. In Christian theology, the cross has 00:14:36.269 --> 00:14:39.169 two beams, the vertical and the horizontal. The 00:14:39.169 --> 00:14:41.710 vertical beam represents the relationship between 00:14:41.710 --> 00:14:44.850 humanity and God, the divine transcendent connection. 00:14:45.429 --> 00:14:47.850 The horizontal beam represents the relationship 00:14:47.850 --> 00:14:51.110 between human beings, social justice, charity 00:14:51.110 --> 00:14:54.799 and earthly liberation. During times of massive 00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:57.259 social upheaval, like the Mexican Revolution, 00:14:57.740 --> 00:14:59.899 there was a strong temptation for religion to 00:14:59.899 --> 00:15:02.559 become purely horizontal. Exactly. The focus 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:05.690 shifts entirely to social work, political liberation 00:15:05.690 --> 00:15:08.149 and humanism, while the vertical relationship 00:15:08.149 --> 00:15:10.950 with God is neglected or treated as secondary. 00:15:11.190 --> 00:15:13.490 Conchita was fiercely pushing back against that. 00:15:13.549 --> 00:15:15.389 So she's saying that while the horizontal, the 00:15:15.389 --> 00:15:17.490 social and human elements are important, you 00:15:17.490 --> 00:15:20.289 absolutely cannot reduce the church to just a 00:15:20.289 --> 00:15:22.730 non -governmental organization or a social services 00:15:22.730 --> 00:15:25.070 agency. If you cut off the vertical connection 00:15:25.070 --> 00:15:27.549 to God, the horizontal work eventually burns 00:15:27.549 --> 00:15:30.590 out or loses its transcendent meaning. The core 00:15:30.590 --> 00:15:33.490 must always remain that vertical cooperation 00:15:33.490 --> 00:15:36.600 with divine. redemption, which then as a byproduct 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:39.480 flows outward to renew the earth. She articulated 00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:42.299 this massive vision across dozens of specific 00:15:42.299 --> 00:15:45.799 works. One of her most notable texts is Seasons 00:15:45.799 --> 00:15:49.340 of the Soul. In this book, she outlines spiritual 00:15:49.340 --> 00:15:53.139 maturation as a slow, organic process. She describes 00:15:53.139 --> 00:15:55.539 how the Holy Spirit gradually transforms the 00:15:55.539 --> 00:15:58.600 human soul through various seasons, winters of 00:15:58.600 --> 00:16:01.159 desolation, springs of renewal, until the soul 00:16:01.159 --> 00:16:03.919 is molded into the image of Jesus. I appreciate 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:06.279 that framework so much because it acknowledges 00:16:06.279 --> 00:16:09.320 that spiritual growth isn't a neat linear progression. 00:16:09.700 --> 00:16:12.059 There are periods of dormancy and darkness that 00:16:12.059 --> 00:16:14.379 are just as necessary as the periods of vibrant 00:16:14.379 --> 00:16:16.879 growth. But the text that I find the most fascinating 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:18.840 and the one that truly cements her uniqueness 00:16:18.840 --> 00:16:22.059 is a collection called A Mother's Letters. It 00:16:22.059 --> 00:16:23.919 is a remarkable collection because it serves 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:26.659 as the ultimate bridge between her towering mysticism 00:16:26.659 --> 00:16:29.960 and her gritty everyday reality. Right. If you 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:32.139 only read her heavy theological treatises on 00:16:32.139 --> 00:16:34.059 the Holy Spirit, you might forget who was holding 00:16:34.059 --> 00:16:37.549 the pen. But A Mother's Letters shows her warm, 00:16:37.870 --> 00:16:40.370 intensely human side. She is writing to her children, 00:16:40.570 --> 00:16:42.750 giving them practical advice, dealing with family 00:16:42.750 --> 00:16:44.909 drama, and navigating the complexities of their 00:16:44.909 --> 00:16:47.830 lives. It proves definitively that you don't 00:16:47.830 --> 00:16:51.870 have to cease being a warm, engaged, deeply attached 00:16:51.870 --> 00:16:54.809 parent in order to achieve profound holiness. 00:16:55.210 --> 00:16:57.470 In fact, her motherhood was the very crucible 00:16:57.470 --> 00:17:00.409 in which her holiness was forged. Another crucial 00:17:00.409 --> 00:17:02.870 dimension of her theology is found in a work 00:17:02.870 --> 00:17:06.609 titled I am Eucharistic Meditations on the Gospel, 00:17:06.910 --> 00:17:09.470 which she wrote in 1912. Right in the heart of 00:17:09.470 --> 00:17:11.650 the revolution, it's important to explain the 00:17:11.650 --> 00:17:14.450 context of how this was written. The text notes 00:17:14.450 --> 00:17:17.529 these 31 meditations were born out of Eucharistic 00:17:17.529 --> 00:17:20.470 adoration. For those unfamiliar, Eucharistic 00:17:20.470 --> 00:17:23.569 adoration is a Catholic practice where the consecrated 00:17:23.569 --> 00:17:26.130 host, which Catholics believe is the real presence 00:17:26.130 --> 00:17:29.549 of Jesus Christ, is placed in a gold vessel called 00:17:29.549 --> 00:17:32.220 a monstrance on the altar. And the believer simply 00:17:32.220 --> 00:17:34.920 sits in silence in front of it, adoring and meditating. 00:17:35.259 --> 00:17:37.660 And what she did during those silent hours is 00:17:37.660 --> 00:17:40.200 fascinating. She focused specifically on the 00:17:40.200 --> 00:17:42.799 passages in the gospel where Jesus defines himself 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:45.579 using the words, I am. State means like, I am 00:17:45.579 --> 00:17:47.579 the bread of life, I am the light of the world, 00:17:47.700 --> 00:17:51.259 or I am the good shepherd. She used that silent 00:17:51.259 --> 00:17:54.420 contemplative time to drill down into the absolute 00:17:54.420 --> 00:17:57.140 core identity of Christ. And it's astonishing 00:17:57.140 --> 00:17:59.769 to think she was doing this in 1912. The streets 00:17:59.769 --> 00:18:02.410 outside the church were literally war zones. 00:18:02.609 --> 00:18:05.990 And she is inside, in total silence, unpacking 00:18:05.990 --> 00:18:08.589 the metaphysical reality of the Gospels. Her 00:18:08.589 --> 00:18:11.549 focus was absolute. And her output wasn't limited 00:18:11.549 --> 00:18:14.670 to just a few texts. Her biographers detail a 00:18:14.670 --> 00:18:17.430 vast library of specific works. Just a lightning 00:18:17.430 --> 00:18:20.869 round of titles here. She wrote, To my priest, 00:18:21.269 --> 00:18:23.769 holy hours, before the altar you belong to the 00:18:23.769 --> 00:18:26.309 church and irresistibly drawn to the Eucharist. 00:18:26.450 --> 00:18:28.970 I want to pause on that first title. to my priests. 00:18:29.329 --> 00:18:31.549 It is incredibly striking that a widowed laywoman 00:18:31.549 --> 00:18:34.269 is writing a spiritual manual directed at ordained 00:18:34.269 --> 00:18:36.549 priests. Especially during the Mexican Revolution, 00:18:36.650 --> 00:18:39.269 priests were being actively hunted, exiled, and 00:18:39.269 --> 00:18:41.990 executed. The church hierarchy was under literal 00:18:41.990 --> 00:18:43.990 assault. And here is a mother stepping into the 00:18:43.990 --> 00:18:46.509 breach, writing theological guidance to support 00:18:46.509 --> 00:18:49.049 and fortify the priesthood. It shows the immense 00:18:49.049 --> 00:18:51.750 spiritual authority she wielded, an authority 00:18:51.750 --> 00:18:54.650 born entirely out of her interior life, not out 00:18:54.650 --> 00:18:57.299 of any official ecclesiastical office. And this 00:18:57.299 --> 00:19:00.059 transitions us perfectly into the next major 00:19:00.059 --> 00:19:03.460 phase of her life. Conchita wasn't just a thinker, 00:19:03.539 --> 00:19:07.140 a writer or mystic. She was a prolific institution 00:19:07.140 --> 00:19:09.299 builder. She took all of this internal theology 00:19:09.299 --> 00:19:11.720 and moved it directly into external action by 00:19:11.720 --> 00:19:13.880 founding a movement known as the Works of the 00:19:13.880 --> 00:19:16.859 Cross. The timeline of the institution she built 00:19:16.859 --> 00:19:19.079 is just mind blowing. Again, she's doing this 00:19:19.079 --> 00:19:22.819 as a mother and later as a widow amidst national 00:19:22.819 --> 00:19:25.579 chaos. The historical records show she founded 00:19:25.579 --> 00:19:28.799 five distinct religious organizations. She starts 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:31.619 in 1895 with the Apostleship of the Cross. Which 00:19:31.619 --> 00:19:34.039 was aimed at lay people, inviting them into the 00:19:34.039 --> 00:19:36.400 spirituality of redemptive suffering. Then two 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:39.119 years later in 1897, she founds a religious order 00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:41.200 for women, the Congregation of the Sisters of 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:43.420 the Cross, the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Notice 00:19:43.420 --> 00:19:45.839 the timeline. The Sisters of the Cross are founded 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:49.410 in 1897. Then there is a significant 12 year 00:19:49.410 --> 00:19:52.029 gap before her next foundation. What happens 00:19:52.029 --> 00:19:55.289 in that gap? Her husband dies in 1901. She is 00:19:55.289 --> 00:19:57.710 thrust into the sheer survival mode of single 00:19:57.710 --> 00:20:00.210 motherhood and grief. But she eventually regains 00:20:00.210 --> 00:20:02.990 her footing. And in 1909, she founds the covenant 00:20:02.990 --> 00:20:05.869 of love with the heart of Jesus, another initiative 00:20:05.869 --> 00:20:08.410 for lay people. And as the revolution kicks into 00:20:08.410 --> 00:20:12.190 high gear, she focuses on the clergy. In 1912, 00:20:12.349 --> 00:20:15.170 she establishes the fraternity of Christ, the 00:20:15.170 --> 00:20:18.019 priest. As we discussed, this was a moment when 00:20:18.019 --> 00:20:20.779 priests in Mexico were in desperate need of spiritual 00:20:20.779 --> 00:20:24.019 and fraternal support due to the intense persecution 00:20:24.019 --> 00:20:27.660 they were facing. Finally, in 1914, she co -founded 00:20:27.660 --> 00:20:29.480 the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Holy 00:20:29.480 --> 00:20:32.299 Spirit, a religious order for priests and brothers. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:35.200 Five completely distinct organizations. She built 00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:37.599 an entire spiritual infrastructure that survived 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:39.920 the revolution and continues to operate globally 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:42.210 to this day. And what is vital to understand 00:20:42.210 --> 00:20:44.690 about these foundations and her 60 ,000 pages 00:20:44.690 --> 00:20:47.369 of writing is how the official church hierarchy 00:20:47.369 --> 00:20:50.569 responded to them. Historically, when an uncloystered 00:20:50.569 --> 00:20:52.950 layperson claims to receive divine directives, 00:20:53.210 --> 00:20:55.170 writes thousands of pages of new theological 00:20:55.170 --> 00:20:57.450 reflections, and starts founding religious orders, 00:20:57.910 --> 00:21:00.049 the institutional Catholic church reacts with 00:21:00.049 --> 00:21:02.750 extreme skepticism and caution. The potential 00:21:02.750 --> 00:21:06.190 for heresy or schism is incredibly high. But 00:21:06.190 --> 00:21:09.109 that wasn't Conchita's story at all. The archives 00:21:09.109 --> 00:21:11.130 note that her writings were rigorously examined 00:21:11.130 --> 00:21:13.690 by church officials in Mexico during her lifetime, 00:21:14.029 --> 00:21:16.009 and they found nothing contrary to the faith. 00:21:16.190 --> 00:21:19.069 More impressively, in 1913, she actually traveled 00:21:19.069 --> 00:21:21.430 to Rome and had a private audience with Pope 00:21:21.430 --> 00:21:23.710 Pius X. Let's just think about the logistics 00:21:23.710 --> 00:21:27.349 of that for a second. It's 1913. There is a bloody 00:21:27.349 --> 00:21:30.430 revolution in her home country. She is a 50 -year 00:21:30.430 --> 00:21:33.210 -old widow. She travels by train and steamship 00:21:33.210 --> 00:21:35.849 across the world to the Vatican and the result 00:21:35.849 --> 00:21:38.339 of that meeting. The church authorities looked 00:21:38.339 --> 00:21:40.579 favorably upon her writings and her works at 00:21:40.579 --> 00:21:43.079 the cross. Receiving favorable recognition from 00:21:43.079 --> 00:21:46.799 the Pope in 1913 is a massive definitive validation 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:49.920 of her orthodoxy and the profound depth of her 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:52.779 work. It confirmed that she wasn't a rogue visionary 00:21:52.779 --> 00:21:56.059 leading a splinter cult. She was a genuine enriching 00:21:56.059 --> 00:21:58.440 voice within the heart of the church. She had 00:21:58.440 --> 00:22:00.700 successfully navigated the intense scrutiny of 00:22:00.700 --> 00:22:02.799 the Vatican. Which brings us to the culmination 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:05.759 of her extraordinary life and the long rigorous 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:08.440 path to her official recognition. The historical 00:22:08.440 --> 00:22:11.480 records state that Conchita passed away on March 00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:16.559 3rd, 1937 at the age of 74. She was buried at 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:19.059 the Church of San Jose de la Tío in Mexico City. 00:22:19.259 --> 00:22:21.880 But looking back on her legacy, there is a specific 00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:24.220 quote she wrote that I think perfectly synthesizes 00:22:24.220 --> 00:22:26.460 everything we've analyzed today. Let's hear it. 00:22:26.430 --> 00:22:29.130 She wrote, I carry within me three lives, all 00:22:29.130 --> 00:22:32.009 very strong, family life with its multiple sorrows 00:22:32.009 --> 00:22:35.130 of a thousand kinds, that is, the life of a mother, 00:22:35.630 --> 00:22:37.470 the life of the works of the cross with all its 00:22:37.470 --> 00:22:39.630 sorrows and weight which at times crushes me 00:22:39.630 --> 00:22:42.150 until I have no strength left, and the life of 00:22:42.150 --> 00:22:44.529 the spirit or interior life which is the heaviest 00:22:44.529 --> 00:22:47.269 of all, with its highs and lows, its tempests 00:22:47.269 --> 00:22:49.950 and struggles, its light and darkness, blessed 00:22:49.950 --> 00:22:52.819 be God for everything. That quote is a masterpiece 00:22:52.819 --> 00:22:55.200 of self -awareness. Let's dissect the three lives 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:57.700 she identifies because it strips away any romanticized 00:22:57.700 --> 00:22:59.980 notions of her existence. First, she names the 00:22:59.980 --> 00:23:02.799 family life the life of a mother. She explicitly 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:04.960 highlights its multiple sorrows of a thousand 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:08.200 kinds. She doesn't sugarcoat motherhood. She 00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:10.279 acknowledges the crushing grief of widowhood, 00:23:10.779 --> 00:23:13.519 the constant low -level hum of anxiety over her 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:15.900 children's safety, and the physical exhaustion 00:23:15.900 --> 00:23:18.000 of her reality. Then she names the second life. 00:23:18.220 --> 00:23:20.500 the works of the cross. And again, she says it 00:23:20.500 --> 00:23:22.579 at times crushes me until I have no strength 00:23:22.579 --> 00:23:25.140 left. Founding five religious orders isn't a 00:23:25.140 --> 00:23:27.880 hobby. It requires immense administrative labor, 00:23:28.339 --> 00:23:30.599 dealing with interpersonal conflicts, managing 00:23:30.599 --> 00:23:33.619 finances, and carrying the spiritual responsibility 00:23:33.619 --> 00:23:36.259 for thousands of followers. But the true revelation 00:23:36.259 --> 00:23:38.319 in this quote is how she describes the third 00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:41.859 life. She explicitly calls the life of the spirit, 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:44.880 the interior life, the heaviest of all. Heavier 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:47.220 than the grief of widowhood. Heavier than raising 00:23:47.220 --> 00:23:49.849 nine kids. heavier than navigating a revolution 00:23:49.849 --> 00:23:52.609 or managing five institutions. Why? Because true 00:23:52.609 --> 00:23:54.869 mystical depth is not a vacation from reality. 00:23:55.130 --> 00:23:58.250 It is a fierce, exhausting battleground. I think 00:23:58.250 --> 00:24:00.390 that is such a profound point. We often treat 00:24:00.390 --> 00:24:03.289 the interior life or spirituality as an escape 00:24:03.289 --> 00:24:05.869 hatch. We think of it as a quiet, peaceful room 00:24:05.869 --> 00:24:08.230 we retreat into when the real world gets too 00:24:08.230 --> 00:24:11.180 loud. But Conchina describes it as having tempests 00:24:11.180 --> 00:24:14.079 and struggles, its light and darkness. Exactly. 00:24:14.500 --> 00:24:16.420 In the tradition of Christian mysticism, the 00:24:16.420 --> 00:24:19.019 deepest interior journeys involve confronting 00:24:19.019 --> 00:24:22.559 your own darkest flaws, wrestling with the incomprehensible 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:25.559 vastness of God, and enduring what is known as 00:24:25.559 --> 00:24:28.259 the Dark Night of the Soul. This is a period 00:24:28.259 --> 00:24:31.079 of intense spiritual desolation where God feels 00:24:31.079 --> 00:24:33.759 entirely absent and the soul is stripped of all 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:36.480 emotional consolations. Navigating that internal 00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:39.319 tempest while maintaining outward peace requires 00:24:39.319 --> 00:24:42.099 a phenomenal expenditure of spiritual and psychological 00:24:42.099 --> 00:24:45.180 energy. Yet she ends the quote with, blessed 00:24:45.180 --> 00:24:48.660 be God for everything. She wholly embraces the 00:24:48.660 --> 00:24:51.549 crushing weight of all three lives. It is that 00:24:51.549 --> 00:24:54.650 exact lived reality, this integration of towering 00:24:54.650 --> 00:24:57.650 holiness amidst gritty, agonizing human struggle 00:24:57.650 --> 00:24:59.990 that eventually catalyzed the church to officially 00:24:59.990 --> 00:25:02.349 recognize her. The timeline of her canonization 00:25:02.349 --> 00:25:04.609 process is fascinating because it illustrates 00:25:04.609 --> 00:25:06.589 just how meticulous and judicial the Catholic 00:25:06.589 --> 00:25:08.789 Church is about these claims. The process didn't 00:25:08.789 --> 00:25:11.210 happen overnight. It officially opened in 1959. 00:25:11.730 --> 00:25:15.039 Yes, 22 years after her death. And the opening 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:17.339 of the process involved the Archbishop of Mexico 00:25:17.339 --> 00:25:20.660 City submitting about 200 volumes of her translated 00:25:20.660 --> 00:25:22.759 writings to the Congregation for the Causes of 00:25:22.759 --> 00:25:26.019 Saints in Rome. 200 volumes! I cannot even fathom 00:25:26.019 --> 00:25:28.000 the bureaucratic and theological undertaking 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:31.180 required to review that. You have Vatican theologians, 00:25:31.539 --> 00:25:33.460 historians, and linguistic experts who have to 00:25:33.460 --> 00:25:36.259 read every single line of those 60 ,000 pages 00:25:36.259 --> 00:25:39.480 to ensure there is not a single theological error, 00:25:39.799 --> 00:25:42.400 heresy, or psychological delusion hidden in the 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:44.960 text. No wonder the process took decades. It 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:47.759 is a massive judicial trial of a person's life 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:50.640 and thought documented in a massive file known 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:53.920 as the Positio. But she passed that intense scrutiny. 00:25:54.170 --> 00:25:58.069 On December 20, 1999, Pope John Paul II officially 00:25:58.069 --> 00:26:01.029 declared her venerable. Let's define what that 00:26:01.029 --> 00:26:03.069 actually means, because venerable isn't just 00:26:03.069 --> 00:26:06.109 an honorary adjective. What does that title signify 00:26:06.109 --> 00:26:08.710 in the canonization process? To be declared venerable 00:26:08.710 --> 00:26:11.190 means that the pope, after reviewing the massive 00:26:11.190 --> 00:26:13.730 findings of the theological and historical commissions, 00:26:14.390 --> 00:26:16.289 formally decrees that the individual lived a 00:26:16.289 --> 00:26:19.210 life of heroic virtue. It is the Church's official 00:26:19.210 --> 00:26:22.549 confirmation that her faith, hope, charity, and 00:26:22.549 --> 00:26:24.930 fortitude went far beyond the ordinary human 00:26:24.930 --> 00:26:27.309 capacity and entered the realm of the heroic. 00:26:27.750 --> 00:26:30.490 It is a monumental milestone. From there, the 00:26:30.490 --> 00:26:32.990 process requires divine confirmation in the form 00:26:32.990 --> 00:26:36.109 of a scientifically inexplicable miracle attributed 00:26:36.109 --> 00:26:38.309 to her intercession. And the records show that 00:26:38.309 --> 00:26:42.230 on June 8th, 2018, Pope Francis officially confirmed 00:26:42.230 --> 00:26:44.809 such a miracle. This cleared the final hurdle. 00:26:44.970 --> 00:26:48.509 On May 4, 2019, an incredibly historic event 00:26:48.509 --> 00:26:51.490 took place. Conchita was formally beatified, 00:26:51.710 --> 00:26:54.190 declared blessed, in a massive ceremony at the 00:26:54.190 --> 00:26:57.009 Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, 00:26:57.289 --> 00:26:59.609 presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Beichu. 00:26:59.750 --> 00:27:01.849 The historical and cultural significance of that 00:27:01.849 --> 00:27:04.509 beatification is profound. With that decree, 00:27:05.049 --> 00:27:07.509 Conchita became the very first Mexican Lee woman 00:27:07.509 --> 00:27:09.930 to be raised to the altars. She wasn't a martyred 00:27:09.930 --> 00:27:12.769 nun or cloistered abbess. She was a wife, mother 00:27:12.769 --> 00:27:14.970 of nine, and a widow who lived in the bustling 00:27:14.970 --> 00:27:17.549 streets of San Luis Potosi in Mexico City. So 00:27:17.549 --> 00:27:21.049 after analyzing the 60 ,000 pages, the historical 00:27:21.049 --> 00:27:23.630 backdrop of the revolution, the five foundations, 00:27:24.069 --> 00:27:27.970 and the deep mystical theology, how do we synthesize 00:27:27.970 --> 00:27:30.470 this? If you are listening to this deep dive, 00:27:30.970 --> 00:27:33.650 what is the ultimate takeaway from the life of 00:27:33.650 --> 00:27:35.930 Conchita? I believe the central thesis her life 00:27:35.930 --> 00:27:38.490 offers is the complete destruction of our modern 00:27:38.490 --> 00:27:42.079 excuses regarding the spiritual life. We constantly 00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:44.240 tell ourselves that we need ideal conditions 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:47.180 to cultivate our interior lives. We say we will 00:27:47.180 --> 00:27:49.220 meditate more, pray more, or think more deeply 00:27:49.220 --> 00:27:51.480 once the kids are older, once work slows down, 00:27:51.480 --> 00:27:54.119 or once the world stops being so chaotic. Conchita's 00:27:54.119 --> 00:27:57.039 life vehemently rejects that premise. She proves 00:27:57.039 --> 00:27:59.559 that extreme external demands do not preclude 00:27:59.559 --> 00:28:03.559 a rich interior life. In fact, the mundane chaotic 00:28:03.559 --> 00:28:06.539 reality of daily life is the exact environment 00:28:06.539 --> 00:28:08.960 where profound holiness is forged. You can be 00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:11.359 fleeing a literal revolution or mourning a spouse, 00:28:11.619 --> 00:28:13.680 or wrangling toddlers, and still be constructing 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:16.079 an internal cathedral of immense theological 00:28:16.079 --> 00:28:19.140 depth. That is perfectly stated. The chaos isn't 00:28:19.140 --> 00:28:21.680 the obstacle to the interior life. It is the 00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:24.099 raw material for it. Beautifully said. Which 00:28:24.099 --> 00:28:25.660 brings me to a final thought I want to leave 00:28:25.660 --> 00:28:28.359 you with today. Building purely off the astonishing 00:28:28.359 --> 00:28:31.740 reality of those 60 ,000 handwritten pages, we 00:28:31.740 --> 00:28:34.400 discussed how her own children, living the same 00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:36.759 house with her, barely ever saw her writing. 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:40.460 Right. She produced a theological library rivaling 00:28:40.460 --> 00:28:43.799 Thomas Aquinas entirely in secret, right under 00:28:43.799 --> 00:28:46.839 their noses. It forces you to look at the world 00:28:46.839 --> 00:28:50.220 differently. Tomorrow, as you go about your routine, 00:28:50.660 --> 00:28:52.720 as you look at the seemingly ordinary people 00:28:52.720 --> 00:28:55.220 around you, the exhausted parent at the grocery 00:28:55.220 --> 00:28:57.740 store, the quiet co -worker, the person sitting 00:28:57.740 --> 00:29:00.339 next to you in traffic, it makes you wonder. 00:29:00.440 --> 00:29:04.039 Yeah. What invisible, massive, profoundly complex 00:29:04.039 --> 00:29:06.380 interior worlds might they be building right 00:29:06.380 --> 00:29:09.079 in front of you? completely unseen. Conchita's 00:29:09.079 --> 00:29:11.119 story reminds us that you never truly know the 00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:12.940 depth of the soul standing right beside you. 00:29:13.240 --> 00:29:15.480 A deeply humbling and powerful perspective to 00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:17.799 end on. Thank you so much for joining us on this 00:29:17.799 --> 00:29:20.220 deep dive into the extraordinary hidden life 00:29:20.220 --> 00:29:22.599 of blessed Concepcion Cabrera de Hermida. We 00:29:22.599 --> 00:29:24.319 appreciate you taking the time to explore this 00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:26.420 fascinating history with us. Until next time.