You know, I really love learning about
the saints. May 26 is the feast day of
St. Mariana de Jesus de Paredes, who was born into an aristocratic family in
Quito, Ecuador in the early 17th century. I remember that when I was a missionary in
Ecuador, there was a trolley stop that I used to pass by named Mariana de Jesus
in her honor. What I love about the
saints is how their witness to speak so strongly to us many centuries later in
our own modern era & still have so much to teach us. Mariana was not
accepted as a religious sister, so she lived out her life as a Third Order
Franciscan, serving the poor through a school & a clinic that she found to
help the poor African Americans & indigenous people who lived in
Quito. When a terrible plague affected
the city, she nursed the sick, did penance, & offered her life up to God in
hopes that the plague be lifted. She
died shortly afterwards at the age of 31.
Mariana de Jesus, who was denied entrance into a religious community as
a nun, is now a beloved saint in Latin America, & is one of the patron
saint of the country of Ecuador. Mariana
de Jesus is venerated at the La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús in the historic
center of Quito, a beautiful church where I used to attend mass as a missionary
that is considered one of the finest examples of Spanish baroque architecture
in all of South America. May we lift up
our sufferings & use them for the glory of God just as Mariana de Jesus did
so long ago.
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