DAY 1
Raphaela Mary was born on March 1, 1850 into a Christian family in Pedro Abad (Córdoba). She was born in a particular era – a time of political and social turmoil, years of change, upheaval and peace- and in a particular corner of the world: in a small town in the Cordovan countryside. She was the youngest of 10 siblings: three had died very young, and six welcomed her with joy. The youngest turned two years old on the day of her birth. Together with her siblings, she would grow up under the shelter of their parents. Don Ildefonso, their father, was an upright, just man, dutiful and loving. He died when Raphaela was only four years old. Her mother, Raphaela, an affable, hard-working, charitable, family woman transmitted to the children the values and spirit that sustained the family, along with the memory of their father.
Raphaela Mary was baptized the day after her birth. In a letter addressed to M. María de la Cruz, she tells her, “I turned forty-four on the 1st, but the 2nd was the day that I was baptized: the greatest day of our life, because on that day I was inscribed in the book of life.”
On one occasion, she wrote to her niece, Raphaela, encouraging her in the approaching birth of her tenth child and told her: “…be glad that you can give God many souls that love him, serve him and then enjoy the fruit of redemption […] Tell the Blessed Virgin honestly that she must be the Mother of your children and the absolute mistress of your house, and you only the governess, to do with all of you what She wants.” Thus she lived a new birth as a blessing from God.
This is how she lived, as a Daughter of God, trusting in the special love that she experienced in all the events of her life, constantly and permanently grateful for the great gift of life.
“And it happened that, while they were in Bethlehem, the time of delivery was fulfilled, and Mary gave birth to her first-born, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and put him in a manger, because they had no place for them in the inn. […] Mary, for her part, kept all these things, meditating on them in the depths of her heart. ” (Lk 2:6-7, 19)
Do I feel that I am the favored Child of God? Do I meditate in the depths of my heart about his desires for my life?
