We live immersed in this gray and chaotic time, and Dona Lucilia, in the face of such a horrible scenario, certainly would be fully grounded in Our Lord Jesus Christ and in Our Lady, in the wonders of Catholic Christianity supported by the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church and firmly fighting all that was revolutionary around her; seeking to love and fulfill the will of God in everything in her life, with deep obedience, a sense of admiration and hierarchy, carrying her cross with Faith, Hope and Love.

In order to refer back to the time of Dona Lucilia, considering what we carry with us today, it would be necessary to examine ourselves interiorly and exteriorly, looking at both the influence of revolutionary environments with which we are faced, and the impossibility, sometimes, to live in environments such as the home of Dona Lucilia, “…in that home so fragrant by the distinct aromas of the Belle Epoque.”

How much goodness we find in Dona Lucilia. Consider the words she serenely used to reply to her sister when she said that Dona Lucilia was being too careful with the sick visitor, “Well, I’m doing it because Daddy wants it, and for God’s sake. The work of mercy is fulfilled.(…) __ But the good is done.” Unfortunately, sometimes we see, in the day to day, deeds done for others with a view to the attainment of some kind of reward, advantage etc. Note that it lacks the effective practice of the commandment – To love your neighbour as yourself. There are innumerable situations like this involving immorality, attitudes and situations charged with revolution, evil tendencies.

In the struggle against the revolutionary that surrounds us, it is fundamental to make our homes sacral environments, domestic Churches; as well we need to motivate children and young people to be in environments that are sacral. As it was since the childhood of Dona Lucilia, where the Luz Convent, where she from the earliest childhood had as one of the most beloved exercises of piety, addressed to the Holy Mother of God. It was in that place that the supernatural most touched her soul.

How necessary is an environment prepared to cultivate in the soul of the child the practice of prayer, of love for God, of placing Our Lord Jesus Christ in the center of the home, in order to have a home where tranquility and peace are present, making the interior of our home – “a sacred tabernacle”.

As Msgr. João commented in one of his homilies: “Now this tranquility comes only if there is order and order is established only in the family when God is in the center, because when God is out of the center, disorder has entered.” Placing Our Lord Jesus Christ in the center of the home and ceaselessly seeking the help, the mediation of Our Lady, the Mediatrix of all Graces, surely the Faith will be revived. Let us note in the words of Dr. Plinio, the cultivation of an environment alive with Faith that Dona Lucilia received from childhood and passed on to her children:

“Mother was overflowing with adoration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and she was most grateful to Him. But the characteristic note of her piety, in relation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, consisted of love and reparation. For her, the Sacred Heart of Jesus was seen par excellence as the great rejected, the great wronged, who loved men in an inextinguishable way and was always badly reciprocated. And it is as the offended one that she adored Him. (…) Thus, adoration, reparation, and petition were the three distinguishing marks of a worship that overflowed with gratitude.(…) “

Let us ask Our Lord Jesus Christ and Our Lady to strengthen us for the unceasing struggle against everything that surrounds us and in this regard we take the words of Msgr. João Clá – “In the effort to defeat the Holy Church and to extinguish its light – which is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself -, Satan acts to extinguish the flame of faith in souls, resulting in a paganized world, a society immersed in chaos, on the way to anarchy, where virtue becomes more and more rare and sin reigns. It is night!

How beautiful, how glorious and meritorious to believe in the light at night! We know that darkness can not envelop this light, because it is divine! She is the Mystical Spouse of Christ, without wrinkle and without blemish, erected by Him and born from His side the instant Longinus pierced Him with the spear. She is our Mother, our light, the way of salvation, who distributed the Sacraments and who sanctifies us! She is always ready to forgive us, just as the Redeemer himself forgave the good thief on the Cross, offering us the possibility of getting up and not allowing ourselves to get lost on the way.”

May Dona Lucilia help us to love our cross, all the days of our lives. Salve Maria!

Sra. Cintia Lima