Pray for a Miracle

A few years ago, Carmen Aquino, a dear friend and parishioner, told me about one of her relatives who was martyred in the midst of the revolution that plagued Mexico during the early 20th century. My friend, Carmen, died in 2023 at the age of 92 and the relative she spoke of was a 25-year-old woman named Maria de San Jose Parra Flores (Josefa Parra) who died a martyr’s death on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1917. I'm pretty sure Josefa was Carmen's great aunt, but I might be wrong about the specific relationship. (Aging memory problems...)

Josefa, a Servant of God, died with a companion, a 21-year-old woman, Colette Meléndez Torres, when their purity was threatened by a band of rebels intent on rape. The rebels had attacked their town, Degollado, and were burning it to the ground. The two young women escaped by running into a burning building, but they ultimately succumbed to the flames.

A year or so before she died, Carmen asked me to pray for the beatification of these young martyrs, something I promised to do. But like so many promises, it was neglected and eventually forgotten…until in the midst of prayer a few weeks ago I heard Carmen’s sweet voice reminding me of my promise. The Holy Spirit is like that: He reminds us of our weaknesses and our unfulfilled promises, calling us to help with His work in the world.

So…I thought it would be wonderful if the people of our parish could aid in the cause of beatification of these two 20th-century martyrs. With this in mind, I decided to share this mission Carmen had given me with others who might want to join me in prayer. We have many people in our parish who need miracles in their lives, so perhaps each of us can all identify a family member, or a friend, or a neighbor who needs a true, life-giving, healing miracle. Then let them know you are praying for a miracle in their lives and tell them about the beatification cause of these young women. Miracles happen, dear friends. They happen all the time, so let us pray for miracles through the intercession of these two remarkable women.  I've added a photo of each: Josefa (left) and Coleta (right).

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I've also provided a link to a write-up I patched together describing Josefa and Coleta and their martyrdom. Click here to download a PDF version. The document also includes links to information on the Internet about these two courageous and holy women. I hope to provide more information soon.

And here's a prayer for Beatification given to me by Carmen:

Immaculate Mary, Mother of the Church and Model in the Family of God, intercede for us in our efforts to remain pure and chaste in a world that craves immediate pleasures and gratifications. Since Josefa Parra and Coleta Meléndez braved a fiery death rather than surrender to lustful men, we pray that the process for their beatification, introduced by the Church in recognition of that supreme sacrifice may be happily fulfilled. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

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Little Religious Freedom Next Door

Although few Americans are aware of it, in Mexico there is precious little freedom when it comes to the rights of religious organizations to speak freely about anything that might be construed as "political." According to Mexican law, "priests and ministers cannot form political associations nor carry out propaganda for any candidate, party or political group." In other words, the Church is prohibited from telling the faithful that certain parties or candidates espouse policies that are contrary to Scripture, Sacred Tradition and Church teaching.

Blessed Miguel awaiting execution

This and other similar anti-clierical laws in Mexico are products of the Cristero War of the 1920s in which thousands of Catholics were murdered by the state. Among these was a young Jesuit priest, Father Miguel Pro, whose death in front of a firing squad on November 22, 1927 turned him into a Mexican hero. He was executed without formal charges or a trial. The death of Blessed Miguel (he was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1988) was witnessed by a large gathering of reporters and photographers because Mexico's violently anti-Catholic president, Plutarco Calles, assumed the young priest would beg for his life and wanted his humiliation recorded. How wrong he was. After praying for a moment, Fr. Pro, raised his arms as if being crucified and cried out, "Viva Cristo Rey!" (Long live Christ the King!)

Things are heating up once again in Mexico because the nation's Catholic bishops published a set of voting guidelines for the Catholic faithful in advance of the July presidential elections. Although there is no mention of specific political parties or candidates, the guidelines state that Catholics may not "choose as a political option those who support or promote false rights or liberties that attack the teachings contained in the Holy Scriptures, tradition and doctrine of the Church." The Church's main focus is to ensure Catholics do not vote for candidates who support abortion or homosexual marriage, reminding Catholics that they "should be alert to the commitments of the candidates and their parties to respect the foremost of all rights, which is the right to life, from the moment of conception." God bless the bishops of Mexico. Pray that they will continue to speak out courageously for life and truth. Pray, too, that the people of Mexico respond not to the merchants of death, but to the supporters of life.

In recent years some of Mexico's long-standing anti-Catholic laws have been overturned. For example, in the 1990s priests were allowed to wear clerical clothing in public and the Church could establish religious schools. Both had been prohibited throughout most of the twentieth century. We hope this gradual movement toward religious freedom will continue. And we hope, too, that our nation will not set aside the religious freedom guaranteed by our Constitution, no matter how inconvenient that document might be to the political ambitions of some of our politicians.

The Sadness that is Mexico

Apparently events in Mexico are continuing to spiral out of control. Mexico is experiencing what can only be described as localized anarchy brought on by that nation's inability or unwillingness to deal with those who run the criminal drug organizations that have literally taken full control of parts of the country. Of course, how can we expect anything else from a nation whose citizens try to cross its borders in huge numbers daily? I think I can say without much fear of contradiction, that when a nation's people flock to its borders to leave, the nation is corrupt to its very core.

Indeed, this has always been one of my unanswered questions about the illegal immigration problem faced by our own country. We seem to focus on the problem's symptoms and its manifestation on our side of the border. And yet we never seem to ask the truly important question: Why are these people flocking to our country? What is wrong with their native country that causes them to take all the risks associated with illegal immigration?

This leads me to pose a related question to the U. S. Bishops. Why do you expend all your efforts attacking US immigration policies but not the unjust, corrupt policies of the nations from which the immigrants come? I never hear anything from the USCCB addressed to the Mexican and other Latin American governments discussing the reasons for illegal immigration. After all, if these nations were governed well and would rid themselves of the corruption that robs the poor of any opportunity to advance themselves, the poor wouldn't want to leave.

As if to highlight the nature of the problems in Mexico, today a priest and two seminarians were brutally murdered in an area of western Mexico plagued by drugs. They were on their way to organize a retreat. The Archbishop of Acapulco, Aguirre Franco, referring to Catholic clergy, stated, "We have become hostages in this violent confrontations between the drug cartels living among us."

And while innocents are murdered the corruption just continues. Not long ago 53 prisoners escaped from one of Mexico's prisons, and now 51 prison officials, including guards and the prison's director, have been charged with crimes. And that's not all. A large group of Army officers were also arrested for passing information along to the drug cartels. It's good to see the government cracking down, but I think it's too little, too late.

Pray for our southern neighbor and its people, that they can rid themselves of the corruption that is tearing their nation apart. And while we're at it, let's pray for our own nation as well. We also have a few corrupt folks running around in our government. And pray for the souls of the priest and seminarians who were so brutally murdered. Perhaps their deaths will wake some people up.