A pilgrimage to Bilbao

Mrs. Rita Cabrera Guerrero would do anything in her power to attend the beatification of Venerable Mother Margarita Lopez de Maturana in Bilbao, Spain. These are hard times, though, she says, so she would need God’s intervention if her Bilbao dream is to be fulfilled. She declared that if God so wills it, He would find her a way no matter what her present circumstances may be.

The elevation of Venerable Mother Margarita to that of “Blessed” happened on Oct. 22, 2006, at the Cathedral del Senor Santiago. After this, Blessed Mother Margarita will have but one more step to climb before she will be officially proclaimed a “Saint.” When canonized a “saint,” she will thus be enrolled in the universal calendar of the Church and public veneration of her will be extended to the whole Church.

[B]Pre-birth relationship[/B]

Rita’s relationship with Mother Margarita began way even before she knew the lady from Spain. This relationship is perhaps comparable to that of a pre-birth contact between mother and child. In such a relationship, the mother is fully aware of the existence of the child in her womb but the unborn child has yet to fully grasp the identity of his/her mother.

In this case, it could be said that Mother Margarita knew of Rita even before the latter became aware of who Mother Margarita was. According to Rita herself, it was through the intercession of Mother Margarita that a “miracle” happened to her. That she is well and alive today and graced with the gift of a husband, a family of five children and four grandchildren are all to the credit of God through Mother Margarita.

According to Rita, although at age 10 she considered herself too young to fully understand the “miracles” then, to this day there is no doubt in her mind that Mother Margarita played a big part in her life.

[B]From naval hospital to house of prayer[/B]

Smaller in stature than most of her classmates in the fourth grade, Rita attended Mt. Carmel Grade School. On this particular day in February of 1960, her teacher, Sr. Trinidad Benavente decided it best to send her home as Rita came down with a fever.

The following morning, her condition seemed to have worsened. Her small body was covered with rashes as her temperature climbed higher. Her brother, David, who is two years younger, also came down with the same rashes, later confirmed to be a case of sarampion (German measles).

Rita recollected that back then, the only form of mass communication was through the use of a loudspeaker hoisted on a telephone pole. Rita remembered the late Mayor Ignacio V. Benavente announcing over the loudspeaker that all persons contracting the measles must be isolated from other family members as much as possible so as to effectively contain the disease, which had then reached epidemic proportions.

As her conditioned worsened with seizures, she was taken to the Chalan Kanoa Dispensary (where the U.S. Post Office is now) for treatment. But as the severity of her condition was confirmed, she was immediately transported to the Naval Hospital on Navy Hill. Ironically, this hospital where she was eventually cured was later renamed “Maturana House of Prayer” after Mother Maturana herself and exactly the site where she supposedly performed her miracles on Rita!.

[B]“I’m so sorry….”[/B]

When Rita arrived at the Naval Hospital, she was immediately placed in a plastic oxygen tent with about three Navy doctors attending her. From the eighth day to the tenth, she had a very high fever. On day 10, she slipped into unconsciousness. On day 11, the doctors could not detect any pulse or heartbeat. Prying her eyelids open, the examining physician could not see any signs of life from within.

After a more thorough examination and still no sign of any breath of life coming from little Rita, the doctor-in-charge made the somber pronouncement that Rita’s parents, Tun Jose and Tan Remedios, dreaded to hear: “She’s gone… I’m so sorry,” declared Dr. Smith.

At the doctor’s pronouncement, everyone began crying as family members passed the word out to others. As was the custom, preparations were underway at once to bring the young girl’s body home for burial. The one special person holding up the transfer of the body from the hospital to the house was “Grandma” whose arrival was awaited by everyone so she could [I]“echa i bendision-na”[/I] (give her blessings) before removal of her granddaughter from the hospital.

[B]The Miracles[/B]

Rita made it clear that, although she did vaguely remember some things as to what actually happened to her, she relied for the most part on the testimonies of her parents and other family members who were the actual witnesses to these events.

For example, Rita learned that prayers on her behalf were said from the time she left school for home that day when she had the fever. Sr. Trini Benavente had spread the word among the Mercedarian community as well as at the school. The Mercedarian sisters and others went to the house as well as to the hospital to offer prayers on her behalf. Later, Rita also learned that her own classmates made sacrifices for her recovery by giving up their nickel lunch money so that a Mass would be offered for her.

During her stay at the hospital and up to the time she was pronounced dead and thereafter, prayers to Mother Margarita asking for her intercessory powers were recited by the Sisters themselves and by family members.

“My mom and dad told me that I stopped breathing for a full 14 minutes altogether. Sr. Remedios Castro and Sr. Joaquina and other nuns came to pray. They gave my mom a relic of Mother Margarita and a devotional prayer book made up of psalms. They instructed my mother to continue praying and to ask for Mother Margarita’s intercession as her relic was rubbed and placed on my chest.”

After 14 minutes of not breathing, Rota’s lifeless body gave a little twitch—a very faint sign of life, barely visible nor audible. This was followed by short, quick spasm, and finally a breath of life! To everyone’s amazement, Rita started breathing again, although somewhat belabored at first. Immediately Rita was placed in the oxygen tent again. For the next five days, Rita could neither talk, eat, nor see.

[B][I]Maseha para bai hohogue ha’ i haga-hu[/I][/B]

Word immediately spread of Rita’s miraculous return to life. However there was one big problem: According to the doctor, fluid had entered young Rita’s brain and her doctor’s prognosis was that the patient would probably end up in a “vegetative” state.

But for Tun Jose, the fact that his little girl had started to breathe life again was more than he could have asked for. Sobbing intensely and tears freely flowing, he begged the doctor: [I]“Doktu, na’ la’la’ i haga-hu maskiseha para bai hohogue ha’ yan para bai a-atanha’ gue.”[/I] (Doctor, please keep my daughter alive even if only for me to hold her and to look at her always!)

As Rita was recounting this part of her story, she couldn’t help but cry and think of how much her Dad loved her, that had she lived in a “vegetative” condition, he wouldn’t ask for anything more! That she didn’t end up being a “vegetable” was to Rita another miracle of Mother Margarita in her life.

To this day, Rita still has in her possession the prized relic of Mother Margarita and the prayer book given her by her parents. Their instruction to her was that she should never forget the favors obtained for her by Mother Margarita in her life.

[B]Rita’s Pilgrimage[/B]

[I]“I korason-hu ha deseseha para bai hanao”[/I](My heart desires that I go), says Rita of the pilgrimage to Bilbao. In addition to the miracles that she attributes to Mother Margarita, Rita also has another reason why she wanted to go. “This woman, on a ‘mission,’ brought her Mercedarian missionaries to our islands. I am who I am today because of the Mercedarian sisters who taught us and molded us in the ways of God,” asserted Rita. She pointed out that so many of the Commonwealth’s people were educated and influenced by the effort and courage of Mother Margarita and her missionaries. She reflected that Mother Margarita left Spain for these shores. This coveted pilgrimage then is Rita’s “mission” to Spain to give glory back to God for having sent this extraordinary Spanish woman her way and to everyone here on the islands! [I][B](Jess R.A. Sonoda)[/B][/I]