Aided by a Mother

We sometimes tend to think that, in order to be answered in prayer, we must formulate long and elaborate requests. However, the Saviour’s teaching is quite different: “And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Mt 6:7-8).

The accounts transcribed here confirm this precious lesson of the Divine Master. As a mother who intercedes with solicitude before the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Dona Lucilia does not need grandiloquent supplications. Rather, she wants us to trust in her help like children who abandon themselves to her maternal care, in the expectation of receiving protection and support, certain that she always hastens to the aid of those who come to her with their needs.

“Dona Lucilia filled our wallet!”

Liliana Rojas and her husband, José Martín, who reside in the city of Trujillo, Peru, send us an account of a grace they received through the intercession of Dona Lucilia at a time of great need.

Liliana learned about the Heralds of the Gospel in the year 2021, through the course of consecration to Our Lady. From then on, she followed the videos posted on the Internet, through which she came to know the story of Dona Lucilia. She enjoyed following the narration of her life: “I heard about her miracles, about her great intercession; every time I watched the program I was surprised by her goodness and intercession.” Nevertheless, she wondered: “Is it true? Is she really such a ‘miracle worker’?”

Thus, with a mixture of curiosity and admiration, Liliana grew in her devotion to Dona Lucilia: “I received a picture of her, had it printed and put it in a frame. I always turn to her and trust in her great love to help me. Even in small difficulties she helps me; I look at her and she reassures me. In my moments of dread and fear, I picture her smile – if I am far from her photo – and she brings me calm and peace.”

During the pandemic, her husband was diagnosed with a tumour on his pituitary gland. After numerous examinations and medical consultations, they were told that surgery would be necessary to remove it. However, the cost of the procedure far exceeded the couple’s means: thirty thousand Peruvian soles – close to eight thousand US dollars – were needed to pay for it… How could they come up with such an amount?

Due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, José Martín’s work as a lawyer was scarce and his income was low. However, Liliana’s faith brought hope to the situation when she recounted to her husband the graces that Dona Lucilia grants to her devotees, even in financial difficulties like the one they were facing: “My husband, a little incredulous, told me laughing and opening his wallet: ‘Ask her to fill my wallet!’ And I answered him: ‘Ask her insistently and she will do it!’”

Three days after that remarkable conversation, José Martín received notification that he had to pick up, in a neighbouring town, the earnings from a client’s labour case. His legal fees amounted to thirty thousand soles, the exact amount needed for the surgery! Liliana recounts: “It was a great joy when my husband came home and showed me the bundle of notes, saying: ‘Look! Here is the exact amount needed for my surgery.’ I answered him: ‘You see, our mãezinha [little mother – trans.] Lucilia gave it to you. She is miraculous, she is wonderful!’”

In April 2022, José Martín had a successful operation. Liliana saw her confidence rewarded and ends her narrative with filial gratitude: “Thank you, mãezinha Lucilia!”

When human resources fail…

We have also received reports coming from Portugal. Isabel de Jesus Fonseca, from Alhos Vedros, tells us about a favour obtained through the intercession of this kind mother.

In August 2022, Isabel had a minor car accident and, to fix the damage, she chose an accredited auto repair shop, because it had more quality service guarantees. However, due to the fighting in Ukraine, the material needed for the repair was then in short supply in the country.

With real apprehension, she watched three months go by without any news about the date of the vehicle’s return. Needing it, she phoned the dealership and was told that one headlight was still needed. Just one headlight! Resigned, Isabel let some more time pass. After another month, she inquired again and everything was at the same point, with no prospect of when the work would be completed.

She recounts: “I decided to appeal to the intercession of Dona Lucilia, and began to pray to her asking for the car to be returned to me quickly. I decided to go to the garage in person, and got no more information than I already had; so I started looking for a headlight on several websites. It was difficult. They were all sold out! Continuing to pray to her, I promised then that I would publish this grace as soon as the car was delivered to me.”

And she did not have to wait long: giving her an unusual precedence over other customers, and despite the fact that the parts had been arriving piecemeal from the factory, the dealership delivered the repaired vehicle to her in fifteen days. Dona Lucilia had shortened the delay in a motherly way. “I consider this as a great favour from her, a sign of her affection for me!” writes Isabel thankfully.

The day I am cured…

From Paraguay writes Maria del Carmen Fretes, affectionately known as Doña Maia, describing how she was helped by Dona Lucilia: “In October 2022, I suddenly developed a very high fever. I had to go to the hospital because the fever did not subside. After the initial tests, the doctors decided to admit me, because the results were not very encouraging. More tests followed over five days, after which they told me that some very strange bacteria had entered my body and, as if that were not enough, they detected a spot on my right lung.”

After seven days in hospital, Doña Maia was discharged, but she had to take high doses of medication and follow up with a doctor about the aforementioned spot. A few days later, the appearance of another type of bacteria obliged her to return to the hospital.

In December, a tomography scan revealed that the spot, far from disappearing, had increased. The doctor attending to her then indicated that it would be necessary to perform an incision in the lung. As it was not possible to have such an intervention there in Paraguay, Doña Maia consulted a specialist in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, to whom she sent the results of all her examinations. She continues: “The doctor recommended that I travel urgently to São Paulo to undergo a lobectomy as soon as possible, as he was talking about a pulmonary neoplasm.”

The day before her trip, Doña Maia visited the house of the Heralds of the Gospel in Asunción, where she received sacramental assistance from a priest of the institution to help her through the difficult phase that was beginning. The priest comforted her by saying that God always has the last word, and gave her a prayer card of Doña Lucilia with a prayer on the back. Dona Maia recounts: “Before saying goodbye, he gave me a picture of a lady, whose tomb in São Paulo – he told me – I should visit on the day the doctor certified that I was cured.”

Doña Maia was not yet acquainted with the maternal protection of Dona Lucilia, but from that day on she entrusted her health and her treatment to the care of this kind lady and every evening she recited the prayer printed on the back of the photograph.

The diagnosis is reversed

On January 23, she started a series of preparatory exams for the lung incision at Albert Einstein Hospital, in São Paulo. She recounts: “From the beginning I felt a special strength that brought me great calm and tranquillity during the tests; I mentioned this to my husband, because under normal circumstances it would not have been easy for me to go through them.”

When brought into the operating room on the 26th, Doña Maia was praying nonstop. At that moment, the surgeon came in and said that the medical team had decided to take another tomography, to clarify a doubt about the spot in the lung, because it seemed that it had diminished. Doña Maia writes: “At first I was startled and did not want to have any illusions. I just prayed and prayed and remembered the conversation with the priest. The nurse brought my husband into the consulting room and a few minutes later the doctor returned to give me the news that the procedure was cancelled because the spot had reduced to less than half its former size and the peripheral nodules had dissolved.”

Full of joy, Doña Maia closes her account with words of gratitude: “That same day I contacted the Herald priest to tell him everything that had happened, and to say that I wanted to visit Dona Lucilia’s tomb the next day. Another surprise: the priest was in São Paulo and was also planning to go to the cemetery! Thus, on Friday January 27, I was able to visit the grave and thank her for this miracle.”

A series of trials and illnesses

Equally touching is the testimony sent to us by Mrs. Patricia Carolina Ríos Furlotti, also from Paraguay, in the sincere hope that her story may serve to increase the faith of others in the maternal intercession of Dona Lucilia.

Married to Marcos Rafael for 16 years, she has had no children and suffers from several illnesses that began shortly after their marriage and have only worsened over time. Both are fervent collaborators of the Heralds of the Gospel, are familiar with the devotion to Dona Lucilia and have entrusted themselves to her in various difficulties, and continually receive her favours and protection. However, during one of the greatest trials they have ever passed through, her supernatural intervention became more palpable for both of them.

Patricia writes: “In 2019 I was constantly getting sick and underwent several tests with a gynaecologist, a nutritionist, an orthomolecular doctor, a gastroenterologist and an endocrinologist. The gynaecologist diagnosed me with endometriosis which was affecting the ovaries, causing endometriomas; the gastroenterologist diagnosed gastritis and oesophagitis; and the nutritionist detected intolerance to twenty principal foods.”

Wishing to avoid the treatment suggested by the gynaecologist, since it would forever rob her of the possibility of becoming a mother, Patricia chose to wait for a miracle, treating herself only with vitamins and minerals, besides changing her diet. Over time, the progression of the endometriosis seemed to have slowed, but there continued to be terrible pain and various symptoms that made it impossible for her to carry out her normal activities. In November 2022, feeling very unwell and almost unable to walk due to the pain, she consulted a specialist, who ordered an MRI scan.

Patricia recounts: “Immediately after checking the results, the doctor told me that both ovaries, which already had cysts, had increased considerably in size, especially one of them. A uterine myoma had also appeared, causing pain and taking up space in the uterus. Because of the pain, I asked him to please operate on me, because I couldn’t continue any longer on medication alone.”

“I will not operate on you!”

In this situation of suffering, perplexity and trials, the priest responsible for the Herald Cooperators in Paraguay invited Patricia to join the choir that was being formed. She replied that she would love to participate, but… it depended on an improvement in her precarious state of health. She continues: “Then the priest, very charitably and with complete faith and confidence, recommended that I turn to Dona Lucilia and make a ‘contract’ with her, so that she would cure me and I could participate in the apostolic activities.”

Encouraged by this advice, Patricia and her family began to pray the irresistible Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, taking Dona Lucilia as intercessor, since she had shown so much devotion to Him during her life. Besides reciting this prayer, Patricia kept with her a small pouch with petals taken from the tomb of Dona Lucilia and a memento of her.

Thus prepared, she went to the doctor’s office the day before the surgery, to undergo a prior examination. To her surprise, the doctor declared to her after analysing the result of the examination: “I am not going to operate on you!” Patricia recalls: “I asked him calmly: ‘Why, doctor?’ He answered: ‘That big cyst has disappeared.’ I asked him: ‘And the other one, doctor?’ He replied: ‘It has also disappeared!’ And he added: ‘Why would I operate on you if there is nothing there?’”

Patricia then declared, “Ah! I happen to have a Saint named Dona Lucilia!” The doctor retorted, in a joking tone, “Well now, that lady is not much to my liking, for she takes away all my work!”

With an exclamation of joy and gratitude, Patricia concludes her account: “That day was Saturday, January 21, 2023. Day 21, that is, the day of the month when Dona Lucilia left for eternity. It is as if it were her signature! Blessed be God in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary, in his Angels and Saints, and especially in his beloved daughter Dona Lucilia!” ◊