“My attitude of soul with Mama was, without a doubt, one of tremendous and complete resonance,” commented Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira about his relationship with Dona Lucilia.
The physical phenomenon of resonance consists in the simultaneous vibration of same-pitched sounds. If, for example, a set of crystal glasses or bells are placed together, and one of them is made to sound on a sustained tone, the other crystals or bells in tune with it will also start to vibrate, while those not consonant remain inert. This sonorous resonance is a symbol of something that happens on a much higher plane: that of human relationships. When one person is consonant with another, upon seeing the other speak, make a decision, or perform an action worthy of admiration, this immediately resonates in the person’s soul; in other words, an affinity is established.
The term consonance, however, does not entirely encompass what existed between the two, because the world of sounds is restricted… Much more than a bell being struck, causing another bell named Plinio to echo, there was a profound relationship between them, such that her desires were his, her innocence was his, her piety was his, her understanding and love of the Church were also his.
An encounter amid divine reflections
A commentary made by Dr. Plinio seems to clarify the supernatural origin of this union: “Souls encounter mysterious resonances with other souls of the same kind, even when there is no special reason whatsoever for friendship. It is, precisely, a reflection of God that meets another reflection of God, and a longing for God is awakened. […] What is consonance, then? It is this discernment, and this type of affinity which is related to it.”
Dr. Plinio himself said that he noticed in his mother something that he felt he lacked. Thus, based on a profound discernment concerning her, in whom he saw the action of grace and a true archetype of goodness, he himself would begin to be the reflection of God in search of the longing for God in others.
We may measure the extent of the influence she exercised upon him if we consider this explanation of his: “Influences between people vary greatly; there are degrees, and they obey a hierarchy. […] Of all the possible influences, one is the deepest of all. It is that which is exercised by one who, in any capacity, represents for the other a model to be imitated and followed; in other words, an archetype. […] If, for example, a son sees in his parents the realization of that ideal person which he desires to be when he grows up, he will more readily let himself be influenced by them. To the degree that the parents are not this archetype, their influence over their son will decrease, and the child will seek the ‘archetype’ in someone else. The ‘archetype’ is, therefore, the greatest of conceivable influences.”
From when he was little, looking at Dona Lucilia, he glimpsed beyond her something “much greater than in others”: it was the Divine Archetype. Plinio did not yet know how to explain this, or to seek it out expressly, for he was not yet aware of the existence of this Archetype. Having surveyed the paradisiacal altitudes of her soul countless times, it only remained for Plinio to imagine above her Someone who was infinite, which was Our Lord Jesus Christ. When was this idea born in his mind?
The same liquid in unequal vessels
On one occasion, when asked by the author how he came to deduce the existence of this archetype, Dr. Plinio availed himself of a very eloquent metaphor. He said that it was like a child who drinks fruit juice from a liquor glass. Afterwards, he drinks the same liquid from a crystal tumbler. When drinking from the liquor glass and from the crystal tumbler, the child has the same sensation because the liquids are identical, but “he does not conclude that it is the same liquid; he liked both one and the other. If someone tells him: ‘It is the same liquid,’ he takes it with all naturalness.”
In other words, from the first instant of his use of reason, upon seeing Dona Lucilia he understood her and loved her; and when, at the age of five, he entered the Shrine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and saw His statue at the end of the lateral nave, he understood and adored Him. Only later, better analysing the sameness of his impressions regarding Dona Lucilia and regarding the Sacred Heart of Jesus, did he realize: “Here is what is greater than she is: her archetype!” But the two – she a creature, and He the Creator – were in the same line; that which existed in her existed in Him, with only a difference of intensity: in Him, it was infinite and in an absolute form; in her, it was by participation.
“It was as if He lived in her, in such a way that the émerveillement1 that she caused in me was more circumscribed, but of the same nature as that which He produced in me. The one thing was a derivation of the other. When I defined it much later on, I did not take it as a triumph or a surprise, but as something entirely natural.” It was the same liquid, but contained in unequal vessels.
Dona Lucilia at the age of thirty, approximately
Living reflection of the Heart of Jesus
Dona Lucilia had an enormous attraction to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and an unbounded devotion to Him, because in Him she contemplated Goodness, Forgiveness and Mercy in essence. This goodness was the aspect of Our Lord Jesus Christ which she was called to symbolize pre-eminently, and she became, in fact, a living and resplendent reflection of Him, both for Dr. Plinio and for all those over whom she would exercise a maternal role, loving them as her own children.
She was, then, an innocent lady, living in an intense union with God, who wanted to see the image of Our Lord engraved in the souls of others and help them to participate in His innocence. To this end she exerted all of her efforts, her dedication and her virtue.
This led Dr. Plinio to conclude: “In simply the way she said ‘Jesus’ or ‘the Sacred Heart of Jesus’, there entered a form of profound respect, of recollected admiration and of a boundless confidence. She had, as was noticeable, a full awareness that our Lord is the source of all mercy, goodness and patience, and she had recourse to Him especially as such. From there she drew those virtues which I saw reaching literally unimaginable degrees. When she told me episodes from the life of Our Lord, I understood His gentleness by seeing it reflected in Mama, in such a way that she became [for me] a kind of living lesson of the Gospel.” ◊
Taken, with slight adaptations, from:
O dom de sabedoria na mente, vida e obra de
[The Gift of Wisdom in the Mind, Life and Work of]
Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira. Città del Vaticano-São Paulo:
LEV; Lumen Sapientiæ, 2016, v. I, p.157-161
Notes
1 From French: wonder.
