Turning over my heart and head to find more reasons for gratitude and hope than for sorrow or discouragement, the figure of M. María de los Desamparados Molina, foundress of the houses in Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile, comes to mind today. He had been in Argentina for ten months when, following the mandate of obedience, he undertook the trip to Chile to take the Congregation to the other side of the Cordillera, the expectations were very generous and alleviated the idea of moving further away from the rest of the Institute. Leaving the Andes behind, at that time, could be the equivalent of total isolation from Buenos Aires and Europe because when the snow forced the closing of the Libertadores Pass, not even the mail could reach Chile.
The entry into Santiago resulted in the fading of his dreams and the first days were very hard. The Board of Ladies that was to protect the foundation had been dissolved due to the death of its president. With the dissolution of the Board, all the offers made to the Sisters for a large house and financial support for the upkeep of the community and the young women vanished. The Archbishop offered them the only thing he had: an abandoned house in a slum in the northern part of the city. It was in such bad condition that the Jesuit Father Falgueras went so far as to affirm that the whole property was to be burned and not to be inhabited. But M. Maria de los Desamparados was not a woman who shrinks easily, and in the midst of the most absolute poverty she found the most beautiful and comforting formula that I have known so far to write the “tumbo” or daily chronicle of the community.
I choose any day at random and my sight stops on April 3, 1914, where M. Maria de los Desamparados notes:
Day 3
Benefits of our Lord
Spiritual: the usual as the first Friday of the month.
Health: Full in Cdad. and girls, thank God.
Weather: Beautiful, like the previous day.
Visits: Two for girls, i.e., asking and recommending.
Mail: Nothing
Gifts: Nothing
Errands: None
School Movement: None.
On this eve of the first Friday of the month, which also coincides with the Friday of Sorrows, I want to give thanks for the Congregation that the Lord gives me every day, for His presence also in the loneliness and pain that in one way or another overwhelms us all in these days; for the faithfulness of those who received His definitive embrace of the Father in this month of March, for the pain of those who continue to suffer from illness and for the generosity of each one that translates into serenity, peace and confidence for all the others. Every day, every name, every act is a benefit from our Lord.