Mar 26 Wed
What is Montse Grases’s prayer of closeness?
The 17-year-old girl Montse Grases died with a reputation of sanctity after a long illness caused by bone cancer on March 26, 1959, precisely on Holy Thursday.
Pope Francis acknowledged her heroic virtues on April 26, 2016, and, since then, Masses for the dead have become Masses of thanksgiving as she is already considered by the Church as a model of holiness and virtues. Undoubtedly, those who knew her have an indelible memory of her. Her school friends, now octogenarians, continue to gather to remember Montse's smile and good humor that has served as a stimulus in their lives.
Pope Francis declared the need for new models of next-door saints, neighborhood saints. “She had that girl-next-door charm. She was effortlessly approachable. She was one of us; just like family", exclaimed Montse's school friends quite naturally.
All the saints, especially the young ones, proposed as models of holiness, have in common the “prayer of solidarity,” of trust or companionship and closeness to God.
What is that?
You see, there are two modes of prayer in the Church of God: first, the prayer of mercy. We go to God with simplicity and humility to ask for his help in our needs, appealing to his infinite compassion. "God does not tire of forgiving, it is we, who tire of asking for forgiveness". Jesus’ merciful heart does not get tired of paying attention to our supplications and needs.
Secondly, God gives special grace to some saints and shares with them a divine and human “solidarity” or close companionship. These saints trust God, enjoy His trust, and do what He wants.
I can have a prayer of solidarity by loving God today and here, trusting and having Him close, accompanying me in what I am doing right now, and sharing with Him my life in the simple circumstances of my life.
Since she became aware of God's call to Opus Dei, Montse Grases tried to seek intimacy with Jesus, to study with Him, to talk a lot with Him even while playing, and to share little joys and worries. She would internally talk with God while enjoying time with her friends, helping her mother at home with house duties – she was the oldest of nine siblings – or going on excursions.
The key to Montse's life, what led her to heroic holiness, was to accept God's daily invitation to companionship and dialogue with Him, as constantly and truly as possible, for, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms:
“If you knew the gift of God!” The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. He first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with our thirst. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.
This thirst she quenched in conversation with God while living with him the ordinary activities of everyday life.
Excerpts from José Carlos Martín de la Hoz
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