The priestly soul that inspired the Queenship of Mary
Father Molina was born in Pravia (Asturias, España) in October 23, 1920 from a devoutly Christian family. He had eight brothers and sisters. He was a fervent son of Mary, “the Lady” as he used to call Her with devotion, respect and admiration. He was an active promoter of Her glory. Captive by Her supernatural enchantment he could not conceal that Marian Fire that consumed him, and wherever he went Our Lady of the Encounter with God was the banner to carry Christ.
At age eighteen he enrolled in the Jesuit Seminary. Brother Molina, during his novitiate years, used to pray The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
He was ordained priest on 13th july, 1956. By 1966 he was stationed in Peru as secretary to the Archbishop of Cusco, Mgr. Ricardo Durand. The misery of the Quechua people wounded his soul deeply. With a faith that moves mountains, an unwavering confidence and a very strong love, and after long hours of praying, deep humility and heroic obedience, he decided to start a foundation to promote development amongst the poorest. Trusting Divine Providence, faithful to the Gospel, he will follow Jesus until he can love Him in every suffering soul. On April 28, 2002, his blessed life passed away to become immersed in God whom he loved so much.
“Via Mariae”
Father Molina considered the Marian function in our lives as crucial, irreplaceable, essential. He wrote: “Let us choose in our spirituality for the “Via Mariae”: is the road of effectiveness, the path to achievement. Holy Mary, place of the intervention of God in the History of Humanity. Are we not going to love Her? Are we not going to magnify Her? Are we not going to worship Her? Holy Mary, Perennial beacon of the Good News of the Gospel! Our future has been placed by God in the hands of the Holy Mary: that says Fatima.”
Holy Rosary and Our Lady of Fatima
He had a great devotion to the Holy Rosary. He always prayed it in his travels. In a letter he advised: “Do not slack in the daily prayer of the Holy Rosary. The Blessed Virgin is very grateful and She is the All-powerful supplicant who wants you to be a saint. You only need to want to do it sincerely.”
For Father Molina it was simply inconceivable a priest without a Marian image, a Month of Mary without the “flowers”, a First Saturday without a special Solemnization, to celebrate the Immaculate without the preparation novena; a Solemnity without a previous vigil, an endeavor without Her patronage. To his most ambitious apostolic undertakings he called the CISAMA (City of Saint Mary).
Consecration to Our Lady
Father Molina used to teach: “through the consecration I come to be deed, possession and property of the Holy Mary, in the same way a child is deed, possession and property of his mother. By announcing my Marian CONSECRATION I remove all obstacles that oppose to Her carrying out in me all Her might, which She can fulfill on behalf of God, to conceive me as She conceived my mind: Christ; and Her making me her possession automatically, Her property as whole as a child is possession and whole property of his mother, so She can do in me His will, in my soul and my body; in my life and my death, in my eternity.”
Father Molina implored her maternal gaze for the entire world. In the depth of that tender, compassionate and close gaze, we all have been imprisoned and written in Her Immaculate Heart. And from that Heart, placed in the very same Heart of God, destination and resting place of our existence for which we live and for what we live.
Our Lady of the Encounter with God
“Mary leads us to God. To have an Immaculate Mother is a treasure that is never praised enough. Place yourself under Mary’s guidance: the path that She points out is the straightest and surest for the encounter with God”
“Holy Mary is the Queen of nature and of Grace: she is beauty, splendor of supernatural charm, a perfect God’s creation. The Holy Spirit, the Communicability God, the beautiful gift, made Her in His likeness, communicating Her, His most cherished and intimate gift: the gift of attraction, of pleasing, of liking to give and to deliver, to give herself and deliver herself, the gift of closeness, create proximity and the gift of generosity (…) That is why She is Our Lady of the Encounter. Let us cherish Her. She creates closeness between God and me.”
For Father Molina, Our Lady of the Encounter with God is the mediator that takes us to Her Son, and gives Him to us, makes us resemble Him, and in Him she unites us to the Trinity.
