 Okay, welcome back folks. We just, as we get ready to begin our second part with our beautiful friend, Kathleen Beckman, on the extraordinary, beautiful holiness of Blessed Conchita Cabrera. You know, she radiated the holiness and the beauty of our Lord. Just an extraordinary conversation. So I hope you'll, you've heard the first one or joining us for the second part. We want to remind you of a couple of things. We have our summit on the Blessed Mother on the Merion Mystery and the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart. That's October 13th through 15th at the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament up in Hansville, Alabama. And also our divine intimacy and marriage retreat. Speaking about this beautiful holiness in married life of Blessed Conchita, you might want to come and work on becoming a saint yourself with your spouse. I will tell you that it's bearing tremendous fruit and it's a beautiful, beautiful event that we're able to engage in that the Lord's asked us to provide and he's just doing a mighty thing. And that's November 3rd through the 5th also at the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament in Hansville, Alabama. Those are both 2023. You can find out more at spiritualdirection.com forward slash events. You know what else I would say? We'll jump into the show. We've already sold out our 2024 pilgrimage to Israel and with 300 on the waiting list, something like that. Something like that. It was huge. And the reason that's happening is because a lot is happening in Abola Institute and in our work. It just seems the Lord is pouring out his Holy Spirit. So check out the events page. Keep an eye on that. There'll be a new pilgrimage. We'll be scheduling soon. We're leaving for Spain this in 30 days or something like that. That one was sold out. The one for the Holy Land 2024 is sold out. Our next one 2025 is going to be Poland. We're going to go follow the footsteps of Saint John Paul II and Faustina, which is, you know, right now I'm in the midst of diving into Faustina and she's just rocking my world. What a beautiful soul. So anyway, there's all kinds of ways to engage with our work. Yeah. If you want to become Holy, we got a machine for you. Just enter the machine. The Lord does the rest. You just say you're yes and the Lord does the rest. All right, let's go ahead and jump in on your mark. This is Dan and Stephanie Burke. Welcome to Divine Intimacy Radio. Your radio haven of rest. Your hermitage of the heart. Your monastery of the mind where we lift our hearts and minds to heaven to draw upon the wisdom of the saints. And today we have a lesser known saint that is becoming more well known because of the great work of Kathleen Beckman. And we're talking about her new book from Sophia in Stupress called Beautiful Holiness, A Spiritual Journey with Blessed Conchita Into the Heart of Jesus or To the Heart of Jesus. So, Stephanie, why don't you introduce Kathleen to our audience. Absolutely. Kathleen Beckman is an author, evangelist and retreat director. She co-founded an Apostolate of Intercessory Prayer for priests and serves as the administrator of healing, deliverance and exorcism in her diocese. God bless you. You can find out more about her foundation of priests prayer for priests at foundationforpriest.org and more about her writings at Kathleen Beckman.com. Welcome Kathleen to our second part on Blessed Conchita. Well, thank you so much. I'm so happy to be with you and I just want to thank you for all that you do to build up the body of Christ. It's tremendous how God has poured his favor and the Holy Spirit is flowing in and through you, so thank you for all that you are and do. Thank you. It's very humbling just to be able to know people like you and work with people like you and just to be able to do what we do. You know, in the last show, we talked about how all three of Conchita's spiritual directors are in the canonization process, right? Right. Bishop Louis Martinez, I think, did I say his name right? Louis. Louis Martinez, yeah. Louis Martinez, his most famous work is on the Holy Spirit. Called The Sanctifier. The Sanctifier, an amazing bishop. The other saint that she came across, I remember in your book, was Pius X. Did I remember that right? That's right. What was her dealings with Pius X? Well, she went to the Vatican and she was, you know, was seeking permission to begin. Now, you know, she's, she was always faithful to her vocation. So she, and this is a real lesson to us, I think, that she inspired the order for priests of the missionaries of the Holy Spirit. So she was seeking permission from the Vatican and made pilgrimages over there. And then also her son was a Jesuit who was studying in Spain and his ministry remained in Spain and never returned to Mexico. So she had audiences with the Holy Father and, you know, she never put herself forward. It was her spiritual directors. Some of them, you know, the Archbishop of her diocese or Archbishop Martinez was in the last part of her life. And so she was very much a daughter of the church and seeking permission to be, to, for these orders to start. So when I say she, she inspired them, but she never obviously had a, like she wasn't living or, you know, active in them. She wasn't on the board of directors. She inspired them and helped them to come forth. And I think just from what I know, what's happened in the church over the last 20, 30 years with women inspiring, you know, movements for priests. I think that Conchita is just a beautiful example of she had this inspiration. She was moved by the Holy Spirit. She has this revelation from the Lord and she helps it to all come together and then goes home and serves her family. She never inserted herself into the order of nuns, even though her heart was there and you read in her mystical writings. Oh, Lord, how I wanted to stay with your beautiful brides, you know, but she would go home and serve her family. And so there's so much that we can learn from that for right order in our vocations. But no, she had many, she always had, she lived 74 years. And I think she's had spiritual directors that were, I think there were maybe eight or nine of them, but three of them. Their cause is already open. Father Felix is the one that Father Felix, he is the one that took the lead of the missionaries of the Holy Spirit, which is the clergy order that she's in. So she was very, she was very interactive with the clergy and leadership in her, in her lifetime there in Mexico, and they're the ones that really put forth her writings. Some of them anonymous, she never suggested that they be published, but, but her, she didn't even tell her own son that she had received revelations on the priesthood. She just said, I heard there is, there are some writings on the priesthood that may be of interest to you. They're circulating in Mexico. Wow. This is a beautiful, you know, this is a beautiful teaching for all of us. But I think that her mark on ministerial priesthood or understanding of it came because of her intimacy with the eternal high priest. He, you know, when, when the priests read these revelations, it's not Conchita. She's just the, she's just, you know, the, the instrument of God who's writing, but he's sharing his heart to his presons. The messages I think are very challenging to the clergy because he, and I, and there's a whole chapter in the book on this particular aspect of her spirituality. I mean, what she writes to her own son is just an amazing, in fact, I want to, let's see, I have a quote from her, what she write, she wrote to her own son regarding his priesthood. And I think if I can find it here, it is really give you an, it'll give you an idea of what, how she challenges priests and it's a challenge to us. So if you may, I'd like to share this with you. I think it's very profound. She says to her son who's, who's going to be ordained a Jesuit priest, give yourself to the Lord with all your heart and do not hold anything back. Forget about creatures and forget especially about yourself. I cannot imagine someone consecrated to God. It was not a saint. One cannot give only half of oneself to God be generous with him. The cross carries him who carries it with love. Love him a great deal. Let him love you back boldly. Ask him to love you, care for you, embrace you, hug you to his loving heart because his delight is being with the sons of men. Do not measure the height of your calvaries, nor the weight or the dimension of your cross. Forget yourself, your true sorrow being solely that of seeing Jesus offended, insulted and persecuted. All our martyrdoms are like shooting stars before the cross of Jesus. Be a victim for the guilty. Forgive and forget. Complete Jesus' passion in your own heart. I envy you because persecution is a sign of those who are chosen. No wonder St. Ignatius requested it for his sons. Wow. I was getting all kinds of chills just listening to that. I can take that and meditate for a month on just what she's teaching us there. You know what's amazing about saints and it's just so striking is they're always so bold. And their calls are always to such great heights. I am not a saint just to be clear. My wife can attest to that. But I was on a show recently and I said, you know, either you're all in or you're not in at all. And the person who's like, no, no, no, no, you can't say that. And there's been many times where people say you need to be more balanced. I'm thinking, I just don't see that in Jesus. I don't see that. I actually had an argument with my spiritual director, which doesn't sound very humble because I'm probably not. But I said I don't like balance, the word balance, because people always use it to soften or to minimize the great heights that we're called to. I like the phrase, holy imbalance, which means and when you think about balance is like you're standing in a stance where you're not going to fall over. But I think we should be leaning toward heaven. And if we stop, we do fall, but we're running and running is a leaning forward. It's an imbalance. You're falling forward to heaven at this, you know, with great intensity. And wow, does she exemplify that? Yes, very much so. And I think you can see why that, for me, you know, I had a big conversion from a very worldly life in my, what was I, about 33, 34 years old. So a long time ago, three decades ago. And but then I decided I'm either like, there's no middle ground. I'm either all in or I'm just out, you know, we know what the Lord says about mediocrity. And to me, it's just like, it's not pleasing to the Lord. It's it's not the way that we're called to live because there's great joy in discovering authentic intimacy with the Lord and making that a priority and and not, you know, and radiating his heart. I think this is one of my favorite things about Blessed Conchita is that she's really emphasizes the need of the Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit, for example, in the vision of the cross. Now the cross is, you know, people usually run from it, but saints run to it, right? Yes. They discovered, they've discovered the genius of the cross. And so, but there's something she pointed out in that vision that I'll never forget, and I think it's very profound. She said above the whole cross in this vision was the dove of the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit, the dynamism of the spirit is radiating down upon the cross and all that's happening at Calvary and all that is happening related to the cross. So the Holy Spirit, that dynamism of divine love, that third person of the Holy Trinity is overshadowing us in when we're on the cross. And it's really brings us to the point of love, of divine love, and it's radical call to love crucified. And so I think that when she emphasizes, and there's a whole chapter in the book on the Holy Spirit, she had a retreat. You would love it. I think you would love it. It's a retreat that Bishop Archbishop Martinez gave her called Loving with the Holy Spirit. And I was able to get a copy of that retreat and I have a chapter of it in the book Loving with the Holy Spirit. So he takes her and she's learns from Archbishop Martinez how the most Holy Trinity loves with the Holy Spirit. And to love as Christ has called us to love, we must learn to love with the Holy Spirit. And so he begins the retreat with her on teaching her how has the Holy Spirit loved you. And then she responds in kind to how she can love with the Holy Spirit. It's beautiful. Wonderful. We've got to cut out to a break, but we're talking to Kathleen Beckman. Beautiful holiness, a spiritual journey with blessed conchita to the heart of Jesus. And you can find that at spiritualdirection.com in the shop area. But also you can trusted books can always be found at IWTN's religious catalog. They have a theology team that bets them and makes sure they're all sound and they'll have Kathleen's books there. I'm sure also past books like a guide to spiritual warfare. Family guide. Family guide to spiritual warfare. So check that out and we'll be right back. So let's go to 13. Okay. I'd like to move maybe here. Yeah, that's fine. No worries. Okay. Yep. No, that was awesome. Yeah. So when we come back in, I'll just introduce you and go to three. Does that work? Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Welcome back. This is Dan and Stephanie Burke. You're listening to Dan and Stephanie. Nope. Stop. Reset. Where's the buzzer noise? Welcome back. You're listening to Divine Intimacy Radio. This is Dan and Stephanie Burke and we're on with our friend Kathleen Beckman. Everything she writes, you should read. Everything she recommends you should consume. Everywhere she is, you should go. Well, I agree with all that. That was pretty. You didn't even plan that. Well, yeah, I kind of work that in it. No, we love Kathleen. I'm talking about blessed Conchita Cabrera. So Stephanie, you had a question you want to jump into. Yeah. I mean, I think everybody would love to hear about some of the mystical graces that she experienced in this journey. Because it's just always so fascinating to see how the Lord speaks to his saints. And so I'd love to dive into that a little bit. I agree with you. I think that what we've been talking about her vision of the cross. So that was a hallmark that she received. Prior to a grace called the mystical incarnation. And the mystical incarnation is, it was, is a very profound. As you know, when we speak of the interior life, it's very hard to articulate really the graces in the soul of what is happening there. But the reason that I included it in the book, pardon me, because I wanted the book to be practical for everyone. And I wasn't going to focus on graces that I thought were exclusive to her. There are some graces that some saints have that are exclusive to them. And it's, you know, many of us are very interested in that. But I really wanted to give an overview of her life. But everyone who was helping me with the research on blessed Conchita said that you really can't skip over the mystical incarnation. So what is that? So it's a grace of, you know, we're all called to complete transformation in Christ. Paul teaches us that his writings are very clear on, I live now not I, but Christ lives in me. Right. So that, that transformation in Christ through sacramental life, through spirit, the prayer life, and, and the growth in virtue. So he says that I want to quote, this is a capital grace that Conchita received. So I kept asking, is this a grace like St. Teresa of Avala's Transverboration? And the Father of Domenico said, it is like that, but with a more Marian quality to it. It is, it is really a mirror of the Marian mystical grace of birthing Jesus in the world. So we know that our lady's vocation is to birth Jesus into the world. She did that physically and spiritually. Blessed Conchita is called to mirror that, if you will, and having this, this interior transformation in Christ for her, the mystical incarnation was a grace that made that union permanent. So I'll describe it this way. One of the priests who examined this, and it was a long examination at the Vatican said, the grace plunges its roots in baptism and will never, ever and not even in death. And so how did this grace manifest? And how can we relate to it, the baptized? She emphasizes the living of our baptismal priesthood, small P. And so he says, after receiving this capital grace, Conchita lived it in these terms. So here's what we see from that grace. Uniting, transforming, maternal, foundational, Marian, Christological, ecclesial, priestly, eucharistic, redemptive, Trinitarian, paternal, and pneumatic. And so when I asked Father Domenico, can we live this grace? Can we receive it? He said, the grace is open to all Christians because of the grace of their baptism. So when you read the mystical writings of Blessed Conchita, in a way you rediscover, if you will, that by virtue of our baptism in which we have been plunged into the life of the Trinity, the death and life of the Trinity, this union, this transformative union is ours. And so she teaches us the depths and the heights of that baptismal grace. And I think it's a beautiful example. And in the book I give many practical ways of disposing yourself. You know, we can dispose ourselves through growth and virtue, through prayer, through sacramental life, to these kinds of races. Very good. Well, to turn a little bit of a corner, she's of course a very holy woman and is changing the world around her and really obviously the fruits of her family are also great. She didn't neglect her family or this holiness. They were integrated into it. But whenever you advance the kingdom of God, this is a new conceptualization of this. It came to me recently that we simultaneously crush the kingdom of Satan as we advance the kingdom of God. And so I expect that she and her family experienced a lot of spiritual warfare and spiritual battles. Maybe tell us a little bit about that. I'm so glad that you bring that up because obviously because of the ministry that I serve in the church with the exorcism ministry and being on the team, I was curious to see and you don't read it in her writings. A lot of it. Let me correct that. In her writings you will find that she will write about her interior desolation. And at the end of her life, she went through a final test like so many of the saints do. And when her spiritual director asked her, how are you doing? She's on her deathbed. She said, it is if Jesus and I have never met. And she said, and this agony I offer for priests. So yeah, it is if Jesus and I never met. All of this divine intimacy, if you will, all of these graces. And at the end it was like, we never met. She was completely in a desolation. And she said, and I offer this up for priests. And so she does write about her temptations to doubt, her temptations to really, there's a lot of self incrimination and discouragement. And she was extremely doubtful of some of the mystical graces and only believed because her spiritual directors told her that they were authentic. But she did have exterior spiritual battles as well. So I was interested in that. And I asked if I could contact some of her living relatives. And so Father Domenico arranged that. And they wrote back to me some of the things that they bear witness to. And so I'd like to share this with you because I think it's so interesting. And I put this at the last part of the book. And the reason I did was I thought, well, you know, my last book was on spiritual warfare in the family. And this book, what does that have to do with it? But it really, as I said to Charlie McKenney, the great president of Sophia, I said, they really do go together because in the family guide to spiritual warfare, I speak about the sanctification in the domestic church and how holiness of life is a protection from spiritual warfare. And then here we have a wife and a mother and taking care of her domestic church in such a beautiful way, ordinary infused with the extraordinary. And so they really do help complement one another. But I want to read just some of the direct quotes. My grandmother, Lupi, knew that her mother had physical struggles with the devil because she felt his movements. Because now she was, now Conchita was living alone. She's older. Her husband has died. Her children are grown. She's a grandmother. And one of the daughters is living with her in her and staying in her room. So my grandmother, Lupi, knew that her mother had physical struggles with the devil because she felt his movements. At times she felt the devil pulled Conchita out of bed, dragged her around and physically assaulted her. She would have bruises. On one occasion, this is from her family members, on one occasion while she was in a hotel in Rome waiting for a papal audience to get permission for the foundation of the missionaries of the Holy Spirit, she awoke with bruises on her face and a black eye. The grandchildren called Conchita main and short for grandmother. And she would tell them not to consider such strange things. She said, these things belong to me. And she would simply bless them and not give them any attention. So there was an occasion when she walked into, she heard a baby crying in the crib in her house. And when, and so there were several people in the household and when she went into the room, the lights and the, you know, they used to have those lights with the little crystals hanging down and they were all shaking and the light was going on and off. And the baby was screaming and crying. And they said, we saw Conchita go in and quietly bless the child with a sign of the cross and sprinkle holy water and say a prayer and just calmly everything stopped. So, you know, she, she, there's a beautiful witness to the power of, you know, of Christ moving in and through a person who, who really knows how to move in the Holy Spirit. You know, just not to freak people out. You know, you said something a minute ago, you said that, you know, holiness or something like holiness, you know, protects us from spirit to warfare. It doesn't mean what Kathleen didn't mean to say was it eliminates spirit to warfare. Or that you won't experience it. Or that you won't experience it, but you will. There are people who are called to specifically suffer. I'm just reconnecting with a biography on Padre Pio course experience some of the same things with the devil. So it's very uncommon, what is common to all believers and I sincerely believe this. Everyone who's all in an authentic disciple of Jesus, what is common is they will experience spirit to warfare. They may not know what it is. They may not understand, for instance, that desolation is spiritual warfare or that often the darkness that we feel is not just us. It's not just me and my melancholy. It's the enemy working through, you know, weaknesses in my own person or even just attacking me whether I have a weakness or not. So yeah, but in that warfare, we can be assured that we are protected by the Lord, that all things are grace, that he allows some things in order to shore us up in holiness and faithfulness to believe more, to hope more, to love more. And he's already triumphed. It's all his. And she demonstrates that. Obviously she walks into the room with a demon shaking the, you know, and she's at peace and she's just like, whatever. In Jesus' name, let's pray. Get away from my grandchild. I'm sure that's what's going on inside of her because our power is not in our sort of yelling and screaming, of course, but it's in Jesus' name. It's in the Lord. So we've got to wrap this up. It's been such a delight to be with you, Kathleen. You are a gift to the church. We're so grateful for your great works with Foundation and Prayer for Priests, which is an apostolate that we endorse and that we recommend to the community of Apostoli VA. If you are looking to hang out with people like Kathleen who are faithful and giving themselves all to the Lord and learning what it means to become a saint, check out apostoliva.org. And with that, we've got to sign off. Go buy the book, Beautiful Holiness, A Spiritual Journey with Blessed Conchita by Kathleen Beckman. Okay, until next time. May the God of peace make you perfect in holiness. May he preserve you whole and entire. Spirit, soul, and body irreproachable at the coming of our Lord. Jesus Christ, amen.