Maria Teresa Baron (1941-2021)

Maria Rios shares her quick memories of Maria Teresa Baron, who died 3 December 2021 in Seville (Spain). She was one of 3 women who came to the Philippines in 1965 to start the work of Opus Dei in this country.

Maria Teresa Baron with some Filipinas in Seville (Spain)

Last week Maria Teresa was a topic of my prayer.

Many things immediately came to my head: she went about doing good, she lived for others, etc… and my conclusions were twofold: They are not theories; they are what life has taught me.

A FULL LIFE

In the end, you will be judged by your love: Maria Teresa has certainly obtained a Certificate of Honor! It is striking how much Maria Teresa loved people and how many souls she carried in her heart! Quantity and quality. She loved with deeds. She never stopped visiting, calling, writing people…. always attentive to the needs of others.

She had a prodigious memory: remembering names and dates.

A tireless apostle: all day on the street, on the bus, making friends, giving away the prayer cards that she thought would be appropriate for the needs of the person she talked to. The whole world fit in her heart: she constantly followed up her English, American, and Hungarian friends.

The Philippines would deserve a separate chapter; she passed away on the day of the apostle from the East.

At Albaydar Technical School (Seville) in 2013, with Soledad Usechi (right) who also came to the Philippines in 1965

She said that she was afraid of going to heaven empty-handed, but what was really full was her heart.

WITH SHORTCOMINGS AND LIMITATIONS BUT HOLY

I don't know how to express it but it seems to me that Maria Teresa had become a saint. "A saint, a saint," not only despite her defects and limitations but with them. She has sanctified them! It has taught me that defects are compatible with holiness when there is struggle, because they purify, and make us humble... they do not prevent us from becoming holy.

During these two weeks the phrase that she most often repeated to me was: "Everything is for the best!"

When I said goodbye to her, I told her to pray for me from above to be faithful like her and she repeated twice: "correspondence to grace, correspondence to grace.”

Maria Teresa with Filipinos during the beatification of Blessed Alvaro in Madrid on September 27, 2014

I could tell many more anecdotes, but I am left with one that amused me a lot. Maria Teresa had a reputation of a person on-the-run. She would go from here to there. The day she received the Anointing of the Sick, the priest reminded her of the effects of the Sacrament. And when he spoke to her about reaching Heaven, we heard her say, "Faster, faster". All of us present almost laughed out loud amidst the tears of the moment.

Maria Rios