Margaret Chen Hsueh-chao was a Supernumerary of Opus Dei. She died on May 11, 2008, after a long battle against cancer. She was strong in her love for God, her family and friends, and she lived life with a passion for she was a dynamic lady.  

As she progressed through a total of 10 operations, her activities gradually became more restricted yet she never let her illness hold her back from the apostolate. She invited friends for the recollections, made pilgrimages with them, typed and proof read translation drafts of the books of St Josemaría, etc. Her fortitude left its indelible mark on her daughter, Theresa, who tells us her impression after meeting the Father in Hong Kong in July 2008 and, more recently, in Taipei on April 24, 2009. 

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The Father was the one my mother had everyday on her lips, the one whom she prayed for, that is why he is somebody so familiar, so close to me. 

My mother passed away last May. The friends in the Opus Dei Center in Hong Kong arranged for me to meet the Father, to share the course of my mother’s struggle with her illness. That time the encouragement I received from the Father was a great help for me, as I deeply felt the pain caused by her death. 

This year the Father came to Taiwan in April, and I was again very fortunate to be able to meet him twice. Each time I saw him, I was deeply moved, feeling regret that my mother never had the chance to meet the Father during her lifetime, and also because it opened the flood gates of my memories of her. 

However, the Father was very encouraging, “Your mother is continuously giving you an embrace. Pray always and in the midst of your prayer, you and your mother can meet in the heart of Our Lord.”  

These words jolted my memory of the time I attended the World Youth Day in 2005. I was away for nearly 3 weeks and had sent my mother a postcard, “Mom, in prayer, Jesus will give you an embrace on my behalf.” 

The Father’s words, to my astonishment, coincided exactly with those intimate words I had written her. I believe this was the Holy Spirit guiding the Father, enabling him to speak such consoling words, which were also the very words my mother from heaven would have liked to tell me. Thank you, Father.