EPILOGUE

Throughout her life Dina, like the “poor of Yahweh” came to know the mysteries that her life presented; a humble search, dim half-light, deep faith, trusting commitment, unconditional fidelity, unlimited self-abandonment and thus she could enter into the infinity that is God.

To believe is to trust, it is to let things happen, it is, above all, to commit oneself, to love.  Dina passed through life leaving us not only her footprint on the sand but, above all, the footprint of God. She presents God to us as the supreme Beauty, as the Love that seeks to be loved, like the moonlight over the sea of our lives, arousing in us the nostalgia for Him.

The Autobiography of Dina is not the fruit of a theological reflexion, she never studied theology. Dina searched for God, silently as a gentle breeze, tranquil as peace, attentive as the watchman who scans the horizon before the sunset. Dina is the faithful echo of the word of God, without looking for interpretations, without taking any initiative because God alone is the protagonist. In her writings Dina reveals her life and soul, unfolding as does a flower in the rays of the Sun.

If you like, having learned something of Dina’s passage through our world, we can delve more profoundly into her life, in order to get to know the score better. Do not forget that the work of God is all important, hidden to human eyes and that the score of every life requires our cooperation, so that, if you wish, we will then be able to play the whole melody.

Thank you Dina for your life and for your constant fidelity to grace. Help us, so that the score of our lives may be in tune and, like hers allow a melody to be heard – a melody to the greater glory of God

TESTIMONIES: Her Mistress of Novices

Today I would like you to hear from Dina’s Mistress of Novices in whom Dina confided the rich graces that God was offering her. We are treading on holy ground, where the main protagonist is God Himself and we feel overwhelmed by the path along which God led Dina. Her life as a religious was very brief, only eight years, but long enough to reach to the depths and navigate the deep waters of the mystery of God, something which Dina, obediently has described for us in her autobiography.

Dina hid nothing from her Mistress of Novices. She told her everything about her spiritual experiences because, receiving such an abundance of divine graces, she was afraid of falling into illusion.

The Mistress tells us:

When Dina spoke to me about her communications, I was worried and showed it; I knew that, as she was so sensitive this was a problem for her.  On seeing my concern she wept: “Why am I not like the others?” Something that, at one moment when she heard the voice of Jesus, filled her with joy, subsequently became a real torture. She found peace only when I told her that it was God’s will.

She was very simple and while her intimacy with Jesus developed, she participated fully in every aspect of the life of the noviciate.

One day in which she had confided to me that she was in deep communication with God, the novices had an outing; she laughed, enjoyed herself with and like the others but nothing revealed her secret.

The Mistress says throughout Dina’s religious life sources of suffering can be perceived:

Community life - given her gentle and sensitive personality. Her illness during which, on the orders of the doctor, she had to lie motionless in bed, in order that her lungs might heal. The greatest was when Our Lord offered her His chalice so that, in her agony, she would participate with all the suffering that He underwent: downcast, fearful, sorrowful, revulsion, loneliness etc.

Another profound suffering that we can grasp only with difficulty, was the sense of longing for heaven that is felt by those to whom Our Lord especially reveals Himself. Then faith becomes a journey, like Abraham, like Mary …

An important moment in Dina’s life was when Jesus told her that she would die on the 15^th August 1924.  The Mistress says that when , some days earlier, she went to visit her in the infirmary  and seeing that her state of health had not  declined she said to her “ You don’t seem to be dying”. Dina accepted this humbly and said nothing.

The Mistress tells us that after the 15^th August has come and gone, she made Dina understand that she was perhaps living with an illusion. She replied simply and quite naturally that she had been mistaken.  Dina was not depressed and profited humbly from the situation. She continued as before, without concern and even with greater fervour. After this I realised that she had received no further communications for quite a long time, but that her faith and love for Our Lord were even more intense. The death that Our Lord had predicted and that she had not understood, was a mystical death and now silence came over her. This silence of God, both disconcerting and overwhelming, can lead to a vague impression of insecurity, of asking oneself if all this was true and might have been the product of the imagination and not really the action of God.  The greater God’s self- manifestation, the harder it is to bear the silence that follows, Dina did not doubt, she continued to abandon herself, after which God offered her much greater graces.

Dina remained completely open with her novice mistress and the latter tells us that when Dina confided in her she was certain that it was true, even though she was aware of the possibility of illusion, she had nothing on which to base such fears.

More testimonies could follow, but there is a silence that speaks more than words,  I leave you with Dina…

TESTIMONIES: Her Sisters in religious life

Dina left what would have been a most attractive future, a loving family life, a successful musical career, a promising future, the chance to create a happy home … all this to respond with a YES to God who is above everything.

Dina made an impression on her Sisters.  Let us listen to them. They tell us that it was rather by her attitudes than her words that they noticed:

Her great simplicity

She was so self-effacing that it seemed that in her own eyes she counted for nothing. Her great humility hid her talent.

Exteriorly she was like all the others. Nobody imagined that she received extraordinary gifts of grace.

At times of recreation when the conversation became very animated, she was quiet so that others would have the pleasure of recounting what had happened.

Her joy

In the afternoons the novices organised recreations, or musical or literary activities. Dina participated fully in the activities and in the games. Her sketches amused everyone. One would have thought that her shyness would prevent her from playing unusual parts, but the contrary was true, when anything was entrusted to her she did it with spontaneity, thought and cheerfulness.

Her self-forgetfulness

In the noviciate tasks were allocated to each one. When they were not assigned she always chose the most difficult and offered to replace those who had had the hardest ones. She did this so pleasantly that she gained their affection

She always wanted to make others happy and one had to pay attention to the expression of the simplest wish because she responded to it immediately. If possible she did more, she did not wish to do less.

Always affable and good, she avoided hurting others, even if it was a religious who made her suffer.

Her austerity

Dina did not like apples. Her parents, who did not know this, often brought this fruit to her and her superior, taking her health into account, wanted her to eat some. Dina ate apples for many months until the Mistress of Novices perceived the repugnance that they caused her.

Throughout her time in the infirmary, Dina suffered in knowing that her Sisters had to serve her. She would have preferred that the roles would be reversed. She was always surprised and grateful for the smallest attention offered her, for a minute detail.  She was not demanding and seemed surprised that they had even thought of her. She endured the suffering brought on by her illness without saying anything, without it being noticed. She never complained. Her constant smile in the midst of such pain was what most attracted attention.

Her helpfulness

Sometimes the tasks that she was given to do accumulated: compositions, songs, copies, letters, registers, translations … but she never considered herself overworked. They say that, after her death, there was surprise at the amount of work she had undertaken during her illness.

She always had something good to say about people. She gave the impression that she never saw the less good or defective side of others.

While she was still able to teach music she did so with interest and was greatly appreciated. She was demanding but kind. She only sought to give the best of herself and for the good of each of her pupils.

I could tell you much more but I feel that by now you can make out what Dina was like and you yourself can draw your own conclusions.

TESTIMONIES: Her companions in New York:

Let us now follow Dina during the two years that she spent in New York. It was a period of hard work in her studies, of very happy moments as a consequence of her passionate love of music, of living it all with the lively energy of a young woman who explored all that surrounded her in that great metropolis, of daily contacts by letter with her parents, in order to thank them for their sacrifice and that they should not feel the pain of separation too much.

Dina was there with two Canadian companions: Bernadette and Aline.

The two saw her as a friendly young woman, who unselfishly tried to please. She worked very hard at her musical studies, but was also capable of breaking the monotony and laughing at some joke. Dina was very cheerful, laughed easily and accepted that we should jokingly pull her leg. She had will power that was strong and disciplined and was both firm and gentle at one and the same time. She was very tidy and careful with things, but never referred to the fact that we were not … she pretended not to notice.

She was really shy, but overcame this when she had to entertain others. In conversation she was always ready with a word to set the other person at ease. She was reserved, not easily excited, but so friendly that nobody could imagine the efforts that she made to be entertaining.

Dina’s strong character, which was evident even when she was very small, continued to occasionally betray her and be a source of suffering. One day a rather unkind remark was made about her manner of playing the piano. Bernadette tells us: I was in my room. When I saw her enter I noticed how very pale she was and asked: What’s the matter? Are you ill?  She burst into tears. I repeated my question … through her tears she told me: “I am very proud. What they have just said to me is true”. Dina accepted the rather exaggerated comment, but rebelled inwardly. Some years later she met the person but was so pleasant and discreet that nobody would have believed that something so disagreeable had previously taken place.

Bernadette, with whom she shared a room, suggested in Holy Week that they should pray during the night between Holy Thursday and Good Friday.  Dina was happy with the idea, but did not want their other friends to know about it.  We dimmed the light and prayed for an hour. Dina always followed faithfully the programme of daily prayer that she had drawn up in Quebec. Taking her health into account she could have omitted the daily Mass, but did not even dream of doing so. Aline adds that every evening, she saw Dina praying with fervour at the altar rails, for half or three quarters of an hour, not moving, with her head in her hands.

During the holidays, Bernadette tells us that they went to Chicoutimi (Quebec) by boat.  On the return journey they found that, due to a misunderstanding, the cabins hey had reserved were not available. In the evening a passenger, who was half drunk came to the lounge where we were. Dina noticed my anxiety and said “You’ll see, we will get a cabin” and she began to cough. An employee offered her a woollen blanket but she continued to cough. At about one o’clock in the morning the employee returned triumphantly, saying that he had a cabin for us. On entering, Dina, seated on the bed, began to laugh: “I told you that we would have a cabin”, for a moment I also found it funny, but then realised that she had planned it to help me, when she had noticed my anxiety.