In the School

 Let us continue with Dina.

 She had a great aptitude for music and when she was eight, began to study the piano. She made good progress and when she was eleven received her first diploma. It would not be long before she would become a concert pianist.

First Holy Communion was, in those days, usually received at the age of ten.  Dina had so longed for this that, when she was nine, in spite of her timidity and accompanied by her mother, she asked the Parish Priest if she could make her First Communion.  The request was not granted – what a disappointment! However she made the most of it in order to grow in her desire and to prepare herself better.

So, as everything in this world passes, at last the much longed-for encounter took place on 2 May 1907. If at times you have ardently longed for something, what happens when the time actually comes? Can you imagine what it was like for her? She said that external things did not distract her, that all that mattered was Jesus and she begins to let herself be completely possessed by Him.  This day marked an important stage in her life; each day she feels more in love with Jesus. Maybe you know or can imagine what it means to be in love; everything is seen in relation with the beloved; one thinks, dreams, wants to please, seeks greater intimacy.

This is how Dina felt with Jesus and, it was exactly on the following 25^thMarch  that Our Lord communicated with her directly after communion.  She writes: “It was the first time I heard his voice, clearly, inside me of course, a soft melodious voice that filled me with joy”.

This loving relationship grows. Dina begins to feel a greater desire to love, love ever more intensely. Outwardly she lives an ordinary life, nobody knows what is taking place within her. It is “The King’s secret”.  However, her exemplary behaviour attracts the attention of her companions, who tease her, calling her “Saint Dina”. What suffering! She does not consider herself to be a saint.

When Dina was twelve she moved to another school, one nearer her home which had been opened by the same religious as the previous one. There too, nobody would suspect the work of grace growing in her interior life. Her academic achievements also continued to be excellent and a brilliant future opened before her.

When Dina was fourteen, in spite of the great affection that she felt for her parents, she asked to become a boarder at the school at Bellevue. Her parents agreed. Dina, who was still so sensitive, wept continuously on the first day that her parents visited her. They offered to take her home, but Dina said “No, I will get used to it”. Nevertheless she wept  for fourteen nights … until at last her strong will prevailed and she was consoled. The life in common with the other students was difficult for her, as was to feel so far from her parents, but she was ready to strengthen her character, to forget herself. What an undertaking!