For understanding Conchita there is no need to look for extraordinary phenomena. Hers is a run of the mill holiness. A brief statement in her Diary reveals to us her state of soul as a young married woman: "Upon seeing, despite my husband's great goodness, marriage did not correspond to what I regarded as life's fullness, instinctively my heart drew closer and closer to God, seeking in Him what was wanting in it. The inner life of my soul had grown in spite of all the joys of the earth" (Aut. 1, 112--113). In the very bosom of the greatest joys of love, she feels the limitations and the ephemeral nature of all human love.

The true life of the saints is entirely "hidden now with Christ in God" (Col 3:3). The effects may be seen in their external behavior and often they themselves let us know the principal secret thereof... As for Conchita, we have her Diary. It is the key to everything. It enables us to follow her from the age of thirty-one to seventy-four. It is the main guide we shall use, without neglecting complimentary sources. She herself has Iet us know about her family life, the exceptional favors and graces she received since her most tender childhood, the tragic death of her brother Manuel, the veritable point of departure of a new life which directs her resolutely toward God, the profound influence Christ had over her whole being from the very first days of her marriage and her constant ascent toward perfection by way of the least things that happened in her home. In the daily course of this existence of a woman, to all appearances like that of all others, God prepares for the Church and for the world a great saint.