The life of Paula, known as Paulinha, was a masterpiece, a true “Holy Journey.”

She suffered from a very serious lung disease ever since she was a young child. She had to go constantly back and forth to the hospital for treatments. “With every passing day there are more and more things I can no longer do. I can’t climb the stairs anymore, I can’t walk very far, I can’t carry a backpack…”

And yet everyone who knew her said she always had a smile on her face and a contagious zest for life.

However, Paulinha did go through a very dark and difficult period However, Paulinha did go through a very dark and difficult period. It was when she suffered a lot because she could no longer feel the presence of God.

During the Gen 3 National Congress she heard about the path that Mary had traveled when she followed Jesus. She immediately tried to find out which steps she had already taken on this road….

Knowing she was on the Mary’s road was a great help to her Knowing she was on the Mary’s road was a great help to her. Furthermore, Paula had a wonderful relationship of unity with Chiara Lubich and shared with her everything she was going through.

She wanted to share this special experience of hers with all the gen 3 She wanted to share this special experience of hers with all the gen 3. It was a very powerful moment. At the end she urged everyone to aim always at unity, because only in this way is it possible to overcome every difficulties.

The Ideal was really everything for her The Ideal was really everything for her. The doctors were convinced that what was keeping her alive was this great treasure she had in her heart. Her desire was to spread it to many other people

She didn’t give up, for anything in the world, the meetings with the other girls of the movement. She begged her doctors insistently to let her go, promising that she would bring everything she needed with her, like syringes, medications…

In just a year and a half she brought about a real revolution in the new school in Sao Paulo where she was transferred for treatment. Instead of students not caring about one another, she brought a “new culture,” one of encounter and friendship.

She died while a group of gen 3 and gen 2 were saying the rosary in the corridor outside her room. She was very peaceful…

…like a person who had obtained what she had always wanted which was to be part of the generation of Chiara’s saints.