Monday, March 26, 2012

She advised people to make God the center of their lives

By Graydon Megan in the Chicago Tribune

Maria Palos shared her deep Roman Catholic faith with everyone around her — strangers she met on the bus, young couples seeking marriage advice and women she encouraged through her support of Lexington College, a women's hospitality management school run by the conservative Catholic community Opus Dei.

"She was definitely one of the catalysts for the school," said her son Tony Palos Jr.

As for counseling couples on marriage, the mother of nine "would advise them to make God the center of their lives," her son said.

Born Maria Ramirez, Mrs. Palos grew up in Monterrey, Mexico. In 1956, she met Tony Palos, a young man from Chicago visiting there on vacation. He extended his stay after winning a Mexican lottery and spent that time courting her.

The couple married in 1957 and raised nine children. Her husband died in 1991.

Mrs. Palos considered her strong spiritual life a gift, one she was eager to share with others. Her son said she acted "almost like a precinct captain for God." If she saw a stranger with a baby on the bus or in her neighborhood, she would ask whether the baby had been baptized and, if not, encourage the mother to baptize the infant.

Read the rest of the article here.

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