On June 24, 2026, María Elena Rocha was in Caracas. That Wednesday, a public holiday in Venezuela, she decided to set out on a pilgrimage with two friends to visit sites associated with Venezuela's first saints: St. Carmen Rendiles and St. José Gregorio Hernández.
Her devotion made the circuitous, hour-long journey from her home in La Guaira to the capital city feel shorter. María Elena lived in La Guaira's Caribbean Golf I building with her family: her husband, Wilson, and their sons, 25-year-old Ricardo and 22-year-old Enrique, all three of whom chose to stay home that day.
In Caracas, the day unfolded normally. María Elena and her friends visited the Colegio Belén, where the remains of Mother Carmen rest. Afterward, they went to the José Gregorio Hernández House Museum and concluded their pilgrimage with a Mass at Our Lady of La Candelaria Parish, where the remains of the "doctor of the poor" also rest.
Earthquakes and uncertainty
At 6:04 p.m., María Elena and her friends were in line to buy ice cream. Dark gray clouds over Caracas signaled an approaching storm, but the roar would not come from the sky but from the earth. At that moment, the ground shook with extreme violence, and panic reigned. The three of them managed to get out of the shopping mall where they had been.
Soon, the power grid failed and both the internet and telephone lines went down. Two hours later, the group was finally able to retrieve their car from where it was parked and began the journey back home, a trip that, this time, seemed to last forever.
María Elena told EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that what she encountered in La Guaira looked like something out of a horror movie. Late into the night, only fires broke the darkness. Entire buildings had collapsed. People were searching desperately through the rubble, while others were stealing and looting. There were shrieks, wailing, and weeping.
The journey home was difficult, not only because of the damaged state of the road, but also because of the shock evoked by the scene. Every meter covered, every sight of pain and destruction, dealt a blow to the hope María Elena still clung to: the hope of reuniting with her loved ones. She could only reach her home on foot.
María Elena faces unimaginable pain
It was nearly midnight when María Elena saw that where the Caribbean Golf I building had once stood there was now only a massive pile of rubble. The 49-year-old woman said that paradoxically she felt a great sense of inner peace despite the tragedy. Amidst the confusion, she was told that one of her children was alive but trapped in the rubble. With great effort, María Elena made her way to the spot.
It was Enrique, her youngest son. He was severely injured but was able to communicate with his mother. The first few hours following the earthquakes were chaotic in La Guaira; rescue efforts had to be carried out by hand because the necessary equipment for a swift response was not available. It was a very long night during which Enrique asked María Elena not to abandon him. "Don't worry, son, I will never leave you alone," she told him.
And so, morning came, followed by the afternoon. Trapped and in pain, Enrique could hold on no longer. María Elena, always close by, said she heard his final breath: "He waited for me to take his last breath." Enrique died right there, alongside his father and his older brother. It was days later that rescuers managed to recover their bodies, which María Elena was then able to give a Christian burial.
"My faith grew stronger," María Elena said. Her journey, however, has not been easy. It has been filled with pain, reproaches, and at times even anger toward God. María Elena was left on her own, and many times she sought answers.
"I fought with God. I was filled with rage. 'Why did you leave me here? Am I so bad that I have to stay here?' Yet, I surrendered all my suffering to God for the sanctification of their souls," she shared.
Her greatest refuge has always been faith. Now she regularly attends a prayer group at a parish in Caracas, which she says has been very beneficial. She seeks indulgences for her husband and children and says she always tries to be cheerful and "let others see God in me."
"Despite the great loss I've experienced, I've held onto my sense of humor. That's one of the things I asked of God when my son Enrique passed away. I accepted his death with deep pain and entrusted him to God, but I prayed that he wouldn't take away my joy because I had always been the source of joy in our home. That's what my children and my husband used to say," she remarked.
"I want my husband and my children to feel proud of their wife and mother. I know that if I am happy, they will be happy, too. Happiness is a decision, and I decided to entrust my happiness to God because he wants all of us to be happy," she added.
Oct. 24 marks four months since that terrible day. More than 6,000 Venezuelans lost their lives in a matter of seconds; thousands were left injured, and many others remain missing.
"Despite everything, I thank God for the fact that I was able to speak with my youngest son at that moment. I am grateful to God for life," María Elena says, though she adds with that sense of humor she hasn't lost: "Although I do ask him to take me soon."
"I ask that I might fulfill my mission quickly so that I can go to Heaven, because that's what I long for most these days. Even before, I had no fear of death, because that is our destiny: to die in order to live and I want to live with God," she said.
María Elena says she doesn't yet know what will become of her life, but affirms that she has "surrendered herself" to whatever Providence may decide.
A message on the value of suffering
The Church teaches us that God does not desire suffering for its own sake, nor is he its direct cause.
The explanation of how God can permit evil without being its author is profound, yet it does not fully resolve the pain of any given loss. Through faith, we believe that God can bring good even out of evil; however, this does not make the death of innocent people a good thing, nor does it justify tragedies.
Such suffering can take on meaning when experienced in union with Christ. As has been evidenced in the case in Venezuela following the earthquakes, pain can awaken solidarity and mutual responsibility; it can even prompt a society to reflect on how it might improve. This is María Elena's conviction.
"We have been suffering for years. Just try it, you'll see: when you entrust that suffering to Christ, all the little things we go through, those moments of anger and indignation, offering them to Jesus for the sake of someone else, you will see how the blessings follow," she said.
"And another thing: thank God for everything. It's incredible, when you thank God for both the bad things and the good, blessings will follow. I'm not saying that problems won't continue to arise; I still have plenty of things to deal with myself, but when we are with God, our burdens are lighter," María Elena reflected.
"I am not alone, because I have God; I have the Most Holy Virgin Mary, who has always been with me and I have felt her presence. And who better than she who knows what this pain is like?" she said.
This story was first published by EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
