About Cora
Learn more about the life of Cora Evans
Compelled by Our Lord to Write
How is it that a faithful Catholic would have the willingness to write a story that gives new voice to the life and experiences of Jesus Christ? The important question here is motivation. Cora Evans felt compelled by our Lord to write and at the same time felt wholly unqualified to take on such a task. Due to childhood illnesses, she never completed a full schedule of elementary school, and with less than two years of high school her education was rudimentary at best. Add to that, she was thirty years old before she had any exposure to the Catholic faith and she passed away at age fifty-six. It is what transpired during the years following her conversion that is truly remarkable.
A mystic and a visionary, Cora was called up into the deepest state of prayer known as ecstasy and rapture, but what our Lord preferred to have known as Divine Slumber. It is a pure gift from God and the source of all private revelation. Because the revelation is private there is no burden of belief on Catholics to accept it.
Cora's diary reveals that our Lord entrusted her with the responsibility to write. She suffered greatly for the privilege. After an experience of ecstasy, which might last for many hours, Cora would sit at the typewriter and attempt to capture the stories revealed to her.
Writing for the Greater Glory of God
Prior to writing The Refugee from Heaven, Cora Evans expressed her gratitude to our Lord: "I knelt in prayer to thank Jesus for His gift of knowledge and for the gift of writing He had given me, better to describe His life and infinite love into our world."
Cora prayed about the graces bestowed on her, the craft of writing, and the responsibility of accurately conveying our Lord's wishes: "My soul gives Thee thanks for this great trust, and in that trust I believe Thou will help me write the knowledge for souls to use as a steppingstone to love Thee more.
God's gifts were so clearly caught up into my soul, there to write them for His glory for souls on earth. To begin such a task is only to lose myself in the mystery of time and pretend that I am a citizen of Jerusalem taking notes from the Master's lips. I am just the reporter and of myself filled with many imperfections." She continued: "To understand, Beloved, the path of my mission would be to say with deepest sincerity, not my will be done, but Thine." She always positioned writing as "an act of continuous praise for the glory of God."
Only God Can Make a Saint
Saints are known by their stories. Their lives were given freely to the Lord in response to the circumstances at the time, and for the good of the whole Church. They did not ask for or expect to be in the situations in which they found themselves. These men and women radiated the holiness of God dwelling within them. It is the story of their lives, how they responded to grace, their impact on others, combined with God's proof by miracles in their name that led the pope to declare, "We know for certain this person is with God in Heaven."
Only God can make a saint. At this stage there is no certainty that Cora Evans will become a canonized saint. Today, she is a Servant of God [1], and her cause is under way in the Diocese of Monterey, California.
