How I met the Home- Felix Lopez Lazano
In the year 1982 I was in my third year of High School in “El Greco”, Toledo. I was 16 years old. A classmate of mine, Rafa Samino, who had already participated in the summer-camps organised by Fr. Rafael, invited me to that year’s camp which took place in Valle de Cabuérniga, Cantabria, in the final weeks of July.
In the silence of those mountains, God was waiting for me. In the times we had for solitary prayer, I had my first experiences of the personal encounter with God. The discovery of a living God, really close, who knew me to the depths of my being and loved me, completely changed my Christian life, which was superficial and almost non-existent up to then. What put the ribbon on the experience was the four days we spent afterwards in Lourdes, where Our Lady began to win my heart with her motherly affection.
One thing that very much attracted me to the Home was the joyfulness. The Church environments that I had known up to then, I found very boring. Perhaps it was my own selfishness that had denied me access to any deep joyfulness, and when I opened my heart to God, I became capable of experiencing true joy. But I think that in the Home I found a special joy because of the great love in it for the one who is the “Cause of our Joy”.
After the camp, Rafa Samino invited me to go to Fr. Rafael’s home one day in September for coffee. It was my first encounter with the man with whom, as the years unfolded, I would unite my life in the fulfillment of the same missions.
of faith and our difficulties. We always finished with Mass in honour of Our Lady. The atmosphere in the group was very good. There was a great joyfulness, a great apostolic enthusiasm, a healthy relationship between boys and girls, and above all, an immense love for the Virgin Mary that gave us the strength we needed for everything.
In 1983, the Holy Year of the Redemption, on the 27th of December, a group of seven boys along with Fr. Rafael made our commitments before the tomb of St. Peter, thus giving origin to the Home of the Mother of the Youth in its male branch. We wanted to manifest our adhesion to the Church and to the successor of St. Peter, the visible foundation of unity.
During the University years in Madrid (1983-88) I faithfully maintained my spiritual life, combining this with my studies in pharmacy and asking God for the light to know his will over me. In my third year I saw clearly that God was calling me to be a priest and to live my priesthood fulfilling the missions of the Home. For me, to be a priest was to be a Servant of the Home of the Mother, although in that moment the way of life to which I felt called did not yet exist.
Having completed the fifth and final year, I entered the Seminary in Toledo to continue my studies and to wait for other young men to receive the same call. At that time we knew what we wanted to do, but we didn’t know exactly how or what way to go.
In 1990 Fr. Rafael saw that we should move to Burgos to continue our studies in theology there and begin our community life. In 1993 I was ordained priest by D. José Guerra Campos, Bishop of Cuenca, towards whom I retain an immense affection for the goodness and comprehension with which he always treated me. In 1994 the Servants of the Home of the Mother were canonically erected in the diocese of Cuenca, Spain.
Since then I have lived with my brothers in a life of service to God, in the task of fulfilling the missions we have received and with which I feel ever more identified. I am amazed by the patience and mercy of God in my life. I give Him thanks for having chosen me to be a Servant and priest. All I ask is to grow in fidelity every day.
© HM Magazine #119 - July/August 2004
