How has the Home changed in these twenty-five years?
The Home of the Mother has grown, expanded, and slowly fulfilled the goal for which it came into existence. We have gained in maturity and in experience.

What has not changed?
The Home’s missions and ideals. They have remained intact. I hope that with the passing of time, our spirit will not deteriorate, but rather be strengthened. Authentic love is tested in moments of suffering.

What do you consider essential to the Home of the Mother? What should never change?
The love for God, Christ, the Blessed Virgin and the Church, serving them in the fulfillment of our three missions: the defense of the Eucharist, the defense of the Honor of Our Mother, especially in the privilege of her virginity, and the conquest of the youth for Our Lord.

Is the spirit with which the Home commenced still fresh?
Yes, definitely. I can see how Our Lord renews us every day. The Eucharist is where we receive the strength to continue following a path that would at first sight seem exhausting. We also rely on the protection of Our Lady, who never abandons us.

Is there anything that makes you think God is happy with the Home?
Speaking about God being “happy” in this way is an anthropomorphic, but appropriate manner of speech. God takes pleasure in His beloved Son. When we receive Our Lord’s instruction and we believe His word, we become children in the Son. We are then united to Him and form part of His same pleasure. God will be happy with us in the measure in which we are faithful to Jesus Christ and to the Church, living our missions which are so evangelical and necessary now.

Do you feel you are privileged to have been chosen as the instrument to found this work of Our Mother?
If our Lord had found someone more incompetent, He would have chosen him. God chose me because He so willed. He could have chosen someone with more gifts than I. There are thousands, tens of thousands... I know! This gives me a feeling of great responsibility, thanksgiving, and trust.

What are your thoughts upon seeing the growth and development of other movements in the Church?
I do not envy them. The following concern comes to me: Could it be my fault that the Home has not extended more? My fears, doubts, imprudence? Could I have responded better to the demands of a certain vocation? Later, when I speak with the Lord, I become calm. I ask His forgiveness for what I have done wrong, I forgive those who have wavered or who have placed obstacles on our path, I make the firm resolution to keep going, and onwards I continue! For as long as He wants.

What do you think that God expects from the Home?
I believe that the Home is a small plant in the Church that will grow and be able to give shelter to the birds of the sky. It will grow, but I do not know where or how. We must follow the times and speeds that Our Lord marks out to us. We must be attentive. I do not want to direct the Home as if it were a business. Our criteria must always be spiritual. We must make our foundations strong so that we will be able to endure what follows.

At present where is the Home the strongest?
That is a difficult question to answer. We are still a most humble plant of the Church and hopefully we will continue so even though we grow. We must not be empty-headed and excessively optimistic, measuring the works of the Spirit from the outside. Numbers are always confusing and ambiguous, indicating very little. The spirit is what matters. Who except God can judge the strength of the foundations?

In these twenty-five years, what gives you the greatest joy? And the greatest sadness?
It gives me great joy to sit at the table with my sons and daughters and speak about the wonders of the Lord, to celebrate the Eucharist with them. But it gives me a great sadness to not see all who were called. It is a spiritual suffering, characteristic of parents. Only they can understand me.

Why is being a member of the Home a vocation?
A vocation is a call and a call is a gift. God’s providence chooses us. He knows whom to choose and why. There are many vocations in the Church, even though we all have one in common: that of all who are baptized. Baptism, which is life, grows and develops in many ways that are all organically complementary for one sublime goal: the glorification of God. He is the one who gives us this vocation. The paths are many and diverse. There are no two vocations that are the same. The Church has the power to recognize the gifts that the Spirit gives and we are very pleased to submit ourselves to Her.

Is the Home of the Mother demanding?
The Home of the Mother is a way to be part of the Church. It is not the only, exclusive, or best way to do so. Who could know that? The best way for me is the one that God wants. And if what God wants is the Home, then that should be my way.
I think the question should be different: Is the Church demanding? The answer is: “Yes and no.” The Church demands so that what is best in us can come forth: our true being, as God wants it, in all its greatness, dignity and perfection. This has a price to be paid. He who wants the goal, desires the means to reach it as well. In order to become the praise of the Father’s glory, we must be willing and open, docile, responsible and faithful. If we call this demanding, then yes: it is demanding.

What would you ask from each member of the Home of the Mother?
Fidelity to the call. This is love.

Where can the members of the Home receive the strength to be faithful?
In prayer, in the Eucharist, in the consciousness and experience of our being children of Our Lady, in the fulfillment of our daily duty...

What has done or can do the most damage to the Home?
Gossip, lukewarmness, hardness of heart and infidelity.

What do you think still needs to grow and develop in the Home?
We are still in the founding moments. There is much to do. A great Pope said, “The whole world must be renewed from its very foundations, transforming it from wild into human, from human into divine, according to the Heart of God.” We are thus barely beginning. We must progress in love.

How do you wish the Home of the Mother to be?
A Home that hears no other voice except that of Our Lord, Our Mother and the Church, forming a truly fraternal communion and thus passing on to any social structure.

For the Home, who are the saints?
We believe in the “Communion of saints.” We have our models, whom the Church has given us. Among them, some have a very close relationship to us. They have lived the same aspirations and hopes as we. They are in Heaven. They have triumphed. They love us and protect us. We are still a young family in the Church, but as part of the Church, we are very mature. We have 2000 years of existence. As a movement that has started at the end of the 20th century, we are babies. We wish to have models for our small family and I think that the time will come, but now, afterwards and always we have to be models for the Church.

What does the Home contribute to the Church? And the Church to the Home?
We receive everything from the Church. As the Home in the Church, we complete what is lacking in the redemption of Christ, that is to say, its specific application in the form and the measure that God wants. The Church gives us life and we construct the Church by responding to our call.

Do you believe that the Home has helped and continues to help its members to love the Church more?
Undoubtedly, yes. Fr. Felix has given testimony of how the Home has helped him to love the Church. He was away from the Church when he met us at sixteen years of age. Now he is a priest and the superior of the Servant Priests and Brothers of the Home of the Mother. And I can think of many other cases.

How would you describe the Virgin Mary’s relationship to the Home?
Maternal, tender, sweet, strong, total and unshakeable.

What prospects do you see for the Home of the Mother in the future?
I asked to Sr. Isabel, a Servant Sister of the Home, the same question. She responded, “Glory!” This is how I also see it, because in everything God works for good with those who love Him. No matter what happens, no matter what occurs, if we love, we give glory to God and the glory of God is the living man. Man receives the glory of God whom he serves. This is very simple doctrine, which becomes luminous when it is lived.

What has been a key moment for the Home?
There have been many key moments. Apart from the founding of the Home of the Mother of the Youth in the feminine and masculine branches, at different times, I will mention two other events, among many, that have had great importance: The vows of the first three sisters, Ana Campo, Remedios Rodriguez and Conchi Garcia del Pino, in Nazareth. The second was Fr. Felix Lopez’s ordination to the priestood by the bishop of Cuenca, Jose Guerra Campos.

What would you leave as a testament to the Home?
Consider how much Jesus Christ has loved you and respond to His Love.

©HM Magazine No. 136 - May/June 2007