Speaking with...

Fr. Rafael Alonso Reymundo

"Open Your Heart Wider Than Ever"

Fr. Rafael Alonso Reymundo, founder of the Home of the Mother, had a very special relationship with Mamie. As his spiritual mother, her mission was to help him reach the priesthood and to sustain him in his difficult moments. His mission was to care for her until the end of her life. “Open your heart wider than ever.” Fr. Rafael found these words in a letter Mamie had written for him to read after her death. They are words full of hope which lead to confidence in the Lord in the midst of suffering.

When did you meet Mamie?
I believe that I met her in July of 1973, in Barquinha (Portugal), which is very close to Fatima.

How long were you with her?
At first she would come to visit me in Madrid, because she was living in Santander. I was consecrated in the institution, Crusades of Mary. I was twenty-six years old at the time. In 1976, I enter the seminary of Toledo and we only saw each other during vacations. I used to go to Santander as well. She helped me direct my priestly life. When I was ordained she came to Toledo to live with me. Thanks to her presence, as she was an elderly lady, I was able to receive boys and girls of the Home in my house. There, at the feet of the Blessed Virgin Mary, praying the rosary, the group of the Home of the Mother was formed. Later on, in 1988, the location of my job as a professor changed and Cardinal Marcelo, Archbishop of Toledo, allowed me to move to Santander, where I lived in Mamie’s house until her death in 1994.

What was your relationship with her?
Mamie was a true spiritual mother for me. I remember her as always praying, suffering, and offering herself up for me and for the Home of the Mother. She was especially skilled at encouraging me, correcting me, listening to me, teaching me, and scolding me when I was not doing what she knew that the Lord was asking from me. She had a very fine sense of timing. She knew when to remain silent and when to speak, what to say and when to say it. She has suffered along with me the derision, the calumnies, the defections of some members and the delay of that which the Blessed Mother wanted.

Has she played a part in your priestly vocation?
The first time she spoke to me she told me that I would be a priest sooner than I thought. I started calculating and I thought that the soonest I could be ordained was at 33 years of age, if I started studying that year. I passed the competitive exam that same year and was established as a Geography and History professor in the public high school Carlos III in Madrid. I taught there for two years. After that time, the Cardinal of Toledo accepted me in the seminary. I was ordained at 33 years of age. Therefore, what had been said to me was fulfilled.

Mamie thought her task with me was to last only until the day I entered the seminary. But our Lady pointed out to her that then I was going to need her more than ever. She prayed and sacrificed herself for me. She acted as a true spiritual mother. Once when I had been going through a rough time, I found out that she had been praying non-stop during four days and four nights for my vocation. Once Mamie received these words from our Lady: “My daughter, you have received all of your other sons already as priests. This one will be your total gift to the Lord. You will have to help him reach the priesthood.” I owe a lot to her fidelity and dedication to her mission to pray and sacrifice for priests.
Did you have a special mission regarding Mamie?
Yes, it was my mission to take care of her until her death. This task often caused me grave difficulties, but after her death, I thanked God and our Lady for giving me the strength to be able to do it.

What role did Mamie have in the Work of the Home?
Her role was silent, hidden, and simple. She was the energy without which nothing could have been done: love. We have felt loved by our Lord and our Lady through her. She knew how to take us in, not to remain in her, but rather to lead us decisively to the Lord. Her teaching was a lesson in life, experience, and communion. Seeing her pray was a source of union with God and immediately created a climate of prayer. Your soul was naturally lifted up to God. When she spoke to Jesus: “Mon Jesus, je vous aime, je vous aime, je vous aime…” (Oh my Jesus, I love Thee, I love Thee, I love Thee…”) you felt your heart lifted up in an interior flight, aspring this same love of God.

What was a normal day like in the Mamie’s life?
Mamie didn’t have normal days. But I can say that, although I lived so long with her, perhaps the closest person to her in her last twenty years, I never really knew her completely. There was something in her that I couldn’t get to know. When I would go to sleep after my day’s work was through, she would act as if she were doing crossword puzzles and then would stay up to pray. She had a sort of diary where she wrote down at what time she would go to bed. Normally she finished her day at 2:00 am, or 3:00 am or 4:00 am, when she would finally turn out the light. Her days in Toledo differed from her days in Santander. She was at everyone’s disposition. During a long time she was my efficient collaborator, receiving the messages and phone calls for me. She was always praying. Her soul united itself instinctively in prayer with God and our Lady, the Blessed Mother, who frequently favored her with visits.

What impressed you about Mamie?
There are so many things that it would be impossible to list them. I will only mention a few:  Her ability to connect with young people. She was an elderly person who knew how to be a child with children, a young person with the young, an adult with the adults.
   Her capacity to suffer with other people’s sufferings and to find the right words to alleviate an afflicted heart. Her whole life was filled with a constant suffering: physical, moral and spiritual. And last, but not least, her joy. She knew how to hide her affliction behind her smile and never embitter others with her sufferings.
   Her union with God. Sometimes we traveled together and Mamie, seated at my side, would become a little “drowsy”, but you could tell that she was in constant prayer. Her crucifix and her rosary were her intimate companions.
   Her love for the Eucharist. Her faith made her perceive Who was present in the Eucharist and this reality made her rejoice intimately as well as suffer for the lack of consideration that some people have when receiving this sacrament.

What made Mamie happy?
You are asking me a very difficult question, because she wasn’t satisfied with anything less than Our Lord and Our Lady. Her complete devotion to them was not simply intellectual or a pose to be seen by others. It was a profound, living and working reality. That is why Mamie rejoiced with God and holy things. She perceived, with an exquisite sensibility, the poverty with which mankind lives the divine realities. She suffered because of how inconsiderate man is with God, our Lady, and the Church. She suffered with the Pope and for the Pope, with the bishops and for the bishops, with the priests and for the priests. She rejoiced when she saw that God touched a soul and united it more closely to Himself. She rejoiced with children and suffered with children.

Who was Mamie for the Servant Brothers and Sisters?
Mamie used to say to the Servant Brothers and Sisters: “My daughters, my sons, I love you so much!”  She knew that the Servant Brothers and Sisters are favorites of the Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, and Mamie, who was so united to our Lady, could not draw herself away from this atmosphere.  She considered herself an instrument, our Lady’s telephone. She wasn’t anything. No one owed her anything. Yet, she couldn’t help but recognize the fact that the Servant Brothers and Sisters were her beloved children.

What impressed you about Mamie’s death?
   She knew that she was dying but I didn’t want to believe it. She went when we least expected it. It impressed me that an hour and a half before her death she received the sacraments of Penance, the Holy Eucharist and Anointing of the Sick with complete lucidity from the hands of two of her beloved sons. Fr. Ramon Rodriguez Alcalde heard her confession and I was able to give her Communion and the anointing of the sick.
   After a long agony this woman who had been for us a model, a teacher and a mother, left us.

©HM Magazine No. 143 July/August 2008