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Birth  In
1983, Holy Year of the Redemption, Fr. Rafael Alonso, Founder of the
Home
of the Mother, felt that the time had come to begin the male branch of
the Home of the Mother of the Youth (H.M.Y.) So, on the 27th of December,
feast-day of St. John the Evangelist, seven boys made their first commitments
at the tomb of St. Peter, as a sign of our fidelity to the Catholic
Church
represented by the Pope.
With the passing of time we have come to understand that it was God’s
will that the male branch of the H.M.Y. be born on that day. It was the
feast-day of the evangelist who received the final gift from the Heart
of Christ: his own Mother. “Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your
Mother. And from that hour onwards the disciple received Her into his
home” (Jn. 19, 27-28). The Home of the Mother had to be born on the
day that the Church solemnly proclaims this gospel to us.
 Those young men grew up humanly and spiritually. Little by little they
came to discover the charism of the Home of the Mother - that is, the
Defence of the Eucharist, the Defence of the Honour of Our Mother, especially
in the privilege of her Virginity, and the conquest of the youth for
Jesus
Christ - a charism that they found more exciting every day and that came
to fill their whole lives
Some
of them, through prayer and spiritual direction, came to discover their
priestly vocation. Just like their Sisters, the
Servant Sisters, they
felt the call to live the charism of the Home of the Mother with a total
consecration.
While they were waiting for the right moment to begin the community,
Félix
López, having completed his university studies, entered the diocesan
seminary to begin his studies for the priesthood. Return
to the top
A
Divine Adventure  On
the 3rd of January 1987 in Fatima, Félix López consecrated
himself interiorly to Our Mother to dedicate himself totally to the Home.
This step in the heart of Fr. Félix was the moral Foundation of
the Servant Priests and Brothers of the Home of the Mother.
In 1990, Fr. Rafael Alonso saw that the moment had arrived to begin the
community of Servant Priests and Brothers of the Home of the Mother.
It
was a divine adventure. On the 8th of September, feast-day of the Nativity
of Our Lady, in the chapel Servant Sisters have in
Zurita (Cantabria), Juan Antonio Gómez and Félix López
made their first commitments as Servants of the Home of the Mother.
They
had to find a centre in which to undergo the studies for the priesthood.
They chose the Faculty of Theology of Burgos. There they attended classes
in Theology and had their first house: a rented flat in Barrantes Street.
 They were years of intense joy, of unquenchable hope, of profound trust.
Years lived very close to Fr. Rafael and to Mamie.
They were also years of carrying the cross, which is present in all the
works of God. We remember the expressions of puzzlement, the smiles of
pity on the faces of many, including priests, when they found out that
those two “poor boys” wanted to form a new religious congregation.
Humanly speaking they were right. We didn’t have a bishop to support
us, we didn’t have an approved Rule of life. But we did have the
moral certainty that this madness would prevail because it was not we
who had chosen this path: it was God who wanted it.
 For
three years we were only “lay people who live like religious”.
We advanced in our studies and the community matured little by little.
Of course, we had been born to serve the Church, so we had to find a bishop
who would approve our rules and canonically erect our institute, thus
giving us life within the Church. We had heard it said that D. José
Guerra Campos was an open bishop who understood the religious life very
well. We went to visit him and to outline to him our foundation plans
and our situation. From the very beginning we discovered in him a father
who understood us: “I am disposed to receive you in this diocese
of Cuenca”, he told us.
Providence led us to Priego. There was a good and open priest waiting
for us there: Fr. Eusebio Buendía. He accepted our cooperation
in his parishes and directed us towards the Monastery of St. Michael of
the Victories which would be the first headquarters of the Servants in
Cuenca. How many graces we have received and continue to receive in this
monastery that exudes poverty and a vigorous spirituality!
Return to the top At
Last We Were Children of the Church!
 A few months after our arrival in Cuenca, on the 11th of December 1993,
we had the immense joy of seeing Fr. Félix López ordained
a priest. He was the first Servant who received the grace of being configured
with Christ the Priest in the most intimate part of his heart.
The same as our Sisters, the Servant Sisters, on the advice of an Italian
friend, we had prayed a novena to St. Rita of Cassia asking her for
the
grace of the approval of our institution in the Church. In exchange we
promised to make a pilgrimage to Cassia if St. Rita were to fulfill
her
part of the deal.
The
deadline we gave was March 1995. On the 26th of November 1994, the bishop
of Cuenca, D. José Guerra Campos, gave the decree of canonical
erection of the Servants of the Home of the Mother as a Public Association
of Faithful, Religious Institute in Formation. At last, as St. Teresa
of Jesus put it, we were children of the Church!
Return to the top God
Chose the Poor
 On
the 28th of October 1995, Fr. Juan Antonio Gómez was ordained priest
in the parish of San Esteban in Cuenca. It was another great day in the
history of our little institution.
Looking at the Servant Priests and Brothers of the Home of the Mother
it is easy to comprehend the truth of these words of St. Paul: “God
chose the poor of the world to confuse the proud” (cf. 1 Cor. 27-28).
We are conscious of being poor and useless instruments but we also feel
deeply loved by God, chosen by Him with a grace of special favour. In
spite of our poorness, the Lord continues to make this work of his advance,
this work that is the gift that He wishes to make to his Mother.
In
these years Our Mother was also preparing other children to be completely
hers.
 As a proof of the catholicity of our institution, on the 18th of May
1997, solemnity of Pentecost, the first foreign vocation entered our
community,
a 31-year-old Irishman, teacher of English: Colm Power.
On
the 11th of February 1998, feast-day of Our Lady of Lourdes, a North
American of Polish descent,
Henry Kowalczyk, 32 years old, also entered the Servants. These three
commenced their noviciate on the 18th of July 1998.
There have subsequently been further additions to the Community.
Return
to the top
Apostolate
 Our
apostolate is centered mainly, but not exclusively, in the youth. Every
month
we organise get-togethers with children and young people from different
parts of Spain. The summer encounters, pilgrimages, and Spiritual
Exercises are some of the activities in which we exercise our priestly
ministery.
In
the vacation periods we also work in the building of the House-Home “Carmen
María”. This house is becoming a symbol of what our life is
all about: an immense work that God carries forward in spite of our inadequacy.
Side by side with this House that is being built stone by stone, we have
seen the Home grow. Those ruins that we found now have an appearance of
solidity, those stones that back then could scarcely support one another,
are now firm and robust. It is a clear image of what the Home of the Mother
is, poor living stones which God in his mercy consolidates with his infinite
love and patience.
Return
to the top Our
Spirituality
 The
Servants form part of the Home of the Mother, a humble plant of the Church
whose Founder, as father of all of us, feeds its branches with the same
sap.
Our
spirituality is one of identification with Jesus Christ and transformation
in Him, from the womb of the Virgin Mary; a
spirituality of sanctuary, that is, of making our souls an exclusive
sanctuary for God; a spirituality of being the gift of the Lord for
his Mother;
a Carmelite spirituality with its double dimension of union with God
which is achieved through the “nothings”, leaving creatures
aside in order wholly to seek God, and the other dimension of fidelity
to the
charism we have received. We live all of this placing ourselves under
the maternal protection of Our Lady of Mount Carmel with the Scapular.
It is a spirituality of trust, self-abandonment and total availability
to the will of God manifested through obedience to our legitimate Superiors.
The
fruit of this spirituality is the true joy, union between us and unselfish
love of the Church.
Given that the Eucharist is our first mission and given our condition
as priests or aspirants to the priesthood, we also procure to bring to
reality those words of John Paul II: “The Holy Mass is the absolute
centre of my life and of my whole day”. In the renewal of the sacrifice
of Christ, we try to offer ourselves every day with Him, Priest and Victim,
to the Father for the salvation of men.
Return
to the top  Fidelity
Fidelity to the Pope is one of the characteristics of our new-born Institute.
Fidelity to the Pope and to the Magisterium of the Church in matters
of
dogma and morality, and fidelity to the liturgical norms. In a Church
in which, sadly, so many unjust criticisms of Christ’s Vicar on earth
can be heard, it is all the more necessary that we openly manifest our
total allegiance to his person and to all of his Magisterium. We were
born at the tomb of St. Peter and we wish to be faithful to Peter. Only
in him do we have the gaurantee of the truth. His Magisterium is not for
us, as it is for some, something that restricts our freedom; it is a luminous
lantern that shines in the midst of the confusion that envelopes us, a
sure path that leads us to the Truth.
Return to the top Mary,
Our Mother
 If
the male branch of the H.M.Y. was born with St. John at the foot of the
Cross, the Servants wish to develop this fact in their life. Something
that belongs to the very essence of our charism is to manifest the maternity
of Mary. She is our Mother. The Lord gave Her to us from the Cross as
a precious testament of his love. Nor is it without significance that
St. John, who had the good fortune to receive Her in representation of
all men and women, was a priest. We Servants wish to live out in our priestly
and religious life this tender relationship with our Mother. She is close
to us, She takes care of us, She protects us, She guides us. She, Mother
of the Only Priest, teaches us to be priests, to offer her Son to the
Father with the same love with which She offered Him in her heart when
She was at the foot of the cross. She is also present always beside the
cross of all of her priest sons.
We want her maternal Heart to be the fire that gives warmth to our Community.
No son can possibly feel alone having so good a Mother.
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