Ever since
they asked us for our testimony,
we have been worrying about whether
we should give it or not. We
didn’t feel that
our story was worth telling, until
we realized that the story is really
about Jesus Christ. So we decided
to explain what His love has done
for us.
The first
part of our story isn’t
very original. Juan Alberto and
I have Catholic parents from Griñón
and Corral de Almaguer (like the
Archbishop of Valencia). We both
went to the La Salle school, which
is where we met. That’s where
our relationship began, and that’s
where we got married.
After school,
we went to university, got jobs,
and I fell ill. We went through
some bad moments which we managed
to survive, even though the “wounds” didn’t
completely heal up.
We stayed
together despite all this, and
we got married. After a difficult
pregnancy, our first child, Natalia,
was born. She was very tiny,
very premature, and as she was
being born, Juan Alberto had
the sensation that Our Lady of
the Rosary was wrapping him in
her cloak and that nothing bad
would happen to him. He was so
absorbed in this that he nearly
didn’t see our daughter before
they took her away to the incubator,
but he already knew that she was
in good hands.
From that moment onwards, he felt
a new need to seek God, to look
for Him in the sacraments more
intensely, to be more committed
and more faithful.
And I refused.
I didn’t
see Christ in my daughter or in
my husband’s love. I drew
away from God and everything fell
apart, or almost everything. What
remained was my husband’s
love, which was unconditional.
He believed that God had joined
us together and that was how it
should stay – despite his
loneliness, the temptations, the
suffering, and above all, my illness.
But God
didn’t leave him
on his own. During this bitter
time, he began to work with some
people from the foundation of Our
Lady of Sorrows, who accompanied
him in his unhappiness.
Months and years went past, and
everything stayed more or less
the same: an absorbing job, an
intense professional and social
life, and a practically non-existent
family life. Juan Alberto bore
his cross, begging God every day
to give me back my Faith.
For me, these were years of absence,
while my husband persevered and
prayed the Rosary in private, counting
on his fingers, going to Mass without
me knowing.
But God
didn’t abandon him.
Natalia began Catechism classes
for her First Communion, and the
parish priest asked Juan Alberto
to play the guitar for the children’s
Mass. The parish group helped him
not to be alone on a path which
was becoming harder and harder.
In spite
of my obstinacy, God didn’t abandon us. Our daughter
was like a good angel who constantly
showed us what being close to God
meant. But I was so dazzled by
the brilliance from outside that
I couldn’t see the lights
from within.
Then God sent us another gift,
Alberto. And again, I rejected
Him.
Our son Alberto was a blessing,
and his illness changed our lives.
Cerebral palsy forces families
to reorganize many things and rethink
many others. We had two children,
a lot of work to do, and we lacked
strength. Those moments were the
hardest we had experienced until
then, but God brings good out of
bad, and He forced us to confront
my illness and find a way to put
an end to it.
My husband held my hand tightly,
and took me to seek the face of
Christ.
I had forgotten how to pray, I
looked for the tabernacle but it
must have been very hard, because
Our Lord sent me to St. Maravillas
so as not to lose me by the roadside.
Every Saturday in La Aldehuela,
a small miracle happened in our
lives, a drop of grace, a gift
from God. God was healing our souls.
Juan Alberto was no longer alone,
and with Christ our love took a
different direction. We were going
somewhere together, praying together
every day, saying the Rosary and
receiving Communion.
The way is not easy, but with
the immense love that God has poured
into our lives, we now have light
so that even if things sometimes
get a bit gloomy, we are no longer
walking in the darkness.
The proud
words of our daughter Natalia
echo in my mind: "Mummy,
you are much prettier now you have
been 'reconverted'." Our
little angel made me see what it
meant to be a different kind of
mother, a Christian mother. I found
in her a much brighter source of
light than those which had dazzled
me before. Her innocence and her
complete trust in God gave her
a special sweetness and love which
were capable of healing us.
And then, to make our happiness
complete, we received another gift:
our third child. But it was another
complicated pregnancy, and half-way
through it, we learnt that our
baby had a problem which could
be very serious.
We suffered
great fear and anguish. The things
we had to listen to sounded horrible.
We were enveloped in a cloud
which stopped us from seeing
matters clearly, but once again,
before the tabernacle in the
hospital chapel, the words of
St. Maravillas came to our minds: "What
God wants, how God wants, when
God wants."
We asked people to pray for us,
and this gave us a feeling of trust.
Once again, we sensed the importance
of the community, of the priests
we had got to know during those
years, the nuns and so many other
brothers and sisters in the faith,
who taught us and stood by us.
Sometimes we think that God was
putting us to the test, asking
us to define our position, to say
whether we trusted Him or not.
For us, it was clear: Fiat. Lord,
do with us what You will.
Then our son Francisco Javier
was born, and brought to our house
what we had asked for with such
urgency: more faith, more love.
We had experienced the love of
the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We had
felt it, and we had to bear witness
to this. How could we thank the
Lord for the blessings He had given
us? We had to thank Him for what
we had been so freely given, and
gradually we learnt how we had
to do this: family, Catechism with
the children, Nocturnal Adoration,
and of course, music.
This is our story, the story of
how my husband's love saved my
life and our family, a story of
love in Christ, a story of a family
that wants to be holy.
And to give our testimony, we are
going to Valencia, because we want
to do what John did, to follow with
Peter in Jesus' steps.
Juan Alberto,
Emi, Natalia, Alberto and Francisco
Javier.
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