Province of Spain – Meetings of senior Associates in Barcelona

The group of senior Montfortian Gabrielite associates of the Province of Spain always meets on the last Saturday of each month.

On Saturday 25th November, at the Provincial Curia, Br. Abelardo Rodriguez was invited to share with the participants some details about the current state of the Cause of Beatification of Brother Stanislaus and Companions.

Brother Abelardo, who is currently in charge of the publication of the Bulletin Witnesses to the Faith, dedicated to the Gabrielite Servants of God, gave a presentation on the current state of the Process. 

The talk focused on certain parts of the Positio and on the most significant elements which explain the whole of the facts of the Cause of Martyrdom, as well as the point at which we find ourselves at the present time.

In this regard, it should be recalled that on 18 April 2023 the congress of historical experts on the Positio took place and issued a favourable opinion, so that we can now move on to the next stage, which is the congress of theologians. This is the first important step on the road to the beatification of the 50 alleged martyrs.

On 27 January, Brother Alejando Martínez opened the session with an overview of the war conflicts that currently exist in the world and we all prayed for the peace that is so necessary and so much desired. We ended the prayer with a wonderful song:

Let the children who live in peace sing

and those who suffer pain.

Let them sing for those who will not sing

because their voice has been extinguished

Let the children sing, let them raise their voice.

Let them make the world listen.

Let them unite their voices and reach for the sun.

In them is the truth.

We then watched a video of a conversion testimony of the young lady, Mrs. Inmaculada García. She was brought up in a Catholic and practising family environment that included praying the rosary daily. But in her adolescence, when she came into contact with the world of work and university, she became separated from God. Her parents suffered as they saw how their daughter was destroying her life. So, in addition to the Sunday mass, they began to go to the mass during the week days, to pray for her.

In 2010, when Mrs. Inmaculada reached the peak of her problems, her parents offered her to go to the Youth Festival, which was held in early August 2010 at the site of Our Lady’s apparitions in Medjugorje (Bosnia-Herzegovina). She agreed, but approached it from a tourist point of view. She went at her own pace, away from the group of pilgrims, whom she thought were living in a virtual reality. She spent the first four days on the fringes of the group, frequenting a bar, drinking beers and talking to the Croatian waiter, with whom she fell in love and whom she would eventually marry.

Skeptical of what she saw there, physically and mentally exhausted, she agreed, at the invitation of the leader of the pilgrimage, to participate in the celebration of the last day, in the Cenacle. Bored with what was being said there, she went outside to smoke and was surprised to find herself talking to God, to whom she reproached: “If you are God and Father of all, and you love us all equally, why to those, yes, and to me, no? What do I have to do to be happy?” At that moment she heard, in her interior, a voice that told her emphatically, “Confess.” After thinking about it, she agreed to confess on the last day before her return, and in that confession she brought out all the suffering she had inside her.

When she returned to Madrid, her life changed. She wanted to be certain about the apparitions that took place in Medjugorje and read the neurological studies that had been done on the seers. Mrs. Inmaculada became convinced, through science, that the apparitions of Mary in Medjugorje were authentic, because neurologically speaking, it is not possible to fake them for such a long time.

In order to strengthen her relationship with the Croatian waiter, she undertook to organize pilgrimages to Medjugorje and so they saw each other, until they decided to get married and to stay and live in Medjugorje, being guides for the pilgrimages that were organized.

Later, their marriage went through a very strong crisis and they were on the verge of separation. Then, someone advised her to take part in the spiritual exercises organized by Emmaus, an organization dedicated to this mission. It was there that her conversion was strengthened. She made the Montfortian Consecration to Jesus through Mary and abandoned herself into the hands of Mary and God so that they could show her the path to follow.

She feels very grateful to her parents for what they have done for her and also to the group of pilgrims with whom she went to Medjugorje, who offered prayers and sacrifices during the one-way trip, so that she could convert. She is fully convinced that Mary, like all mothers, watches over us and never tires of repeating her messages to us, so that all her children may be converted.

The group ended the session by sharing some aspects of Christian life that the testimony had suggested to them. This was followed by the celebration of the Eucharist. The meeting ended with the sharing of a simple dinner in the midst of a lively conversion.

MCG Training Team