WEBVTT 00:41.510 --> 00:48.370 The story that you are about to hear is, or has been in one way or another, 00:49.090 --> 00:50.330 his own story. 00:50.990 --> 00:58.850 It is the story of every human being, religious or not, to have even tried to 00:58.850 --> 01:02.790 worship God and Christ without knowing them. 01:02.790 --> 01:11.050 Some in ignorance, and others with their consciousness, scientific, religious, 01:11.710 --> 01:13.590 and traditionally characterized. 01:14.410 --> 01:20.550 Some based on the modus vivendis, and others on an inexplicable piety and 01:20.550 --> 01:25.970 devotion, many times, to the same human reason. 01:26.810 --> 01:33.050 This was the case of a Cornelius, Paul, Augustine, Teresa of Jesus, 01:33.590 --> 01:38.350 Luis de Leon, Casidoro de Reina, Cipriano de Varela, Savonarola, 01:38.870 --> 01:43.810 Jules Wycliffe, Martín Lutero, and an endless number of men and women who 01:43.810 --> 01:50.390 preferred to obey God and Christ rather than the Pope and his Roman court. 01:51.390 --> 01:57.530 This is the case of our brother and reverend Dr. Alberto Magno Rivera, 01:58.310 --> 02:02.230 Bishop of the Catholic Apostolic Church in Spain. 02:03.210 --> 02:08.290 With you, the servant of Christ and priest of God. 02:11.770 --> 02:21.750 Said the great Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset, I am I plus my circumstances. 02:22.670 --> 02:31.450 And it is precisely the circumstances that surrounded my life and the circumstances 02:31.450 --> 02:37.490 that made me, at the age of seven, take the incognito determination that I 02:37.490 --> 02:45.810 had to take, that caused in me the constant agony of becoming a priest. 02:47.390 --> 02:55.550 It was these circumstances, seen from the point of view of my own mother and her own 02:55.550 --> 03:02.130 experiences, that propelled her, in my own ignorance of what this meant, 03:03.350 --> 03:10.370 to choose me among all her children, so that this desire would be fulfilled to 03:10.370 --> 03:11.750 become a priest. 03:12.450 --> 03:18.670 And it is the circumstances that propel, at all times and at all moments, 03:19.490 --> 03:26.630 that many mothers, fathers, families, all over this known land, direct their 03:26.630 --> 03:33.410 impulses and good intentions to lead their children and their daughters to become 03:33.410 --> 03:36.150 priests, monks and nuns. 03:36.700 --> 03:44.050 It is also the circumstances that propel these and these, at a certain mature age, 03:44.590 --> 03:49.870 to choose the path of the priesthood or the cloister. 03:51.530 --> 03:57.590 These may be of different natures, but whatever the nature of these 03:57.590 --> 04:03.990 circumstances, they are always the ones that imprint in the character and in the 04:03.990 --> 04:09.210 conscience of the person what must be in the future. 04:11.210 --> 04:17.890 The circumstances that I was surrounded, especially, in an implicitly Roman 04:17.890 --> 04:27.150 Catholic home, a home that, necessarily under the pious devotion to the Virgin and 04:27.150 --> 04:35.550 to the saints, was primarily due to the Church, is the devotion that fed, 04:35.710 --> 04:40.150 in the midst of my circumstances, the desire to be consecrated to the 04:40.150 --> 04:48.090 priesthood, even at that early age, through my own intentions and impulses, 04:48.090 --> 04:55.230 by dedicating myself to play, not with the toys that children normally play at that 04:55.230 --> 05:03.490 age, but already using religious instruments to practice, in the form of a 05:03.490 --> 05:06.810 game, the religious practice of the Mass. 05:08.450 --> 05:14.010 Due to these circumstances, my mother, impressed by this, begins to notice, 05:14.530 --> 05:20.430 to see and to understand that, in some way, God called me to the ministry 05:20.430 --> 05:21.950 of the priesthood. 05:22.170 --> 05:29.190 Isn't this the same circumstance that leads to priests and nuns, to be priests 05:29.190 --> 05:30.090 and nuns? 05:30.570 --> 05:30.870 No. 05:31.350 --> 05:37.610 There are other reasons, there are other reasons that drive people to become 05:37.610 --> 05:39.210 priests and nuns. 05:40.120 --> 05:46.570 But if, among all the reasons and motives, there is not one that implies the idea, 05:46.790 --> 05:52.910 the genuine idea, and the genuine experience of serving God and Christ, 05:54.490 --> 06:05.030 this, sooner or later, this intention will be confronted, and confronted for a bad 06:05.030 --> 06:06.650 result, for a fatal end. 06:06.650 --> 06:14.230 But if, in these circumstances, the desire to serve God and Christ, 06:14.350 --> 06:20.450 devotedly and faithfully, is implied, sooner or later, the light itself, 06:20.570 --> 06:25.810 from Christ and from God, to whom, in our ignorance, we are disposed to 06:25.810 --> 06:34.710 serve, will shine, as it shone in my own life, in my own path. 06:35.710 --> 06:41.850 Sooner or later, these circumstances will be changed, and these circumstances will 06:41.850 --> 06:52.250 come to be the genuine circumstances that, in ignorance, came to be my own. 06:53.430 --> 07:01.490 The circumstances that drive me to enter a seminary at the age of seven. 07:54.730 --> 08:04.190 The doors of the seminary opened for me like the same doors of glory and heaven. 08:04.870 --> 08:11.110 At that moment, my own experience, which I could not understand because of my 08:11.110 --> 08:18.210 young age, told me from that moment that they also closed, they closed at the 08:18.210 --> 08:23.090 moment they opened so as not to give more space to the world, to the darkness, 08:23.590 --> 08:29.130 but as I had been taught, to the light, to the light that can only be received 08:29.130 --> 08:31.730 from the Holy Mother Church. 08:32.430 --> 08:37.650 In this way, the world was already beginning to be unknown to me, 08:37.650 --> 08:45.270 to enter a new world, an unknown world, but a world of hope, which was already 08:45.270 --> 08:51.950 sheltered in my short age, in my short experience, and in my short emotion. 08:52.490 --> 08:59.730 The world of glory, the world of holiness, the world of justice, the world of 08:59.730 --> 09:09.390 forgiveness, the world of fear of God, the world of respect for the human being. 09:09.770 --> 09:17.590 In this way, I want to say that with the same innocence, with the same temperance, 09:18.190 --> 09:26.650 with the same holy ignorance that now accompanied my age, I make this statement, 09:27.430 --> 09:35.590 I make this confession, not only of why I became a priest, but also of why I stopped 09:35.590 --> 09:44.330 being a priest at the service of Rome, to become a priest at the service of 09:44.330 --> 09:46.510 Christ and of God. 10:17.970 --> 10:28.410 In this way, as I continue in the story of my experiences, I wish to be clear and 10:28.410 --> 10:37.610 clear that it is not my intention, in any way, nor do I intend to defame in 10:37.610 --> 10:45.070 any way the institution to which I served with all the most healthy intention of my 10:45.070 --> 10:48.630 heart and soul, in my own ignorance. 10:49.150 --> 10:54.970 And I do not accuse anyone, on the contrary, I accuse myself a thousand times 10:54.970 --> 11:00.590 of not having obeyed God before man. 11:01.290 --> 11:06.430 Many years before, of having done it years later. 11:07.710 --> 11:13.650 However, the circumstances tried to enslave me of that which I served. 11:14.190 --> 11:19.950 The circumstances tried to enslave my conscience of that which my soul 11:19.950 --> 11:24.470 confronted with the word of God when it was already read of me. 11:24.930 --> 11:27.370 That is why, I repeat, I do not accuse anyone. 11:27.370 --> 11:34.170 Instead, I accuse myself of remembering these things, an accusation of which I can 11:34.170 --> 11:38.370 already be sure that God has forgiven me in Christ. 11:39.090 --> 11:42.510 And this guilt is no longer felt in me. 11:43.110 --> 11:48.210 On the contrary, Christ has taken it along with my sins. 11:49.130 --> 11:57.150 In this way, I want to point out that in this moment, being already in the 11:57.150 --> 12:03.970 seminary, on an occasion, after a year and a half of not seeing my mother, 12:04.290 --> 12:06.930 I was called by the rector of the seminary. 12:08.170 --> 12:14.250 And when I was called, in this interview, I could notice that there was something 12:14.250 --> 12:19.830 different to the usual, to the normal of all the interviews there have been with 12:19.830 --> 12:20.410 the rector. 12:21.370 --> 12:25.630 It is on this occasion, it was said to me, that I was allowed to leave the seminary 12:25.630 --> 12:27.190 due to an emergency. 12:28.770 --> 12:33.370 My head was debating and my thoughts were getting confused, not understanding what 12:33.370 --> 12:34.170 was happening. 12:34.470 --> 12:39.330 But at that moment, my aunt and some other family members came in, and I could 12:39.330 --> 12:41.890 realize that it was something related to my family. 12:43.050 --> 12:47.390 The rector informed me that I would be away from the seminary for four hours, 12:47.610 --> 12:50.870 and that my own aunt would bring me back. 12:52.410 --> 12:57.350 Already under this impression, I could ask my aunt what was happening. 12:58.410 --> 13:04.890 And she, with tears in her eyes, told me, Your mother is very sick. 13:05.870 --> 13:07.170 She wants to see you. 13:09.540 --> 13:19.620 So we got ready, arriving at the house, and entering the house immediately. 13:19.940 --> 13:30.220 I could feel, not only the influence of that aspect of death that began to 13:30.220 --> 13:38.700 surround the corridors, the rooms, and all those walls that one day were so 13:38.700 --> 13:39.600 dear to me. 13:41.020 --> 13:46.560 All that place, the furniture, the floors, everything seemed to smell of 13:46.560 --> 13:47.020 death. 13:48.940 --> 13:52.960 But next to this impression, what impressed me the most in the face of 13:52.960 --> 13:58.200 everything, even before seeing my own mother on her bed of agony, of death, 13:58.200 --> 14:03.700 was the prayer that so deeply went there with my own consciousness. 14:04.340 --> 14:11.860 And in a state of supreme despair and anguish, prayers still caused this 14:11.860 --> 14:17.760 impression with more power in my soul, in my spirit. 14:18.120 --> 14:23.120 And I could notice that instead of being a consolation to my soul, this same devotion 14:23.120 --> 14:29.900 and this same mercy with which all those women of Athens prayed for my mother's 14:29.900 --> 14:36.340 soul, they told me that rather than seeing her alive, it seemed that they were 14:36.340 --> 14:38.400 rushing the cup of her death. 14:38.900 --> 14:46.860 I felt so confused that I could not understand that all this could help my own 14:46.860 --> 14:49.800 faith, but on the contrary, my own faith was fading. 14:49.800 --> 14:51.680 I did not know what I was doing, if I had faith. 14:52.980 --> 14:58.220 As I approached the bed, my mother took my hand, and already losing her sight, 14:58.400 --> 15:05.600 she tightly squeezed my hand in her hand and said to me, My son, my priest! 15:07.120 --> 15:12.040 She was screaming at that moment, My God, what is happening to my mother? 15:12.240 --> 15:20.240 My mother replied, Oh my son, help me, help me, because I am horrified by what I 15:20.240 --> 15:20.440 see. 15:21.180 --> 15:23.000 I am horrified by what I feel. 15:23.440 --> 15:27.880 I feel surrounded by death, doubts, confusion. 15:28.640 --> 15:32.880 I see strange specters around the headboard of my bed. 15:33.280 --> 15:37.240 Oh my God, Holy Virgin, let someone help me. 15:37.540 --> 15:42.360 At that moment I looked at the priest, and when I looked at him, and I can 15:42.360 --> 15:46.860 remember him until that moment, he replied, I have given the sacraments to 15:46.860 --> 15:47.260 your mother. 15:47.480 --> 15:49.120 I have done everything I could. 15:49.520 --> 15:51.000 I can not do anything else. 15:51.820 --> 15:53.860 I can not do anything else. 15:54.240 --> 16:01.440 I could feel that the agony of my own mother was my own agony, and the death of 16:01.440 --> 16:05.340 my own mother was my own death, because without knowing what to do, 16:05.480 --> 16:10.160 when I heard from the priest that I had already done everything, and my mother was 16:10.160 --> 16:14.340 dying in greater agony, and in greater confusion, death was taking her, 16:14.700 --> 16:20.580 I could question in my own mind, in secret, and before God, and before 16:20.580 --> 16:27.300 heaven, what then has been the benefit of all the sacraments known and to have, 16:27.760 --> 16:33.500 of all the blessings and indulgences imparted, of all the prayers that were 16:33.500 --> 16:39.120 made until that moment, what was the benefit of so much mercy, of so much 16:39.120 --> 16:44.140 devotion, if my mother was dying in fear, in anguish and in confusion. 17:10.780 --> 17:22.800 The time passed, and already the traces of this experience lived in the face of the 17:22.800 --> 17:30.360 death of my mother, brought as a consequence new experiences, and these 17:30.360 --> 17:36.020 experiences that raised not only one doubt, but many, one after another. 17:36.020 --> 17:40.640 Doubts that could not even be referred to my own confessor. 17:41.100 --> 17:48.380 Doubts that I had to carry with me in my subconscious, to the point of trying to 17:48.380 --> 17:57.060 put out the guilt that I felt by the very fact of not confessing these doubts, 17:59.700 --> 18:07.160 of constantly submitting my body to sacrifices and immense tortures, 18:08.760 --> 18:16.820 to sleep for months and months on four chairs, with nothing to cover me except my 18:16.820 --> 18:18.760 own skin and my own flesh. 18:19.740 --> 18:24.840 On winter nights, I can remember how it was taken, after three months, 18:24.840 --> 18:31.200 to be hospitalized in a hospital with a cavern in my left lung. 18:32.400 --> 18:37.980 As a consequence of these constant sufferings, as a consequence of this 18:37.980 --> 18:43.380 constant agony, which was no longer a physical agony, but was already an agony 18:43.380 --> 18:49.140 that became a spiritual agony, an agony through which I could constantly 18:49.140 --> 18:53.060 cry out, constantly, My God, have mercy on me. 18:53.420 --> 18:55.440 My God, have mercy on me. 18:56.160 --> 19:01.500 And I believed myself more and more, instead of being more just, more holy, 19:01.760 --> 19:08.120 more perfect, I believed myself more and more unjust, more sinful, and with less 19:08.120 --> 19:13.460 hope of being able to find near God, no consolation, no forgiveness. 19:14.700 --> 19:21.860 This constantly brought to my consciousness the need for greater 19:21.860 --> 19:27.540 sacrifice, with the aim of extinguishing this guilt, and with the aim of responding 19:27.540 --> 19:33.740 to the good intentions that still sheltered my mind, sooner or later, 19:34.420 --> 19:40.200 to come to fulfill the desire of my mother, a desire that had already ceased 19:40.200 --> 19:45.400 to be of my mother to become mine, to become a priest, as it were. 19:47.700 --> 19:51.640 Priest, this word was constantly repeated to me. 19:52.460 --> 19:58.000 Oh my God, let me see that day when I can become a priest. 19:59.000 --> 20:04.780 And in the word and in the term I seemed to see the solution of all my problems, 20:04.980 --> 20:09.580 of all my agony, of all my doubts, of all my concerns. 20:20.680 --> 20:30.620 But time passed until on one occasion something strange took place. 20:31.260 --> 20:37.600 Already at about 18 years of age, I was called on the days of visit, 20:37.980 --> 20:47.040 and especially on Saturday, and I was told that there was my family and a friend who 20:47.040 --> 20:47.640 visited me. 20:48.400 --> 20:53.820 At that moment, when I was addressing my family, this friend took me by the arm and 20:53.820 --> 20:58.080 said, Alberto, I need to speak to you immediately. 20:59.460 --> 21:04.520 I have something to say, I wish to give it to you, but it has to be in secret, 21:05.600 --> 21:09.520 because what I have to bring is not allowed to be given to you in public. 21:10.100 --> 21:15.120 I said, look, I have so little time to see my family, I can only see her once, 21:17.040 --> 21:21.460 and you are going to take this away from me, you are going to steal this time from 21:21.460 --> 21:21.460 me. 21:21.500 --> 21:22.720 Don't you think it is unfair? 21:23.280 --> 21:26.140 He said, it is unfair that you don't give me this time. 21:26.660 --> 21:29.780 And I noticed how his tears ran down his eyes. 21:30.900 --> 21:36.580 I realized that there was something very serious to reject. 21:37.340 --> 21:46.580 Finally, I said, let's go to the garden, and near the back of the garden, 21:47.240 --> 21:49.100 I said, give me whatever you have to give me. 21:49.100 --> 21:55.980 He said, no, let's get to the end, to hide behind some trees, and then I will 21:55.980 --> 21:58.080 grant you what I have come to bring you. 21:58.620 --> 22:03.040 We arrived, and taking something out of his pocket, he put it in my pocket, 22:03.040 --> 22:06.900 and immediately he said, you don't need to take it out. 22:07.500 --> 22:11.300 But I couldn't resist the idea, the temptation to take it out, 22:11.380 --> 22:15.540 and when I took it out of my pocket, I saw a little book in my hands. 22:16.160 --> 22:24.000 The title of the book was on the cover, The New Testament of Our Lord Jesus 22:24.000 --> 22:24.300 Christ. 22:26.320 --> 22:29.200 Immediately I said, well, why have you brought this to me? 22:29.480 --> 22:31.840 He said, you are studying to be a priest. 22:31.840 --> 22:38.120 I have read this book, and I believe that only you can have it, and you must have 22:38.120 --> 22:38.440 it. 22:40.180 --> 22:46.300 I have seen with what fervor you have consecrated yourself to be a priest, 22:46.700 --> 22:49.880 and I would like to do it, but I cannot. 22:50.940 --> 22:55.760 However, the things that are written in this book, if I were to do them, 22:56.100 --> 22:59.880 he says, I would give my life for them. 23:00.760 --> 23:05.080 I say, how do you explain yourself in such a way that you can give your life for some 23:05.080 --> 23:08.380 things that are written in a simple book like this? 23:08.780 --> 23:10.980 He says, this is something more than a simple book. 23:11.560 --> 23:17.440 I have found things here in this book that I have never been able to receive through 23:17.440 --> 23:19.420 all my years of religion. 23:20.300 --> 23:27.000 I have found things that have brought me the need to bring them to you. 23:27.900 --> 23:33.040 Because I have known of your constant sacrifices, I have known of your tortures, 23:33.640 --> 23:39.540 I have known of your agonies, and I am sure that if you read this book, 23:40.020 --> 23:40.900 you can have some benefit. 23:42.200 --> 23:49.860 When he spoke to me, I was turning the pages of the book, and I was looking for 23:49.860 --> 23:55.460 whether the book was authorized by the Church, if the book had the imprint of the 23:55.460 --> 23:59.200 Church on it, but I realized that it did not. 23:59.940 --> 24:05.020 And then, desperately looking between one side and the other of the pages, 24:05.200 --> 24:09.920 I said to him, you have compromised me, you have made me sin, and you have made me 24:09.920 --> 24:10.480 sin gravely. 24:11.440 --> 24:15.740 You have brought me a book that speaks of Jesus Christ, that speaks of God, 24:15.880 --> 24:17.880 and is not even authorized by the Church. 24:18.080 --> 24:20.760 This New Testament is not a New Testament. 24:20.760 --> 24:22.960 Wait a moment, this is a communist book. 24:23.340 --> 24:26.480 Therefore, you have made me sin gravely. 24:26.820 --> 24:27.860 You are evil. 24:28.300 --> 24:30.400 You must take the book right now. 24:31.380 --> 24:32.900 Wait a moment, do not take it. 24:33.060 --> 24:35.180 Leave it with me, because I am going to burn it. 24:35.180 --> 24:36.540 I am going to burn it immediately. 24:37.160 --> 24:42.560 But you, from this moment, go to the confessor, look for a confessor, 24:43.100 --> 24:44.960 and confess such grave sin. 24:46.360 --> 24:50.300 When I took the book in my hands, I went to the incinerator, which was 24:50.300 --> 24:51.920 there, near where we were talking. 24:52.420 --> 24:55.900 And when I got to the incinerator, I tried to throw it between the flames of 24:55.900 --> 24:59.280 the incinerator, and the book did not want to come off my hands. 24:59.660 --> 25:04.780 It seemed that my hands and my fingers were clasped in such a way that it could 25:04.780 --> 25:05.120 not come off. 25:05.880 --> 25:09.860 And one, and two, and three times I tried, the book did not come off my hands. 25:10.340 --> 25:14.200 And already, when I approached the incinerator, even the flames of the 25:14.200 --> 25:18.880 incinerator seemed to want to devour me, when I tried to melt it between them. 25:19.320 --> 25:23.020 But when I moved away from the incinerator, in an act of anger, 25:23.640 --> 25:24.160 I threw it. 25:24.720 --> 25:28.560 And when I threw it, it fell out of the incinerator. 25:29.140 --> 25:30.020 It fell to the ground. 25:30.820 --> 25:32.820 And something told me to pick it up. 25:33.620 --> 25:35.220 I went and picked it up. 25:37.220 --> 25:41.580 That something could not be anything other than the providence of God. 25:42.300 --> 25:47.180 At that moment, the Holy Spirit, for me known as the Providence of God, 25:48.540 --> 25:53.540 the Holy Spirit, who began to reverberate my consciousness, the Holy Spirit who 25:53.540 --> 25:59.180 began to bring light, and who right there, bringing light, brought me the knowledge 25:59.180 --> 26:02.280 of the same revelation of God, written. 26:03.180 --> 26:05.920 The Word of God had come to my hands. 26:06.320 --> 26:11.420 But not only had it come to my hands, the Word of God had come, from that 26:11.420 --> 26:12.880 moment, to my consciousness. 26:13.520 --> 26:17.860 And through the days, the months, the years, in which I devoured it, 26:18.120 --> 26:22.980 and secretly read it, under the blankets, the blankets of my bed, in secret, 26:23.340 --> 26:28.080 with a flashlight, during the nights, for more than three years, the Word of God 26:28.080 --> 26:33.220 began to come to my subconscious, and to cross my soul, my spirit, 26:33.420 --> 26:43.080 my body, and to begin to confront everything that was doctrine and teaching 26:43.080 --> 26:43.640 of man. 26:44.280 --> 26:48.840 I could hear the voice of Christ, which was constantly being said to me, 26:48.940 --> 26:53.360 and was repeated, in the hours of silence and devotion, they were repeated to me, 26:53.360 --> 26:56.640 one after another, within my own consciousness. 26:57.080 --> 26:57.640 You are wrong. 26:58.960 --> 26:59.780 You are wrong. 27:00.980 --> 27:01.820 You are wrong. 27:01.820 --> 27:07.580 You are wrong because you do not know the Scriptures and the power of God. 27:08.040 --> 27:11.620 That is what Christ said to the religious of his time. 27:11.840 --> 27:17.960 And now I could feel that same living Christ, that same Christ that I could 27:17.960 --> 27:22.740 already see, through the pages of that revelation of the New Testament, 27:23.160 --> 27:29.280 that was a living Christ, I could already feel it, speaking to my own soul. 27:29.280 --> 27:38.800 Say, Alberto, Alberto, you are wrong, you are wrong, and the cause of your error 27:38.800 --> 27:45.260 is that you do not know the Scriptures and the power of God. 27:46.560 --> 27:53.540 Scrooge the Scriptures, Alberto, Scrooge the Scriptures, hear the same 27:53.540 --> 28:02.060 voice, because they, only the Scriptures, are the ones that give testimony of me. 28:03.200 --> 28:09.960 And these words of Christ, one after another, not only did they accompany me in 28:09.960 --> 28:15.600 the moments of silence and devotion, and in the moments of my own 28:15.600 --> 28:22.860 consciousness, but they already began to be heard in the corridors of the seminary 28:22.860 --> 28:26.160 and in the corridors of the cathedral where we went to Mass. 28:26.620 --> 28:32.460 These words constantly accompanied me in the streets, in the classes, all the time 28:32.460 --> 28:33.280 and all the hour. 28:34.320 --> 28:37.920 You are wrong, you are wrong, you are wrong. 28:38.640 --> 28:42.240 You are wrong, Alberto, you are wrong. 28:42.760 --> 28:45.640 You are continually making mistakes. 28:45.640 --> 28:53.520 When you fast, when you submit your body to continuous sacrifice, even the very 28:53.520 --> 28:56.520 death of your body, you are making mistakes. 28:57.300 --> 29:04.480 When you submit your consciousness to the traditional teaching of man and do not 29:04.480 --> 29:11.580 submit it to obedience to the word of God, you are making mistakes, making mistakes 29:11.580 --> 29:12.280 continuously. 29:12.960 --> 29:21.120 In this confrontation, I had no choice but to begin to expose, to expose what I 29:21.120 --> 29:26.600 lived, to expose what I felt, to expose what for more than three years had already 29:26.600 --> 29:29.820 begun to take place in secret within me. 29:30.640 --> 29:35.040 And I began to expose it to students, and I began to expose it to my teachers, 29:35.360 --> 29:37.640 and I began to expose it to my confessors. 29:37.640 --> 29:43.440 And between one and the other, all I could hear was constantly this 29:43.440 --> 29:44.140 sentence. 29:45.720 --> 29:48.520 Alberto, remember that you are fighting in vain. 29:49.060 --> 29:55.300 You fight in vain because the Church is great and strong, and it is the Church. 29:56.180 --> 30:02.720 And remember that it is so great that you, before the Church, are like a stone in the 30:02.720 --> 30:05.580 middle of the current of an impetuous river. 30:05.580 --> 30:11.880 And you are working against the current, against the current of centuries of 30:11.880 --> 30:17.960 tradition, against the current of centuries of oral revelation, of councils 30:17.960 --> 30:18.860 and of Popes. 30:19.520 --> 30:23.020 You are fighting in vain. 30:24.380 --> 30:31.720 And once again, I could remember during the nights when I meditated on this word, 30:32.480 --> 30:37.820 as a consolation, those accusations and sentences that were made to me. 30:39.460 --> 30:43.120 You have no right to think about anything. 30:44.200 --> 30:49.920 Alberto, you have no right to think about anything, I was told. 30:50.900 --> 30:57.840 That the Fathers of the Church never thought, because the mere fact that your 30:57.840 --> 31:03.920 thoughts have doubts, they are telling you that you are not faithful to the Church, 31:04.380 --> 31:08.580 that you are not faithful to the Holy Mother Church, not even to the Pope, 31:08.680 --> 31:14.580 and for that reason neither to Christ, because the Pope is the vicar of Christ on 31:14.580 --> 31:15.080 earth. 31:15.500 --> 31:19.740 And you cannot be faithful to Christ without being faithful to the Pope and to 31:19.740 --> 31:20.240 the Church. 31:21.240 --> 31:24.980 Our Mother Church never makes mistakes. 31:25.760 --> 31:28.940 Our Mother Church is always correct. 31:29.560 --> 31:35.260 You may be found in error, but the Church is always correct. 31:35.720 --> 31:42.260 Even more, remember and never forget, until the end of your life, that outside 31:42.260 --> 31:45.380 the Church there is no salvation. 32:06.960 --> 32:14.780 And the day of my ordination came, and it came in an era, in an era when Pope 32:14.780 --> 32:20.900 John XXIII himself already declared the intentions of the Church and of the 32:20.900 --> 32:28.580 Fathers to open the door to the whole world and to Christianity, to life in the 32:28.580 --> 32:33.040 whole world, to a new council, to the Second Vatican Council. 32:33.040 --> 32:38.820 And together with my ordination, not only did the hope of having fulfilled 32:38.820 --> 32:44.980 all my dreams and the prayers and prayers of my mother come, but together with it I 32:44.980 --> 32:52.140 saw the hope to achieve through this council, perhaps, what the years of life 32:52.140 --> 32:56.620 and struggle had sheltered in my consciousness and in my subconscious, 32:57.340 --> 33:04.000 what the years of struggle and desire of seeing the Church reformed, of seeing the 33:04.000 --> 33:08.580 Church adjusted, but more than anything, of seeing my own life adjusted to the 33:08.580 --> 33:13.040 mandates of Christ and of God, not according to councils and to Popes, 33:13.420 --> 33:19.420 not according to traditions, but according to the very words of Christ in the Holy 33:19.420 --> 33:24.800 Scriptures, according to the same liturgy and theology of that primitive Church that 33:24.800 --> 33:29.800 is described in the book of Acts, they tell us that in this way they 33:29.800 --> 33:36.800 received the word being baptized and were added that day of Pentecost as three 33:36.800 --> 33:41.760 thousand people and persevered in the doctrine of the apostles, in communion 33:41.760 --> 33:46.440 with each other, in the breaking of the bread and in the prayers. 33:47.160 --> 33:53.280 And in this way, he says, they sold their properties, they had all things in common 33:53.280 --> 33:58.460 and persevered unanimously every day in the temple, breaking the bread in the 33:58.460 --> 34:02.040 houses, they ate together with joy and simplicity of heart. 34:02.520 --> 34:08.600 Praising God and having favor with all the people, the Lord added every day to the 34:08.600 --> 34:11.280 Church those who had to be saved. 34:11.720 --> 34:17.820 And in the face of this authoritative and unique description of the Church of Christ 34:17.820 --> 34:23.940 and of what this Church was in the first Christian century, my soul eagerly awaited 34:23.940 --> 34:31.600 that this Council could bring to the world the reality of what Christ was and what 34:31.600 --> 34:35.240 the Church of Christ was in the first Christian century. 34:35.800 --> 34:38.760 This was what led me to continue my career. 34:39.060 --> 34:45.500 This was what led me to strive to obtain what my mother could have wished with all 34:45.500 --> 34:48.660 her life and her death, to become a priest. 34:48.660 --> 34:54.180 This was what propelled me in the face of the confrontation that I suffered between 34:54.180 --> 34:57.360 the mandates of God and the mandates of man. 34:58.080 --> 35:02.260 This was what also led me to finally know Christ. 35:03.440 --> 35:09.880 This was what, after having been ordained, led me, together with a group of priests, 35:10.360 --> 35:16.660 to put and demand before our bishops that the fulfillment of these words be carried 35:16.660 --> 35:22.800 out, together with the new decrees of the Council, that not only everything become a 35:22.800 --> 35:26.680 theory, but that everything become a reality, that the whole Church, 35:27.040 --> 35:31.500 that the institution that at this time was called Church, and that for me was no 35:31.500 --> 35:37.200 longer the Church of Christ, to be convinced in what the book of Revelations 35:37.200 --> 35:42.040 said, in the ramera, the mother of the fornications of the earth, and the mother 35:42.040 --> 35:48.160 of the rameras, that at this time, this apostate came to believe in Christ, 35:48.580 --> 35:51.460 as I felt that I needed to come to be. 35:51.740 --> 35:57.880 My pretensions, like the Jews before Christ, described in the chapter 8 of St. 35:58.040 --> 36:01.960 John, and verse 31, my pretensions were the same. 36:02.260 --> 36:07.700 I could claim before Christ and altercate with my own Savior, that I was already a 36:07.700 --> 36:12.960 priest, that I had prayed, that I had fasted, that I had submitted to my body 36:12.960 --> 36:18.400 fasts and sacrifices, and all kinds of penance, that I had received so many and 36:18.400 --> 36:22.360 so many indulgences, that with all the inheritance that I had received, 36:22.700 --> 36:27.440 that with all the practice, and with the faith with which I believed, the obedience 36:27.440 --> 36:31.640 to all the mandates of the Church, and to all the mandates of God, 36:31.960 --> 36:38.820 that I could claim that it was something, however, like the Pharisees before Christ, 36:38.820 --> 36:43.200 they did not receive in response to anything other than the words of the same 36:43.200 --> 36:43.680 Master. 36:44.040 --> 36:50.000 You, if you remain in my word, you will be truly my disciples, 36:50.500 --> 36:53.680 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. 36:54.540 --> 36:58.740 Oh yes, if I choose you to be free, you will be truly free. 36:59.140 --> 37:05.560 And since Christ himself already responded to my claims, that there was nothing but 37:05.560 --> 37:11.160 to put my faith in him, and thus to confess to him, I could not, at least, 37:11.380 --> 37:13.660 demand the same of my superiors. 37:14.200 --> 37:19.420 And in this demand, in response, I suffered to be submitted and confined to 37:19.420 --> 37:25.840 a psychiatric hospital, and from this moment I had to cross the thresholds of 37:25.840 --> 37:29.080 the psychiatric center to which I had been confined. 37:29.900 --> 37:35.220 When, already interviewed by the director of the Semer, I communicated that, 37:35.400 --> 37:42.480 by orders of the Church and my archbishop, they were going to help me in order to 37:42.480 --> 37:47.900 make me return to mental and emotional normality, I could understand that, 37:48.080 --> 37:53.020 in the midst of these circumstances, my salvation was beginning to come closer 37:53.020 --> 37:53.620 than ever. 37:54.060 --> 37:58.760 It was a paradox, and I could understand it, and I could not understand it. 37:59.160 --> 38:03.880 At the same time, it seemed that the doors of that psychiatric center had not only 38:03.880 --> 38:07.920 opened like those of the seminary in my childhood, but that they were also 38:07.920 --> 38:13.080 closing, and at this time they were closing behind me, to life, to the hope of 38:13.080 --> 38:17.740 being able to leave this place, and even to the hope of being able to 38:17.740 --> 38:19.440 communicate with anyone. 38:19.960 --> 38:23.440 But I no longer felt the need to communicate with anyone. 38:23.820 --> 38:29.000 Now I felt like never before the need to communicate with God, and in an act of 38:29.000 --> 38:39.720 determination, in an act in which I could now feel within me that call of God from 38:39.720 --> 38:48.320 so many years ago, I could continue to walk in the strength, in the energy of 38:48.320 --> 38:58.500 that hope, to see Him face to face, as I could see Him through the pages of 38:58.500 --> 38:59.540 the Gospels. 38:59.540 --> 39:06.960 So I went to the room to which I had already been confined. 39:07.580 --> 39:08.620 Until when? 39:08.960 --> 39:09.860 I did not know. 39:10.280 --> 39:18.600 Three months later, that hope that was in me had already physically and morally 39:18.600 --> 39:27.340 disappeared, because finding myself inert, completely inert, in the bed that was my 39:27.340 --> 39:33.580 bed, and was already the bed of my death, and not only of my illness, I began to 39:33.580 --> 39:40.180 feel that life had gone, and that the same skin was sticking to my bones, 39:40.580 --> 39:47.680 unable to speak, unable to hear, unable to even see, because my physical 39:47.680 --> 39:53.900 vision had gone, unable to even eat, because it was already feeding me 39:53.900 --> 39:57.340 intravenously through my veins. 39:57.620 --> 40:05.020 Thus, in this way, I felt within my own consciousness, when I could no longer feel 40:05.020 --> 40:08.860 it outside of myself, the words of Christ. 40:09.360 --> 40:18.120 If you remain in my words, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the 40:18.120 --> 40:27.080 truth, and the truth will set you free, will set you free, will set you free. 40:27.740 --> 40:34.580 You will be free, Alberto, Alberto, you will be free knowing me. 40:35.380 --> 40:43.420 Oh, I cried out at that time, in response to this call, my God, my God, if it is 40:43.420 --> 40:50.400 true that you are here, if it is true that you are here, oh God, lift me up, 40:50.420 --> 40:58.720 save me, have mercy on me, have mercy on me, oh God, and forgive my sins, 40:59.220 --> 41:03.620 forgive my offenses and my rebellions, oh Christ. 41:04.600 --> 41:11.240 At this time, my prayer was no longer made to wait, and feeling the life, 41:11.600 --> 41:17.860 and the same life of God flowing through my veins, of my blood, of my body, 41:18.000 --> 41:25.220 of my soul and spirit, there I rose, incorporating myself through the power of 41:25.220 --> 41:31.100 God, and I could already notice that the same glory of God surrounded, flooded, 41:31.820 --> 41:39.640 even the physical darkness dissipated in that room, in that room, and not only 41:39.640 --> 41:48.480 outside, but inside me, the same light of God, the same glory of God began to give 41:48.480 --> 41:52.400 me signs of my salvation in Christ. 42:07.330 --> 42:09.510 Let us pray with this prayer. 42:10.190 --> 42:18.410 Lord Jesus, if this is my hour of tribulation, I believe that you give me 42:18.410 --> 42:24.810 security, and if this is my hour of struggle and war, I believe in your peace, 42:25.250 --> 42:30.490 and if this is my hour of doubt, help my uncredulity, O Christ, 42:31.070 --> 42:37.150 and if this is my hour of hatred and violence, I believe that right now, 42:37.510 --> 42:42.450 Jesus, you grant me love and tranquility. 42:43.110 --> 42:50.650 But above all, above all, O Christ, if this is the hour in which after so much 42:50.650 --> 42:57.970 struggling, after so much searching, and after so much confusion, I feel in 42:57.970 --> 43:04.890 you, O Jesus, the need, come to me, O Christ, come to me in this moment, 43:05.510 --> 43:10.390 and right now, make your dwelling in my heart.