50 years ago I started on this exciting path of following Jesus as the Daughter of Christ the King and my saddlebag is full of reasons to thank God for the well received throughout, not only these 50 years, but all my life. life; an accumulation of experiences impossible to transmit in a moment of which I will take a few strokes:
I want to give you infinite thanks, Lord, for life, thanks for my parents, for the miracle of existing, for having been born into a loving, hard-working and simple family; defender of justice, freedom, equality. Who knew about struggle and sacrifice to achieve the dreams conceived in love and for teaching me since I was a child, with so many gestures and small details..., to outline one of the high values of the Gospel, the value of fraternity.
There are many beautiful memories of childhood shared with my sisters. Today, I just want to remember some experiences from those winter afternoons when dad told us, as if it were a story, the risky job he had in Aldea Dávila. The fond memory comes to me of those moments shared with mom when she prepared the batch of bread and while the tasty “roxós” cake was baking, it filled our hearts with hopes and dreams for life. I remember those laughs, when on rainy days, we would play splashing in the water with our katiuskas, confident in the warmth that we would find when we got home with the hot water in the basin prepared by mom and the wool socks knitted by grandma.
Thank you, my God, for so many endearing experiences of my childhood, for so much life shared with my sisters in the warmth of our parents, for so many gestures that helped us to gradually weave our growth as simple and human women.
How can you not thank you, Lord, for having been born connected to this beautiful land “da nosa” Galicia, for that corner of Viveiro “O Pombal” as a watchtower open to the horizon of our Cantabrian Sea and at the same time a safe refuge under the protection of “do monte Penido.” Today, when there is so much talk about the spirituality of the earth..., which leads us to discover "your Presence hidden in the gift you give us" I thank you infinitely for giving me this opportunity to listen and savor the sounds of nature: listen to the strong sound of the wind, the rain, the singing water of the river and the roar of the sea; for listening, on peaceful afternoons, to the song of the blackbird, the cuckoo and the paspayas, for contemplating the beauty of spring in the meadows covered with flowers, which we picked to make with them the altar to the Virgin in the month of May and sing to her: "How beautiful you are, oh Immaculate Mother." .
Thank you Lord, for the capacity for intuition that you have placed in me to discover and name, in the restless years of my youth, what was behind my disagreements, my rebellions. For the vocational strength of following you Lord Jesus, for whom it is worth leaving everything. Thank you for the people who helped me take those first steps: my Family, María José Rey, Mr. Luis, Ms. Marina.
Thank you Lord, for this vocation that you have given me, for the gift of living it as a Daughter of Christ the King with the charisma of José Gras and Granollers, for the richness of spirituality that helps me to seek and focus on what is essential every day. For so much wealth that the sisters with whom I have shared and am currently sharing this fascinating project of following you Lord Jesus, who are the Way, the Truth and the Life, contributed and contribute to my life.
Thank you Lord for the experience of Latin America, for those years in which I was able to discover the richness that exists in cultural diversity and connect with the reflection of the Latin American Church through the documents of Medellín, Puebla, Santo Domingo, Aparecida and by to have shared the reflections of the Religious Life committed to the Colombian reality.
Thank you, because through the praxis of the Gospel I learned to look at the world from the reality of the poor, the excluded, the victims.
Thank you, for being close to so many people persecuted for their commitment to the Kingdom Project, some of them came to martyrdom for being the "voice of those who have no voice." They taught me with their lives that the greatness of love and courage surrender without limits must be lived to the end and, like Mary of Nazareth, remain standing, even if we feel vulnerable to painful or compromising situations that cannot be changed.
Thank you, for my sisters and brothers-in-law, who I consider to be brothers, who so generously supported my life project in Latin America, without making claims in the hardest and most painful moments of the family when they needed me by their side and I was not there.
Thank you, for all the enthusiasm with which I prepared my trips for the intimate meeting with my nephews and that lasts and is maintained over time and that now continues in my nephews Mario, Teo, Nicolás, Rosalía and Marcel who bring us so much happiness And joy.
Thank you, for my cousins, for my friends present and absent, for so many people with whom I have been able to connect, being a companion on the road, and experiencing the value of friendship.
Thank you Lord for Father Carlos, who with his availability made the celebration of the Eucharist possible.
Thank you for my sisters in the community, for this opportunity to create and recreate fraternity every day, to be at the service of the Gospel in this reality that opens each day to the joyful encounter of feeling like sisters sharing the richness of our spirituality, charism and apostolate.
Thank you my God, for experiencing you as the source of life.
Thank you for your infinite love and mercy.
"You are light, energy, heat
heart, welcome and embrace. " Only love can spring from You.
"I thank you for making me cry out with thirst."
You know me Lord.
"I feel that I am fragile,
like an earthenware bowl open to the light, "
in this adventure of extending your Kingdom
"I thank you for being a poor moan,
in search of Your Face. "
Hna. Pilar Fernández Expósito hcr
