He will be called John…

he will be full of Holy Spirit from the sine of his mother…, will announce the Lord with the spirit and the power of Elijah» (Lk 1:13-17). So announced us the Lord the birth and the name of our son Juan Elias.

He was born on 9 February of 2000. We received him with great joy, he was for us an expression of the love of God for our lives. From that day, his presence between us, his parents, was an announcement of the life of the Gospel; the Lord invited us to let us lead by his Holy Spirit in the small daily things. Thus we learned in the middle of the sleeplessness, which we didn't know, which cost us more, to enjoy our family life.

The invitation of the Lord was: to make Him the center of our lives and to remain in charity in any circumstance. This allowed us in this time to not only enjoy our life along with Juan Elias, but also to be able to incorporate this new family reality to the life of our community.

The 23th May the Lord received the life of our son. Our baby passed away of sudden death (cradle death, without an apparent cause), only that he was reanimated by hours in which he remained in intensive therapy, in deep comma.

Lord, we said to him, we think that you can revive him as you did with Lazarus, but do the best thing for him! At that same moment it began to diminish his cardiac frequency. When his small heart let bark, in our interior arose, in the middle of so much pain, a praise: Blessed you are Father! We thank you because his life belongs to you, and you lent him to us by three months to take care of him! We know that Juan Elias is with you!

Only the Holy Spirit could reveal this to us. «The Holy Spirit who raised Jesus works in the believers with the greatness of his power» Eph 1:19-20. In the days that followed, this same Spirit was the one that came in our aid and invited us to remain in faith, to put our hope in the Eternal Life, to ask Mary to intercede for us so we be faithful until the end, so that some day our child be who opens the doors of Heaven to us.

Today it's the community life and the brotherly prayers what supports us; every time we're more conscious of what would be of us if we didn't have it. «And I will send you what my Father has promised to you. Remain in the city until you receive the force that comes from the high» Lk 24:49. For us, to remain in the city, is to remain in the community, to construct with which we have and to leave the Lord put the rest, it's there where the Holy Spirit spills himself. To remain in the city, is to remain adhered to the Cross of Jesus, since the pain is much, but only embraced to Him, our death can give fruit.

There is a mystery in which the Father invites us to penetrate, it's the Mystery of Salvation. The Father who gave his only Son wants us holy, that sanctity is constructed in the community and he calls us to make of our communities, communities of salvation for men.

«He will announce the Lord with the spirit and the power of Elijah». Every day that passes, we are more convinced that the announcement of the life of Juan Elias is this one: The life of the community is the place of salvation and the answer for the world in which we live.

Juan & Lilia
Cristo Vive Aleluia!
Nº 126, p. 14 (2001)

© The Movement of the Word of God, a Roman Catholic pastoral community of disciples. This testimony was originally published by the Word of God's Publishing House and can be reproduced on condition that its origin is mentioned.