Question 1.4

1.4 How do you view your childhood in Ourous when you look back on it today? What was your daily routine like at the time?

My childhood was very happy, without a doubt. I grew up in an atmosphere of peace and innocent naïveté in a small village with the mission of the Holy Ghost Fathers at its center.

I lived in a pious, serene, and peaceful family in which God was present and the Virgin Mary was venerated with devotion.

Like many villagers, my parents were farmers. To this day I greatly respect a job well done, after seeing them work so hard and joyfully. They rose early in the morning to go into the fields, and I left with them by six o’clock. When I was around seven years old, I could no longer accompany them because after Mass I had to go to school. I must say that we were not rich; the fruit of our labor allowed us to be fed and clothed and guaranteed us a subsistence wage. My parents’ unselfishness, their honesty, humility, generosity, and the nobility of their feelings, their faith, the intensity of their prayer life, and most of all their trust in God made a deep impression on me. I never saw them come into conflict with anyone.

I also remember playing soccer, hide-and-seek, hoop, and, most of all, endless dances by the light of the moon. How can I forget the hours my friends and I spent at our elders’ sides, listening to the tales and legends of the Coniagui culture? It was like a school for us children; these wonderful moments were a gift that helped us to assimilate our values and traditions. Festive ceremonies full of bright colors occurred regularly. I remember very clearly the big harvest festivals. We would empty our storehouses without any worries about running out. …

Anyone could come into our hut, at any time of day or night. Everyone was welcome to share a meal at our table. Father’s and Mother’s greatest happiness, their greatest joy, was to see our guests happy, welcomed royally in our little home. For them, there was a divine blessing and an immense joy in the simple act of welcoming others; our little three-person family would thus become for a few days “as many as the stars of heaven” (Heb 11:12).

Love, generosity, and the joy of opening the doors of one’s home to neighbors or to strangers always tend to enlarge our hearts; “our heart is wide”, Saint Paul said to the Corinthians (2 Cor 6:11). Selflessness was at the center of everything. For example, I still remember that Father had a friend who came from afar each year to spend the Christmas and Easter holidays at our house. He and his family stayed as long as they wished; Mother was always available, with a ready smile and a lot of tact.