When I try, like at this moment, to do by way of epitaph in memory of a great and dear friend, recently deceased, sadness and intense and uncontrollable sorrow invade you, and it is inevitable to let yourself be seduced by the logical and human feelings of subjectivity, induced by the emotional disposition of friendship. But is not the case. Or… maybe yes? But not! There were no obstacles or conditions. I don’t know if our friendship was short or long. It seems short to me now, when events have happened so quickly and unexpectedly.
I make mine the verses of the poet Jorge Manrique in “Coplas por la muerte de su padre”: “Remember the sleeping soul, wake up the brain and wake up contemplating, how life passes, how death comes so quietly…”. We are not, perhaps, humanly prepared for these blows.
Without analyzing the duration of our friendship, which was lasting, very intense and affective, loyal and faithful to our ethical and moral principles and values, firm in our commitments, mutual support in physically delicate situations, in the hope of faith and science. We live a friendship of sincerity, with our defects, imperfections and virtues. We knew about our cultural hobbies, about which we had great talks on our walks through Valladolid, about our spirituality, about which, due to your priestly status, we received advice.
We have also shared table and tablecloth. They transcended the friendship, with the same intensity, to my marriage, children and grandchildren. You were simple and humble, always looking for love, which you gave abundantly. You have left traces of love and dedication wherever you have been, leaving friends of which my family is part, even from Puerto Rico. It has been an honor and honor for my family, to have you and enjoy your friendship and I hope that, in the same way that we communicated wherever we were, we continue to communicate, now more spiritually.
Summarizing, Saint Thomas Aquinas said about friendship that, in addition to affinity, it is empathy that makes us put ourselves in the other’s place and get to feel what our friend feels.
As an organizer and promoter, with the personal and voluntary contribution of the town, you modified our, today, beautiful church of Aldeaseca de la Frontera, for the enjoyment of all, revealing its Romanesque-Mudejar style and splendor and other objects of great value.
When my wife and I accompanied you to celebrate mass for those towns of God, especially for the towns of Ledesma, we observed with satisfaction your selfless pastoral work and human dedication in towns with churches whose structure was more like haystacks. And when we made negative comments about the construction and the inappropriateness of the place, for us, you answered with certainty that, to celebrate the Eucharist, God has no architectural preferences. And before this reasoning we were silent and reflected convinced before the power of reason.
When we visited you at the Casa de la Iglesia (Calatrava), we saw with sadness and pain your progressive seriousness, despite having followed your illness from the beginning. And at the end of the visit, as if by way of farewell, you confessed to us with faith, integrity, firmness and strength, that you were offering your illness to God for your forgiveness and salvation. It was an unforgettable teaching that we will remember and try to follow. You will always be with us.
Goodbye, Angel friend! Now that you are close to the One to whom you offered your illness, intercede for all of us.
Francis Garcia Sanchez