Francis Fernandez-Carvajal - The Day That Changed My Life

THE DAY THAT CHANGED MYLIFE

When APerson Undergoes A Spiritual Conversion

Francis Fernandez Carvajal

Originally published as El Dia que Cambie mi Vida

Copyright @ Ediciones Palabra, S A. Madrid, Spain

English translation copyright @ 2009 Sinag-tala Publishers, 6/F, LoubelBldg., C. Roces Avenue, San Antonio Village 1203 Makati City, Philippines www.sinagtala.com

Cataloging-in-PublicationData Fernandez, Francis

The Day That Changed My Life

Translation of El Dia queCambie mi Vida

1. Christian Life - CatholicAuthors. I. Title

ISBN 971 554 215 9

Translation by MariangelGonzalez and edited by Ardella Crawford of Crawford Editing & Consulting,PA, USA.

Cover art: Bartolome EstebanMurillo (1618-1682)

Conversion of St Paul, (Museo del Prado, Madrid)

Photo Credit: AKG Images

All rights reserved. No part of this book may bereproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the priorpermission of the publisher.

Contents

Prologue

My editorasked me to write a few lines regarding the origin of these meditations.

All ofthem arose as a result of experiences I have lived throughout the years, whichare so full of events. Here you will find how we unexpectedly saw an eagle flyup in all its majesty from one of the peaks of the Aragonese Pyrenees("Soar Like the Eagles"), how we met with a shepherd, also in thePyrenees, whom we approached to tell him that one of his sheep had been leftbehind with a broken leg ("No One is Lost"), and the story of aconversation I had with a friend, a pilot, who flew a plane during a storm inMadrid ("There is no Turbulence up There").

Otherevents have to do with occasions that are very special to me, such as thecanonization of Saint Josemara Escriv, whom I met and collaborated withduring my stay in Rome and to whom I owe such great things. Many of the ideas,suggestions, and advice that appear in this book are his. His canonizationinspired me to write "A Friend in the Summit." We all know that whensomeone of the group is able to reach the peak of a rocky mountain, he or shewill always be there to lend others a hand. The saints, "up there,"offer us incalculable aid.

Othermeditations arose from some of those readings that leave their mark:"Pointing out the Way," "I Do not Sing Against God,""The Great Swindler."

Andfinally, others were inspired by brief moments of personal prayer or frompreparations for the outlines of the meditations I had to give.

The title,which was suggested to me by Fernando R., a friend, writer and journalist towhom I am deeply grateful, suggests that profound change that happens withinevery person when he meets Christ and agrees to follow Him closely. Althoughinterior life is forged by hundreds of "new beginnings", there is amoment"a stellar day"when we can say that it was this time when itall began. Itwas on the road to Damascus.. ., Saint Paul would say. Close to the second pillar,near the entrance of the choir...during the Christmas of 1886...the toughestwinter day of the year in Paris, claimed Paul Claudel as he recalled hisconversion. When Saint John, the Apostle, he writes in his Gospel, already anold man, he still recalls very vividly that most important day of his life: itwas almostfour in the afternoon when, being still very young, he met the Master. Afterspending the afternoon with Jesus, he decided to follow Him. From that momenton, everything changed. And this is what has happened, generation aftergeneration. Everything changes when Jesus is made present.

The mainreason for putting all these considerations into writing has been the hope ofhelping others to take a new turn in their lives and make them grow closer to Christ, orto give that someone that nudge so that he or she may hurry so as not be leftbehind, lost in the debris of the castle (see Meditation 43, "The Message"), orremind him to carry the message, the Good News, he has received to others.

Finally,my only suggestion to the reader is that he read or meditate on these pages inthe way that Saint Peter of Alcantara recommended:

"Thereading," he writes, "should not be hurried or rushed, but attentiveand peaceful; applying to it not only understanding in order to comprehend whatis being read, but a lot more will to take in what is being understood. Andwhen one finds some devout phrase, stop a while so as to feel it better"(Treaty on Prayer and Meditation, 1, 7).

Porto, July 2002 Madrid, March 2003

1. A Stellar Day

Now as hejourneyed, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashedabout him. And he fell to the ground and heard a voice....

(Acts 9)

The day comes to an end by thesea. Today many important events, human and supernatural, have taken place, andmany of them have passed unnoticed. Perhaps a genius painter has been born;perhaps a priest has influenced the lives of many people in a decisivemanner..., or maybe someone has either begun, or finally finished, a greatwork. Perhaps somewhere a mother has been heroic, and yet no one noticed: heracts have not been registered in any file here on earth, but they have beenrecorded in Heaven. Today, many men and women have given an account of theirlives before God: some of them were full of good works and others, empty; somein grace, others in sin. Today was a crucial moment in their existence.

AnAustrian author of Jewish origin has called these moments "peaks inhistory," whether in the history of a person or of humanity, stellarmoments. The writer looked back and remembered that on Monday, November 23, inthe year 1654, sometime between 10:30 and midnight, a French philosopher namedBlaise Pascal passed through the abyss of doubt as he sat before the fire, andardently embraced the faith. He did so in the words that he would always carrywith him: "God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, God of JesusChrist, not the god of philosophers and wise men. Certainty. Certainty.Feeling. Joy. Peace...."

On thatday, the life of the philosopher changed, as well as the lives of so manyothers whom he influenced.

We canalso think of that Christmas, the Christmas of 1886, "the coldest day ofthe winter and the darkest and rainiest yet in Paris," when a young manentered the Basilica of Notre Dame in order to join in the Christmas services.Through them, he found the inspiration he needed for what he had been writingduring those days. "With this disposition," recounts Claudel, "tightand pushed around by the crowd, I assisted at High Mass, with mediocresentiments. Afterward, since I did not have much to do, I returned to attendthe Vespers. The children of the choir, all dressed in white and the studentsof the small seminar of Saint Nicholas du Cardonet accompanied them. They weresinging what I found out later to be the Magnificat. I was standing in the middle of the crowd, close tothe second pillar beside the choir, on the right hand side of the Sacristy.

"Ithappened then, and the moment has dominated the rest of my life. In an instant,something touched my heart and I believed. I believed, with such force,with so much agitation in my being, with a conviction so strong, with so muchcertainty that there was no place for doubt. After this, all the books, all thereasoning, all the events of my complicated existence have been unable to shakemy faith or, to be honest, touch it (...). How happy are the people whobelieve! And what if it is true? But it is true! God exists, He is there! He isSomeone; He is a Being as personal as I am! He loves me! He calls to me.Tears and sobs came to me and the singing of the Adeste only increased myemotion."

Small,innumerable stories exist within the great Historydays in which a man finds hislost faith, moments of creation, of decisions, of selflessness towards God,events that change one's personal history or History in general. Right now, allof us can remember those stellar moments that have changed our lives. How canone express in words those encounters with God that have changed our existence!Saint Paul will always remember that day in which everything was renewed: On his journey, as he wasnearing Damascus... It is as if he is telling us: There, everythingchanged! Itoo was touched by Christ, he would say later.