Descending from the eastern Cordillera of Colombia, where the city of Bogotà is found and where I find myself for two years of formation, there is a point on the road in which the view opens up to an endless plain: the eastern Llano.
During my first trip to the Llano with Fr. Carlo Zardin, I was left awestruck before the esplanade that stretched all the way to the horizon: it was like looking at the ocean.
The reason for our descent into the plain, headed towards a small town in the foothills of the Cordillera, was to visit a small community of Communion and Liberation that was the cradle of the Movement in Colombia. Once we got to the village, the tropical warmth became mixed with that of the welcome of the friends of Llanos who invited us that evening for a birthday celebration.
There, I met Pedro, a friend of our friend whose birthday it was. During the evening, he accompanied the folk songs of the region with a harp. The sound of his instrument enchanted me so much that I spoke with him for the rest of the party and, at the end of the evening, I invited him to participate in a retreat that we were about to do with the university students of CL.
After this, Pedro told me of his desire to receive baptism and Fr. Carlo asked me to help prepare him for the sacrament. I began to go down to the Cordillera every month, to meet with Pedro and a small group of young people from the community.
I was able to discover the beauty of accompanying him in listening to that voice and helping him to respond in freedom.
The moments of catechesis with him gave a rhythm to the time that I spent here in Colombia as a seminarian, during the year abroad, and the small town on the plain became a second house for me. Walking with Pedro was not always easy: there were certain circumstances in his life that did not seem to help him. What struck me, however, was that all of these things never reduced his desire to be baptized. Since the time that I met him, our relationship grew even passing through errors and forgiveness, through moments of distraction and memory. His desire, however, continued to flow like a river that crosses the plain to arrive at the sea.
In these months, I was surprised by the tenacity of the voice of God that tenderly continued to call him to Himself through faces and facts. Sustained by the brothers who lived with me, I was able to discover the beauty of accompanying Pedro in listening to that voice and helping him to respond in freedom. For the first time, I had the experience of paternity in recalling him to the happiness that awaits him in the company of the Church. An experience made possible by the paternity of those who were accompanying me in responding to my vocation.
