Eloy was born into a family that lived a faith of "social consumption": "We would punctually participate in religious social events such as baptisms, weddings, communions." He notes that, despite living like this, "somehow, I was one of the few in the family who, from time to time, thought about God and sometimes even had my conversations with him without knowing it." That "thread" with God, although it became almost imperceptible in the following yearsIt is my Father's hand that has not let go of me"..
Eloy recalls that, although he had no idea of God, he longed for him under other names: "... he was a man of God, but he had no idea of God.I wanted a marriage for life. I came from a family wounded by many problems: economic, but also personal... and, when I got married, I dreamed of that marriage forever. We got married very young and the problems started early. In an attempt to save the marriage I approached God, but in a conditioned way, thinking 'if I approach You, You will fix this'". The marriage broke up, which further distanced Eloy from God. Eventually, the marriage was declared null and void, although he himself did not expect it..
Between 2013 and 2021, Eloy was in this situation of estrangement from the faith. In 2021, after another marriage, he suffered a second divorce and "I sink completely". At that time, a friend of his gave him the following gift A messenger in the nightby María Vallejo-Nájera. Eloy accepted it "as a courtesy". At his friend's insistence, "I started it, almost out of embarrassment... and finished it in three days.". When he finished it: "I sent a message of thanks to my friend and left for the Cathedral of Santiago. There had been a click inside me.
This same friend introduced him to a priest. Eloy went to confession, after dozens of years, began to have spiritual direction and to attend Mass. "I started going to Mass knowing that was the way. There was something that told me, 'Here is the Lord.' Even though I had no knowledge of the liturgy, of its parts, of what was being represented, there was a force that attracted me."
The conversion stage
Started "a wonderful time", Eloy recalls, "When you convert you have a lot of strength. It is a moment of pure faith. Then come other stages when you have to face your own life and you go through darker periods. But in that first period, you live in such a great way even in spite of the suffering!".
Eloy read other works by María Vallejo-Nágera: From Mary to Mary, Strolling through the sky y Between heaven and earth. In them he read about Perpetual Adoration and asked Avelino, the friend who initiated all this, if there was Adoration in Santiago de Compostela. He told him where there was and he began to attend. Once, he remembers, "While I was before the Blessed Sacrament, I heard the Lord say to me: 'Call the mother of your children and ask for forgiveness. I called her, we met in the church and asked for forgiveness".
Medjugorje
Another of the key points of Eloy's return to faith was his visit to Medjugorje. "I don't like to travel. It terrifies me. And there you see me, going alone to Croatia." Eloy points out. "I went without expectations, just because I felt a call. I went to the church in Tihaljina, where there is an almost life-size image of Our Lady and there, I don't know what happened to me, I was crying the whole Mass. Then someone told me about the 'gift of tears'. I don't know. But what I cried were tears of consolation".
In the Light of the Word
What differentiates the Eloy of today from the Eloy of 2021? "I guess you could say that he's becoming less Eloy and more the Lord, or at least he's trying to be." responds. "To draw near to God implies renouncing ourselves in things... ,and above all, trusting in God".
Eloy, a professional in communication, to which he dedicates his time through Inventa Schoolhas launched In the light of the Word, a movement that has as its mission to evangelize through communication. This project gave rise to the event Nuntiarein which, in a new way, the "rediscover something as important as the Word of God." The first edition was attended by 300 people in person and some 4,000 online. In the Light of the Word goes on "with God's times and it will be what He wills."Eloy concludes.
