Meeting A Saint

This is a story about my first memorable encounter with a saint.

This took place at World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid, Spain. To be more exact it happened in a small town called Torrelodones.

It was around noon and 4 friends and I had just finished eating brunch. On our way back to the villa where we were staying, A.C. noticed a church along the way.

After noticing the church, we decided to enter because we haven’t really had a chance to visit any churches during our visit.

We all walked in, and the first thing I remember noticing was the name of the church. St. Ignatius de Loyola. The next thing I noticed was that the church was empty. I was expecting a lot of people since it was during WYD, but I was mistaken. As soon as we walked in we all started to pray as you can see in the picture above. If you can see there are only 4 people in the picture because the 5th person is taking it. His name is R.C.

As we were praying I noticed a flash of light. I knew it was R.C. because he was the only one taking pictures in the church. A few minutes have passed and I noticed that R.C. was missing, but I did not think much of it.

After finishing my prayer I walked to the back of the church and I noticed R.C. coming out of a room and I asked him if there was a washroom there. He replied saying that he just had confession but the priest only spoke in spanish. I also wanted to have confession so R.C. led me to the room.

I was walking towards the room and the first thing I noticed was that R.C. was panicking. Then he asked me if anyone passed by me. I responded with a confused “no”. Then I realized that there was nobody in the confessional. R.C. was very surprised and shocked to see that nobody was there. He even had the idea that there must have been a trap door hidden in the floor. R.C. started freaking out, and he started calling out for the priest. “Padre? Padre? Padre?” is what he was yelling while looking for this priest, inside and outside of the church.

During this time I had no idea what was going on. I was just kinda observing everything. As we walked back into the church R.C. asked me what the church is called. I told him that it is the church of St. Ignatius of Loyola, but I do not think he heard me because he was so confused at the same time.

E.F. came to the back of the church because she noticed all the commotion that was happening.

She started asking R.C. about everything that was happening and she asked him to explain it from the beginning. I remember seeing a silhouette of R.C. and E.F. hugging in front of a cross hanging on the wall of the confessional.

After all the explaining we started walking towards the front of the church along the left wall. E.F. then asked R.C. about the appearance of the priest asking him “What did he look like?”

He was wearing a white stole. He was balding and had a beard. As we were walking towards the front of the church R.C. noticed a statue of St. Ignatius at the front of the church.

We stopped…

He pointed at the statue…

“THAT’S THE GUY! THAT’S THE GUY I HAD CONFESSION WITH!”

He just had confession with a saint.

We started freaking out. We immediately started to pray again. R.C. was crying and E.F was excited. I was just simply amazed. It was so funny because R.C. was so excited to do his penance and we were all in such awe.

Maybe around 5 minutes passed, and R.C. got up and sat beside A.C. and I remember seeing A.C. just rest her head on R.C.’s shoulder without really realizing that he was there.

After praying, I got up and just stood outside the church, simply waiting in awe of what just happened. Eventually E.F. and the last friend M.I. got up and met with me in the back.

It was so funny because M.I. was asking about everything and we simply just told him that R.C. met St. Ignatius.

A few minutes passed and the bells of the church started ringing. And it was ringing for about 15 minutes. R.C. and A.C. then followed us in the back of the church. E.F. pulled R.C. to the side and wanted to show him a picture of St. Ignatius on the side of the school which was beside the church.

This part will always get me.

R.C. responded with such confusion. He was getting upset with us as we were explaining what happened in the past 20 minutes. He thought we were making up a story because he only remembers his initial prayer when he knelt in the back of the church, then falling asleep and waking up beside A.C.

He could not remember anything that happened in between. He was in so much doubt that I had to show him the picture that he took of us praying. I believe God allowed us to have this picture that I am sharing with you as proof of this story.

To this day he still cannot remember what happened in August 2011.

God used R.C. that day as a tool to speak to E.F., A.C. and I. I initiated R.C. to go back into the room. E.F. comforted him and A.C. explained everything.

As A.C. was explaining everything, I remember them sharing with me something that happened during the explanation. As A.C. was processing everything, R.C. was glaring at the statue of Jesus, and as soon as A.C. said a specific phrase, the Jesus statue started to cry, with tears rolling down his face… After this experience we all went home and started researching about who St. Ignatius is.

Every single person in that church that day was facing something very big. Our crosses were very heavy as we entered that church, but our crosses did not become lighter, but we left being stronger.

During this time of my life, I remember praying a lot for God to answer my prayers.  I was discerning to be the East Sector Head of the GTA and I just remember being very scared about accepting a role like this prior to WYD, but after this experience, with the theme of that year being “the full armour of God”, and learning more about St. Ignatius and how he is the patron saint of catholic soldiers, and seeing what God has done for youth all over the world, how could I not say yes to Him.

God truly desires more for me and if it wasn’t for that experience in WYD 2011, I honestly do not know where I would be today.

May this story reignite your faith as it does mine every time I recall it.

Dear Lord, may you continue to bless this community with amazing experiences so that we can share the love that you have given to us. 

St. Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us.