This personal testimony was given by Javier Prado Aránguiz sscc on 11 June 2020, feast day of the Apostle St. Barnabas, just twelve days before his death in the Provincial House infirmary, Santiago, Chile.
In January, 2020 our brother Bishop Javier Prado Aránguiz sscc joined the Provincial House community in Santiago, Chile, moving into the infirmary. At 91 years of age, he has come to terms with the fragility of this final stage of his life, still able to smile in the midst of the pains that come from his illness.
Confinement has deprived him, for the time being, of being able to meet his newborn great-great nephew. In his reflections on what is happening in the world, he considers it fundamental that we unite and help each other. He hopes that signs of solidarity and fraternity will emerge throughout the planet. He is excited about the Episcopal ordination of Sergio Pérez de Arce sscc, to whom he has given one of his mitres.
Pope Francisco - an earthquake
Javier dreams of a Church that is closer to people and to what they live every day. “We need to take more steps, with greater simplicity and apostolic simplicity. Pope Francis has stirred us up quite a bit. It has been an earthquake," he says, in a quiet but convinced voice. He knows from experience in Chile that ‘a well-managed earthquake means the construction of better cities’
Javier has experienced the Congregation in Chile, Spain, France and Germany. Germany was an opportunity to recollect and pray. About Chile he said that “the Congregation is well loved, although not well understood in Chile. The function of the Congregation is not only education. The Congregation is inserted into the life of the Church which is multiple”. He is confident that after the crisis new vocations will emerge.
A number of saints have inspired his life. During his childhood, he was introduced to two in particular: Father Damien and Brother Eugene Eyraud. “They are childhood loves,” he admits, “that have marked me forever. I went as Bishop Emeritus to Easter Island to see the place where Brother Eugene is buried, who is considered a saint and the day of his anniversary is a feast”. In addition, he is waiting for recognition of the miracle that will bring Esteban Gumucio to the altars. Esteban was his philosophy teacher at the SSCC school in Santiago and he shared his first years of priesthood with him. Javier defines him as a religious “simple, humble, an example”.
Viña del Mar - love at first sight
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Viña del Mar for him was “love at first sight”. From director of the SSCC school in the capital he became Director of the school in Viña del Mar, where he lived happily with the community, the parents and the students. “That is why, as an emeritus, I went to Viña, because of so many links and to lend a hand”. We would say that he lent a very good hand, because he collaborated actively in the Parish of the Assumption of Mary of Achupallas. When the recently deceased and much beloved Sr. María Olga Mardones sscc, was director of the sisters’ SSCC school in Álvarez, Javier went twice a week to that school. Maria Olga often boasted of having ‘a bishop chaplain’. He then went to St. Agnes School, which also belonged to our SSCC sisters, and to their residence for the elderly. He collaborated as spiritual director in the Seminary of Valparaiso and cultivated friendship with the clergy of that diocese of which he was auxiliary bishop. He instilled in the young priests an openness to the reality they see without being tied to situations that can change. He has gave great importance to priestly groups and to fostering priestly fraternity. In the Episcopacy he still maintains a very good relationship with Gonzalo Duarte or Manuel Donoso, as well as with other bishops, like Alejandro Goic, who was his coadjutor in the Diocese of Rancagua, of whom he declares: “Goic is a seven (excellent). A good, deep, simple, spiritual man, a good shepherd”.
Javier still remembers the call of the Nuncio – at that time, Angelo Sodano - who asked to see him at the Nunciature in the winter of 1984. The nuncio said to him: “The Holy Father has thought of you for the Bishop of Iquique”. The bishop-elect replied: “No, you have made a mistake, that is not me”. He asked him to go to the chapel. Then he returned convinced that to say ‘No’ to the Pope was to do him a great wrong. And so he accepted the episcopal appointment.
Javier recalls being actively involved in the life of the Church. In Santiago he participated in FIDE (Federation of Institutions of Private Education). In Valparaiso, he took part in the Eucharistic Congress. Other loves in Javier's life were the dioceses of which he was titular: Iquique and Rancagua. When he arrived in Iquique he only knew Pablo Cerda (brother of Javier Cerda sscc) and a Salesian. There he found a diocese with a lack of clergy. And he became inculturated: “You have to get into the soul of Iquique, know the religious dances and share with the people”. In him, the words of the popular saying were fulfilled: “You arrive in Iquique crying and you leave crying”. He was able to support several projects of the diocese with the help of the German Archdiocese of Paderborn, close to Münster.
Before arriving in Rancagua, he knew part of the diocese, since he had spent his first years of life in the family home of San Vicente de Tagua Tagua, with his parents, Javier and Adriana, and his brother Jorge. “In the crypt of the Rancagua Cathedral there is a space for me,” he says naturally. The now retired bishop of the diocese will rest there. Javier was a great support to the people. Already emeritus, on the occasion of the earthquake of 2010, he returned several times to the diocese to encourage the Christian communities and to show his closeness and support also to their pastors.
Going hand in hand with the brothers to meet the Lord
Javier is reflecting in these days reflects on a text by Esteban Gumucio in which he speaks of his own death:
"Now that I see myself taking my last steps here on earth, I want to rejoice, because Jesus is the Resurrection of children, young people, adult men and women, and also the Resurrection of those of us who are already begging at the King's door. Jesus gives me the joy of living with faith and trust the complementary minutes and the last discounts. Jesus is the coach of the team that is his Church and we are sure of the triumph, because the referee of the match is the Father of Jesus. Between the two of them he has made an arrangement for us to win with the final penalties, which are taken by Jesus himself. They are unbeatable. This is the night when all humankind wins the eternal championship.
“I thought I would live longer with the brothers when I returned to this house... I have no fear of death. I feel it now as a desire for reunion with so many beloved people and with Jesus, above all. I feel that it is beautiful to go to meet the Lord with the helping hand of the brothers”, he confesses, peacefully, in the middle of our conversation.
Javier's presence in the house shows us the simplicity and beauty of our vocation: “to live and die as children of the Sacred Hearts”. Eternal gratitude.
Fernando Cordero sscc
07/02/2020