God wanted me to find the church of Fuentes de Carbonero abandoned in 1965, when I was looking for a place of retreat and prayer. While I was walking through the Castilian plateau on a cloudy day, a ray of light illuminated the mica stones that abound in the area and suddenly everything was illuminated and I was very impressed: the church in the middle of that steppe was a true apparition. It was open and empty; it still had the altarpiece and some images; the sacristy with a wooden platform served as a place for me to sleep. I lived there for fifteen days, praying, alone and with great fruits. Seeing that it was a wonderful place, I retired there other times, living in solitude, fasting and praying and sleeping with my sleeping bag in the sacristy.

Since there was a river nearby, I decided to take the brothers of the shantytown with me for a few days in summer so that they could also have a vacation. We had a week of rest, communion and love. I was impressed that while all the houses in the village were destroyed, the only thing left standing in that abandoned village was the church, and a church full of poor people. I told the brothers from the shantytown to gather straw. They went to the field and each family prepared a bed with straw and blankets. It was exciting, like making a movie. Outside, all the houses were in ruins; inside, the church was full of poor people.