«How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity!», exclaims the psalmist. May the Lord grant that our Society may always offer this consoling spectacle, and it surely will if the charity of Christ, as described by the sublime Apostle of the Nations, governs all relationships among the brothers and makes all its members one heart and one soul.
(Last Will Letter no. 9, Saint Guido Maria Conforti)
My name is Rubén Antonio Macias Sapien, a Xaverian missionary from Guadalajara, Jalisco. I was born into an urban family of eight children, with parents full of faith and love for their children. My father, Rubén Antonio Macias Hermosillo (+), and my mother, Rosa Yolanda Sapien Fuentes, always taught us—through words and example—to live family unity rooted in love, respect, and mutual support.
As eight siblings close in age, we grew up together, accompanying one another under the wise guidance of our parents and their luminous example. They were always a source of unity and love within their families of origin, and they also took part in Church movements where we saw fraternity lived even beyond blood ties, sustained by faith alone.
With deep gratitude to my family, I can say that I grew up witnessing this evangelical reality: fraternity.
At the age of eleven, as I was finishing primary school and felt clearly called to mission through the priesthood, God allowed me to encounter the Xaverian family. There I discovered the possibility of continuing to live that same love, unity, and fraternity with people who were not my family by blood but who shared the same mission: responding to God’s call. I left my family to enter the Xaverian Missionaries’ formation house in San Juan del Río, Querétaro.
Though very young and far from home, I found once again an atmosphere of unity, support, respect, solidarity, and love. Through formation, I discovered that the source of all true love is the Cross of Christ, following the living example of Saint Guido Maria Conforti, who exclaimed at the foot of the crucifix: «This is how one loves!».
Throughout my years of formation, I discovered Christ’s love in prayer, in the teachings of the formators, and especially in community life. I remember one formator saying: «We have been called to this life in order to love, and the measure of that love is always found in the Crucified One».
«Caritas Christi urget nos» (2 Cor 5:14) was the phrase that constantly inspired us, encouraging us to live fraternity through service, generosity, and commitment to the poor and those in need. These were joyful years, because we had discovered the love of Christ that gave meaning to our Xaverian fraternity.
«Never forget that the Apostle of Christ must, like his Divine Master, pass among the people helping everyone, offering loving care, assisting in every need, and spreading heavenly blessings. You will fulfill this sublime mandate if your hearts are always animated by the charity of Christ, who welcomes all and becomes all things to all in order to lead everyone to God».
(January 25, 1907, Parma, Second Circular Letter: FCT 1, 281)
These words describe what motivated me during my formation and led me beyond what I had learned in my family. In Christ I found the reason for my missionary vocation: «To make the world one family in Christ».
In the year 2000, I left my country to proclaim the Gospel in Burundi. There I encountered both a Xaverian community and a country marked by ethnic hatred, war, poverty, and suffering. I realized that what truly mattered were not many words, but simple gestures of love, tenderness, and fraternity.
Even when I personally experienced violence, when our lives were in danger, and when I touched the blood of our Xaverian martyr sisters, the words of Conforti echoed within me: «This is how one loves!».
«Divine charity believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, and triumphs over everything, for it is strong as death, drawing life from the Divine Martyr of Calvary».
(June 20, 1920, Parma – FCT 27, 18)
Dear readers, when one has encountered Christ and allowed His love to guide life, everything becomes an opportunity to love. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ… in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (cf. Rom 8:37–38).
Fraternity centered on Christ has transformed my life and my missionary priesthood, making me a witness of Christ’s love and a promoter of fraternity wherever I am sent.
«What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you» (1 Jn 1:3).
