Now that you have Carlos there with you, Bobiscum, let’s see if we can adjust the atmosphere of the apartment a bit. There are a few things that need to be improved; things can always be improved. There are always things to improve. Both individuals and groups can always be improved. There are few of us who are not in need of improvement. There are few of us, yes. But not for any particular reason, just because we are impossible. Not for any other reason, but yes.

So, there in the apartment... Let's see if we will not allow, we cannot allow, for example, that in Burgos there is a better environment than the one we have in the apartment in Murcia. Until now, you were a bit spiritually neglected, but now you will be very well cared for, at least for two or three days, because Carlos will soon go to Valencia. But let's imagine that it will be for a longer time, right, Juan Dí?

So, in my apartment in Murcia, there are some little defects that are, let's say, congenital, and that are already, well, what do you call it? Those symptoms of illnesses that are very peculiar to a country or a region or a... person, a sickness, a syndrome that is very characteristic, I don't know what you call that, I can't remember the word. Anyway, certain illnesses that are typical of the apartment in Murcia and have always happened there, there has always been that, right? And it is very difficult to put an end to it, but it can be done.

For example, the apartment in Murcia has always been a bit like Kika's House, right? Kika's House, which in Christian terms is the quica’s house. One person comes in, another goes out, another goes out, another comes in. There is disorder, the children arrive at different times in the afternoon, they arrive late and late, right? Late and late, and one arrives at one hour, the other at another, and punctuality is an issue, and the one who does arrive feels like talking. Those who are already studying are studying, but the one who has just arrived wants to talk. And of course, there is a little conversation, then silence returns, and as soon as it is quiet another person arrives. In short, a little chaos has always existed there, even when I was there, to be honest. Let's see if we can bring a little order to all of that.

Really, where is my film? I don't see it. Where is it? I was in the chapel. Where is it? Yes, I was praying. I was praying. Lower your guide and raise it. Did you do it? I fell asleep. My goodness, at least I realized it now. Does it taste like me? Matisse, and who is that man? Suddenly it tastes less to him. Goodness. A tiger moves here and it tastes less to him. What happened to me is like Leone, that thing from the ministry. Don’t you know about the lions from the ministry? No, how was it? Well, since these socialists have so much bureaucracy and so many employees, two lions escaped from the zoo, right? Have you found it? Where were you? In the booth. My goodness, son of... I love that you are so devout. But how were you? With fervor? What fervor!

Two lions escaped from the zoo, right? And of course, right away the police are mobilized, the trackers are mobilized, everyone is mobilized. And they said, "Well, the best thing is that we split up, so it will be harder for them to find us, let's each go our own way. How about we meet here again a year from today?" one says to the other. "Alright, agreed," the other replies.

Well, nothing, they go their separate ways, so that everyone can find them and at the end of the year they meet again there in the same place. One of them came back thin, thin, thin, gaunt, right? More than a lion, it looked, well, I don’t know, like a cat that had been locked up without food for two months straight. And yet the other came back very fat, with a full belly, shiny, beautiful, round, spherical, even its mane was shinier.

"Boy, but what happened to you?" the fat one says to the skinny one. "Be quiet, don't talk to me, I'm pursued everywhere, harassed. I don't know, I can't eat, the garbage bins, right away they come after me again. When I appear, I cause terror, they scream, they shriek, I have to run away. Madness is forbidden, I'm going to go back to the zoo. There at least they used to feed me." "But listen, you, you're so chubby and shiny," the skinny one says to the fat one. "Be quiet," he says, "I've found my fix." "What do you mean?" "Yes, man, yes, I've joined the ministry. And there I joined the mixed societies, I got into the archives and every day I eat three or four employees." "And that's how you’ve ended up like this?" "But, if anyone realizes... the thing is, there are so many, nobody misses them. Nobody misses them. No one notices."

Well yes, there in the apartment in Murcia there have always been some of those little congenital defects, always the same ones, which I think should be dealt with, right? They should be addressed with a bit of seriousness, the defect, like studying, punctuality, silence, and so on. Then, since I am here far away and you all come on weekends and then what happens and this and that, the talks, I think you should be especially careful not to miss the weekly talk and weekly confession under any circumstances. Under no circumstances. The weekly talk and the weekly confession are practices of the plan of life that are almost sacred. I think they are as important as Mass. I don’t think they are less important because the truth is you can’t skip them. At least in that sense, they are equally important. You can’t skip them. For example, I don’t like to miss my appointment for my weekly confession. It’s true that now, thinking it through, because Don José left, then Don Manuel left, and I don’t know.

When Don José used to come from Abanilla on Mondays, I was pleased because every Monday I liked to confess to Don José and have many chats, tell him about my personal little battles, and it made me very happy. And for nothing in the world would I have missed my Monday confession, for nothing in the world. For nothing in the world. Then Don José left and Don Manuel came, thank goodness. And I also kept confessing, already out of habit, on Mondays. I liked confessing to Don Manuel on Mondays. Just to keep on with... I am a man of habits, a man of routines. Don Manuel left, and then I had to confess as I could with Juan Andrés, then these others came and things got a bit harder, but in the end, the truth is that I don't like to miss my weekly confession, my weekly little talk. I don't like it.

I would ask you to do the same, not to like missing that appointment which is so important. For that, it is very good to do what I used to do, to have a set day. To have a set day each week as we did in ancient times, right? Do you remember that? When people had their fixed day every week for confession and spiritual talk. Of course, apart from that, if on a special day someone feels a bit... a bit uneasy in conscience or whatever, one can always go to confession whenever they want, even if it is not the day for their talk or confession.

But that is something extra. As something habitual and ordinary, conversation is managed, weekly confession, on a day already specially designated, so that it is not forgotten. The habit is formed, and each person should see which day suits them best. A day that might be very convenient for you could be Saturday, the weekend, or Sunday. I mention this because those days might be easier, since you would even have more free time, because you are not coming from class late. When you come in the afternoon, there is reading, prayer, and you still have to study, and so on.

Each person can now make their own arrangements and have their conversation. Now that you have Carlos there, I think it's great; you have the possibility to talk with him, to go to confession, and you can also do this here on the weekends. At least as long as Carlos does not go to Valencia, you can have the conversation perfectly with him. You should always aim, as a normal thing and while it is possible, to have these conversations with them rather than with me. While it is possible, I mean, while they are here; when they are not here, then you will have to have them with me—what else can we do? But while they are here, you know I like you to do it with them, for many reasons, which almost all of us know. They are priests, you love them very much, they know you well, and they will do a great job. The director contributes a lot to the conversation, but the one who does the most is the person being guided. There is a saying that when God does not want it, not even the saints can do it. No matter how good the director is, if the person being guided does not truly want to be good, then nothing can be done.

On the other hand, when the person being guided wants to be good, and is therefore sincere, he tells everything that happens to him, he says what is going on, and since more or less all of us know what we have to do, right? Because the director is never going to give us any magical or wonderful formula unknown to us, for example, how to get top marks in every subject, even without having to study. No, what the director is going to tell us, we already know. He is going to say: "Well, study more, put in more effort, make better use of your time, don’t be so lazy," and so on.

The one being guided is, let’s say, the one who leads the conversation. If the one being guided, for example, does not want to be sincere, then we are lost. The director could go to great lengths, could be cleverer than Carracuca or holier than whoever you like, but he will achieve nothing. Nothing can be done. The words are chosen and led by the one being guided.

Well, regarding setting the date, naturally, it is advisable to discuss this with the person who will be giving the talk so that you can come to a mutual agreement, because perhaps I say, "Well, I am going to do it on Monday," and it turns out that Monday is not possible. So let’s talk about it and come to an agreement. But I repeat, my children, this is very important. Very important.

Another custom, which is not really a custom, but rather the result, the consequence of a very important practice in the plan of life, which is poverty, and which is being lost among you in the Murcia residence, is the practice of the expense account. In Hamburg, it is done regularly, but in Murcia, the expense account is not kept. Nowadays, everyone gives their little talk and handed in their expense account, or else they submitted it separately from the talk. For example, on weekends, on Sunday for example, the expense account was submitted. Everyone turned in their expense account. Well, if I like, in reality, I don’t have many expenses during the week. Basically, two or three coffees a day that I have, a beer from time to time, then a treat with someone, then whatever comes up with someone else, then this and then that.

Even if it is the smallest amount, even if it is a cent, even if it is a peseta, we must record in our expense account both the income and the outgoings. I imagine that there are expense account forms in Murcia. I happen to have some expense account forms myself, just as I suppose people also have their life plan forms, because now when the month starts, no one asks me for life plan forms, but I suppose it is because there are some around here. If not, there must also be forms, and if there aren’t, I have some, or if not, they can be made at the print shop. In the letters, when Andrés and López tell me that they have already made life plan forms, but in English, and they give the classrooms from the guide the life plan in English. Well, for now, we still have them in Spanish.

Very well, and also that of keeping to the plan of life with great fidelity, even if it is just a single peseta, both income and expenses. And nothing of “miscellaneous, miscellaneous 200 pesetas.” And this miscellaneous, what is that? Well, this, “well you see, thank you, one night I went to the movies.” Listen, if you went to the movies, that is not miscellaneous. It does not mean that there were several of us going. I paid for my ticket and they paid for theirs. “That’s why I put miscellaneous, so as not to make it too long, instead of writing ‘we went to the movies’, I just put miscellaneous.” Well, stop making up stories and don’t use tricks.

And then, also remembering that extraordinary expenses, extraordinary means those that go beyond the ordinary, are not the normal things we already have permission to do. The little expense for the bus we take every day to go to school, things like that. Buying a Volvo is not extraordinary, is it? Come on, man, just because I didn’t buy a Volvo, that doesn’t mean it’s not an extraordinary expense. No, no, no. An extraordinary expense is anything that goes beyond the usual. So, we must ask for permission.

From time to time, I am a little amazed because people say to me: "Do you know that so-and-so has bought I don't know what?" Well, I didn't know, and it surprises me that I didn't, because they haven't told me anything. Or, "Do you know that so-and-so has bought some pants for I don't know how much?" Well, I didn't know that either, goodness. All these little things are called ordinary expenses. I repeat, these are the things that happen every day, that are normal and routine, and for which we already have permission. We are not going to be constantly asking for permission, because that would be very annoying. For example, it is not necessary to ask for permission every day to spend, I don't know, a certain amount of money on the bus; that is already understood.

Now I am going to buy myself, for example, some pants, or I am going to buy a pen because it is not common for me to buy pens. I am not buying pens every day. There are people who seem to eat them or systematically lose them, they have organized a whole system of losing pens and need a new pen every day. Well then, what that person should do is correct the bad habit of losing pens, and keeping track of expenses will help a lot because, of course, when the director of expenses sees entries like: Monday, for a pen, five duros; Tuesday, for a pen, five duros; Wednesday, for a pen, five duros. "Kid, do you eat pens or what? What do you do with the pens?"

Well, so, that custom should not be lost. And since today is Saturday and tomorrow is Sunday, well, tomorrow let’s see if we hand out an expense report to everyone. Me, my expenses, whether big or small, I don’t use expense reports, but that’s because all my expenses always, without exception, go into the account book. For example, if I buy myself toothpaste, maybe it’s 100 pesetas, “personal cleanliness or personal hygiene for the father, 100 pesetas.” The truth is, since I never go out, I don’t smoke, so none of that. For example, if I go to Valencia, I spend 3,000 pesetas on gasoline, “gasoline and trip to Valencia, 3,000 pesetas.” If we have breakfast there at El Corte Inglés or wherever, or at the Continente, we take note, “breakfast,” and everything gets written down, right?

All my expenses, whether large or small, are always completely recorded. That is always, always, always, always. If I give the lame man or the parking attendant five duros, "tip for the parking attendant, five duros," whatever it may be. And it is recorded in the account book. But since you are not each going to write down your things in the account book, because that would be a mess, that is why you have your own little expense account, which is weekly. At the end of the week, it is carefully turned in. You must not crumple it up and swallow it as a way of life. The expense report is turned in; it is not torn up. I am thinking now, some of you would like to do that, tear it up, tear it up. The expense report is turned in, it is turned in.

I was just now thinking about the plan of life, and I had gotten distracted by something else. The thing is, if we don’t pay attention, we end up neglecting things, neglecting things, neglecting things, and we start losing our good and healthy habits. And in the end, well, that happens—the house of Kika becomes the house of Kika. And I don't know what else, I mean, I would really like, well, there are many things, but little by little, that in the apartment in Murcia, that atmosphere and that warmth and that joy that exists in the Murcia apartment would grow.

Burgos, honestly, and let’s not pretend otherwise, well, in the apartment in Burgos, of course, it’s the same as the apartment in Murcia. Look, if we say that the best people are in the Burgos apartment and the worst are in Murcia, if we start by admitting that, that says very little in our favor. And I wouldn’t call that humility either, I would call that cynicism and shamelessness, because it’s a way of saying, well, with this I’m already justified and I don’t have to make an effort.

It is better to make an effort and say, well, let’s see if we can truly create an environment of affection, cooperation, and mutual help here, where no one cheats another. There are those who withdraw into their own world and nothing can get them out, and there are those who always have to do everything. It is one thing for things to be organized, for example, for it to be decided who goes to the post office and who does not, who does the shopping and who does not. All of this should be organized, organized very well, and not left to chance or improvisation, or for the first person who arrives to do it, or for it to always be the same person, because then that one person ends up carrying the whole burden.

That must be perfectly organized, but that does not prevent each person from trying to help their brothers and lend a hand wherever possible. This is important. Next, the care of the house. Now come the classifications: you might leave the radiators on at night, with the consequent danger, loss of money, and so on. There is always a strong emphasis on taking care of the equipment, and it seems to me that the technicians also focus on this. Care of the equipment, although you already do it very well, you can still do it better, at least that’s how it seems to me.

For example, leaving a video running for five minutes without need seems important to me. If it has to stay on for six hours straight out of necessity, well, that’s different, but leaving it on for five minutes without need seems really foolish to me. A device that is on without necessity should not be. If I turn it off right away, if I’m just going for a walk, I’ll be right back and I turn it off. If I have already planned it, I will turn it off. If later I’m the one who turns it off because, of course, it doesn’t get turned off, and I turn it off because it has already stopped, then it lasts much less. Well, it still works, as Antonio says, it’s like revving up a car. You give a car a big rev and the car won’t break down right away and it keeps working, but you know you take off 20,000 kilometers from its life. So these things, well, if I’m finished, now I go there, do that, I’ll be right back and turn it off.

If you have finished with the same hands with which you took the tape out of the video player, because you have finished, you pressed the eject button and the tape came out, with those same hands, without moving them away from the device, press the button and turn it off. And that's it, go to that table and then come back to turn it off again. No, come on, no, right there, you're already there, you’re already there, you don’t have to go back, just turn it off. Not even for a second does it need to stay on longer than necessary. The necessary time, yes, but not more than necessary. Otherwise, you forget and problems happen.

Well, these little things, over there, my children, keep them very much in mind, right? And so many others, don’t you think? I have told Carlicos that since he is there now, I believe he should do as a good father of families and as a good priest, with affection but with clarity, to say the little things from time to time, just as I used to do when I was upstairs, a homily, a brief homily at the afternoon Mass, right? To say Mass in the afternoon? Or when do you say it? In the morning it’s harder to give a homily, because people are very pressed for time. In the afternoon it is easier.

The homily on ordinary days does not have to be very long, really. Well, five minutes, or if it is ten minutes, even better, because you can say what you need in five minutes. And then sometimes, in the morning, with a little meditation and everyone together, as I sometimes did at the apartment, in the morning we would pray together. I would give you a short prayer. Later, that habit was lost and it was reduced to just the meditation on Sundays and feast days.

In any case, that does not worry me, because as far as speaking goes, I believe I have fulfilled that part. My conscience is not troubled for having spoken too little, if anything, it might be for having spoken too much, but not for having spoken too little. Now that he is there, well, in the course of things the life of a community always requires some tightening of screws, as does any community made up of human beings. There are always little things to mention, always things to warn about, always things to readjust, and not because people are bad, but simply because people are just people.

And since we are people and human beings, there are always little things that can be readjusted, that can be improved, and that's when the homily comes in. Also, when we have that great ease, that great gift the Lord has given us, I don’t know how it happens, but the homily... Every day it fits perfectly with the problems of each day. Well, it’s simply a matter of taking the homily of each day and then finding the solution to the problems of the moment from there. Each day has its own problems and its own worries, as the Gospel says. So, each day has its own Gospel and its own solution. Right, Antonio? It seems that the Gospel of the day always fits perfectly with the current problem and with the most suitable solution for that moment. Well, just do it that way.

And so, with affection I say, it is not about attacking people or saying that people are bad. No, people, no matter how good they are, are still people. So, we start to forget things, we fall into routine without realizing it, we forget things, we get caught up in the tracks of routine life, and so, we need to get out of that. And so, that is where affectionate humility comes in, fervent meditation, kind fraternal correction, the very loving warning. And people, well, we correct ourselves and we keep moving forward.

And let’s see if there too that warm atmosphere is created, that feeling of "my children," and that environment we should desire. When you arrive at the apartment in Burgos… well, it’s a pleasure, a real pleasure. So I don’t see why it should be any different here. And as for saying that the worst ones were here, well, I wouldn’t say that, because there are very good people, or at least people who can be very good, and very smart, or who can become that. So, no… It all depends on people getting a move on and getting going.

And I don’t know what else, I believe that’s it, right? Isn’t that so, Antonio? What else? What else? Ah, yes, Alfonso, please, Alfonso, I... These things really scare me, like missing a car insurance payment, or the payment for something—I don’t even know what—the payment for something else... I had already distanced myself from that a bit. But when one of these little things happens... I start worrying again. So I say, my goodness, imagine if this also happens with some car insurance or some other kind of payment and then we end up with a mess. In short, I shouldn’t have to worry about those things, we had already talked about it, we had already said it.

So I don’t have to worry about garage payments, electricity payments, car tax payments, insurance payments, or mortgage payments. Of course, if I’m asked for money, very well, if something has to be paid, money, okay. But I’m not worried about the dates or about when things are due, because I already have enough problems on my mind and that takes a lot of energy away from me, and yes, it makes me worry, right? If something is unpaid for two or three months, pay the months that are owed. And when someone decides things on their own, these things can’t be decided on your own. Because, you know, I thought we were going to give up the garage. That’s like when Antonio decided not to send any more tapes to America because the sound was defective. That’s not right, no, no. These things shouldn’t be decided on your own, but should be discussed. Because there is a better solution, and that is to send tapes.

Without sound defects, and it seems that those in America were more in favor of this latter solution. They supported this last solution more than the first one. I don’t know why these things happen. Well, we don’t have cheap equipment, since the equipment is bought and, in fact, the equipment was bought. Now, it’s another thing if the person in charge at the time, for example, says: "I like the copies they are making, but they are defective, and honestly, I would prefer that you do everything possible so that these copies are not defective." You cannot send defective sound copies to America. That’s right, please take care of it, Father, or see what can be done about it because they are sending them very defective sound copies.

Well, so we have the problem, it is addressed as I had already said. Yes, I know, but things need to be said several times. I too have to say things several times, not just several times, but many times, my friend. Oh Lord, how many times I have to repeat things too! Right?

Alright, that's all for now, and now we are going to go down to pray our Hail Holy Queen to the Virgin Mary. Anyway, well, you and you, just as it happens, that's where you're going. In short, people are eager to be corrected, to be guided, and to be helped to become better. Right, Paquito? That's it. What time is all of this? I know. I need to see what I can do.

Padre Alfonso Gálvez