For 25 years she accompanied Father Mario in the construction of his Obra (Work), and by his mandate, she continued it. Restless and creative, a great conversationalist and exquisite storyteller, Aracelis “Perla” Gallardo, was interviewed by Santiago Pont Lezica, director of FM Milenium, 106.7

 ¿How was Father Mario as priest?

One has the idea that the priesthood, as a service to God, is to serve the other. The “other” was Father Mario’s stronghold. For me the most important thing in Father Mario’s personality was his assurance that we were all equal.

When he starts this Work, when his dreams began, did he share them with you?

One day he told me: “Take a paper and write: First of all, I want to do something for the children with disabilities”. Then he wanted to make a medical area for these children, and also for the elderly. He wanted to work for the smallest, the most needy, the old men and women.

When he finished writing, I told him: “Father, what about schools?” Then, Father asked me: “Do you say, lady? Okay, let’s try, let’s go for more!” We started with primary school and then we had to go to secondary school, tertiary school and university.

How did you meet Father Mario?

I knew him because I had cancer. The oncologists told my husband that if I didn’t have surgery the tumor would grow more. Then my husband told me that in Buenos Aires there was a priest who could cure. I answered him that I preferred to stay in Rosario, my mother was dying, Guillermo (my third son) was very young… I didn’t want to move anymore, and even less for a healing cure… But suddenly, the little boy flew out and told me: – “Mommy, I don’t want you to die”. I saw how he was crying, and I decided to go to Buenos Aires to meet this priest.

When I arrived, Maria, a very nice lady whom I told what I had, made me come in. The father bent down in front of a little nun who had a very swollen knee and asked her to wait for him – “because there is a person here, with a hemorrhage”. As he said “person”, he didn’t say “lady”, nor “woman”, I thought he was talking about someone else. But he came up to me and, without looking at me, he put his hand on my belly, without touching me. How did he know it was in the belly? This, which constituted my amazement that day, would be my amazement every day after. I think he had the gift of knowledge and diagnosis

How did you feel at that moment?

The truth is that, after a while, while he was smoking without looking at me, without talking to me, I felt (because women have a lot of experience for that) that the bleeding stopped. So I took his hand and said: – “Father, it’s stopping the bleeding”, and then he answered: – “Isn’t that what you came for?

Then I asked him: – “But how do you do it? God?”.

And he answered: – “Of course, it is He who heals, I am only a guitar, the guitarist is upstairs”.

It is clear to me that he was an instrument; truly, everyone who was healed or not was healed by God, not Father Mario.

Why did he use “Cristo Caminante” (Walking Christ) invocation?

When the bishops asked him why he wanted to use that name if there was no invocation by that name in the Holy Scriptures. Then Father Mario looked at them and told them that Jesus of Nazareth walked among the sick. He walked, of course, there is no invocation, but there will be. Then they suggested to consult the Pope. Father Mario traveled to the Vatican and had a meeting with John Paul II. Many years later, with Father Mario already dead, I was invited to the Father Pio of Pietrelcina’s canonization, who had been Father Mario’s confessor (they were great friends). On that occasion, when I knelt down in front of the Pope, he asked me: “How is Walking Christ? I was then surprised by his memory when I remembered that he himself had placed the invocation of Christ the Walker.

 When do people start coming to this place (González Catán, Buenos Aires)?

They began to come long before the chapel was built and continued to come afterwards.

 Why did Father Mario choose this place?

In the corner where the temple now stands, he felt an inner voice telling him: “Mario, here, this is the place to do the Obra (Work). Looking around and seeing the surrounding poverty, the “ranchs”, the mud, he decided to build a temple. A temple is what one carries inside and meets other temples under one roof. That is the Church, the Church is us and we make it.

What was the process like after Father Mario’s death?

We lost a little support, especially at the top. Because Father Mario could knock any door,: ministries, the government house, any politician, where power was. He knocked and they would always open for him, because his Obra needed to be known by them, they had to know our needs and try to help us. They have to be at the service of the people themselves. They have to serve this people the same as us.

From the moment I entered the Obra, I felt God’s presence and a team at the service of the people

How can’t we be at the service of God if we are at the service of the people! Because each one of us is God, each one of us is a son of God.

You continue working as he thought…

We followed the path he marked out for us. Father Mario instilled in us a deep love for the other within our hearts and we continue to love the other, the other is our destiny.

And what does the Obra need today?

We need food, this is an area where the lack of our daily bread is felt, in some houses there is only one meal a day and sometimes, a bad one. Money is also needed in the Obra because buildings are deteriorating. The sense of those who built them and those of us who are still there is not deteriorating, but we do need support. When we extend a hand to them is because we need something. If we were better human beings, if we felt more of the other, our brother, the paths that lead to God would be better, we would be more united, how difficult!

Perla, what do you feel when you see that this is such a visited place?

Many people come every weekend to the mausoleum. I see them kneeling, they come to pray, to ask… then I come closer, I don´t want to know what they ask for, but I wish them that what they have asked is granted. Father Mario is an intermediary; it is God who will give them an answer.

I don’t want to leave this earth without seeing Father being beatified. Pope Francisco, when he was Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, told me that he could not take care of the process personally but recommended a priest who began working.

And today, do you feel that you have fulfilled what he asked you for the Obra?

He left in his will that Doña Aracelis Gallardo would be in charge of his Obra, more than 20 years ago. I thought, well, I’m not going to die beyond 70-something, like my mother and father and my family, and besides, if I stay, I might forget who I am or I might not remember anything. Well, I’m already 90, and yes, I remember who I am, why I’m here and everything I owe to Father Mario. Life is nothing if there is no spirituality, if there is not something important inside, that is wealth, to feel God inside each one and that all are participants in the same mysterious secret of love for God.