Foundation of the Community of the Servants of the Living Christ

Foundation of the Community of the Servants of the Living Christ

The founding group of the community of the Servants of the Living Christ

On 14 June 1973, Father Tardif, ill with pulmonary tuberculosis, was transferred to Quebec, Canada, with his family. He was admitted to the hospital, where the doctors told him that maybe after a year of treatment he would be able to go home. During the month of July, five lay people of the Charismatic Renewal prayed for him. And the Lord healed him completely, without any treatment. He returned home full of joy and gratitude. He began to witness in the Renewal prayer groups in Quebec. He received the baptism in the Holy Spirit on 24 September of the same year, the feast of Our Lady of Mercy. Launching his adventure in the Charismatic Renewal.

He returned to Saint-Domingue in July 1974 and was sent by his superior to the parish of Notre-Dame de la Altagracia, in Nagua. And there he began to work on the line of the Charismatic Renewal. He started prayer groups, and months later he began charismatic parish retreats, and gradually in the neighbouring parishes, in response to the invitations of many pastors.

Certain lay people of the parish helped in the preaching of such retreats, first with their testimonies, and then, with the teachings, who were ready to cooperate in the work of evangelisation.

In the following months, a group of twelve people who helped to preach retreats was organised, forming teams of three or four people with Father Tardif. In these twelve people involved in the preaching, he called them friends of Jesus. With the twelve, each Monday evening, Father Tardif gathered them before the Blessed Sacrament in the parish church, asking the Heart of Jesus to bless their ministry and to fill them with his Holy Spirit. And with the hour of prayer, he gave them a formation in preparation for their mission of preaching the Word of God. This can be considered the first seed of the project of forming a charismatic community dedicated to evangelisation.

The prayer of healing

In 1977, Father Tardif was invited to take part in CECAL V in Caracas, Venezuela. With Mrs Mary Armenteros and Evaristo Guzmán, he was invited to bring the healing ministry to the Congress. It was the first time that the Lord had brought them together as a team, and how they were blessed by Him in this ministry. A few months later, in August 1977 [the three] were invited to preach at the ecumenical charismatic Congress of Kansas City. For this team, it was the beginning of its ministry of evangelisation. At this conference, the Lord had opened the door, and they began to receive invitations from several countries of Latin America.

They were then joined by the wife of Evaristo Guzmán, Yolanda. And the retreats multiplied in the following months. It is thanks to this work of evangelisation that there was born, in the heart, the will of the team to found a charismatic community to pursue this difficult apostolate. While preaching at a retreat in Ecuador, after visiting the beautiful church of the Jesuits in Quito, the name of the community that they dreamed of having was received in prophecy. “Servants of the Living Christ” it was called.

After much prayer, much dialogue, and after seeing that in other countries the Lord had raised up charismatic communities, they decided to gather for a three-day retreat in Samaná, praying over the project of the foundation of the evangelisation community and planning little by little what the Lord had placed in their hearts. This retreat, without doubt, was the beginning of the community of the Servants of the Living Christ.

There were eight people who took part in the retreat: Maria Armenteros, Evaristo Guzmán, Yolanda Guzmán, John Fleury, Nidia Fleury, Ana María (Pura) Deogracia, Emenegilda Almánzar and Father Emiliano Tardif.

Bishop Victor Masalles and Maria Sangiovanni

In this retreat, Father Tardif received the following prophecy: “MUCH LOVE, which is capable of making great sacrifices for the beloved.”

This came in response to the anxiety of Eve [Eva], under the great commitment that this implies, in addition to the hard work and the already numerous retreats in the different parts of the Dominican Republic and other countries. This encouraging word of God was placed at the beginning of the statutes of the nascent Community of the Servants of the Living Christ, which was born on 28 November 1982, beginning with eight people, and is now present, with a considerable number of members, in the Dominican Republic, Italy, the United States, Colombia, Spain and Cuba, after having been adopted as an association of the faithful by His Eminence Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus López Rodríguez, Archbishop of Santo Domingo.

Cardinal Rodriguez

Community of the Servants of the Living Christ

The members of the Community of the Living Christ, with more than eighteen houses in the six countries mentioned, this daughter felt that ‘good papa’ Emiliano was the father. Those who had the privilege of having him around daily were able to discover the nature and the merciful face of God. Without doubt, the love of God and of one’s neighbour is the ripe fruit of their daily relationship through prayer, which was for him a true exchange of love.

And seated at the feet of the Beloved, to contemplate, to listen, to learn from Him, one gradually comes to share in the feelings of his divine Heart and can no longer remain the same. In this wonderful exchange, the soul gives to God the poverty of its humanity and receives in return the riches of the heart of God, his very bowels of love, his Holy Spirit.

Father Tardif repeated that whoever took the time to spend time before the Blessed Sacrament could not remain the same person. The real presence of Jesus, risen and living in the sacred Host, transforms little by little everyone seated at his feet. “If you ever let adoration go, the community begins to crumble,” an expression that was a heritage from Father Tardif, was repeated among the members of the Community. Father Emiliano had a great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. He spent long periods in the Chapel of Adoration at the House of the Annunciation or in the various houses of the Community.

Casa de la Anunciación, Living Christ Community among the world

His faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist usually led him to pray for the sick after communion or before the Blessed Sacrament. There were many witnesses that the fruits of the Lord’s response to prayer were evident.

extract from the book ‘a man of God’ (by Maria A. Sangiovanni).