My friend, Carlos Seoane, is an Argentian Catholic singer who knows a very special story about an atheist who converted after meeting God by himself… in the darkest of nights.
I would like to share his story here. It’s a really interesting one and maybe particular. Let me translate his story (I’ll try to keep the way he tells it as much as possible). In case you want to have the audio in Spanish where he tells the story, and the song Carlos wrote and that completes the story, you can contact him on Facebook: https://es-la.facebook.com/carlosseoaneargentina/.
“In 1982, there was this war against England for the Falkland [islands]. And this story I’m going to tell you happened there. I learned it when the boys came back. They were in Campo de Mayo; I went with a priest, friend of mine, to visit the boys that came back from war. I met Alejandro there, a boy from El Chaco (TN: an Argentinian province), and he told me this story. He became friends with another boy from the south (TN: of Argentina), from Santa Cruz, whose name was Dario. And they became very good friends. They were very important to each other because… it was a difficult time. They were 18 year-old boys and they were there with a rifle in their hands. But their friendship helped them a lot.
“And… they agreed in almost everything. The only thing they didn’t agree was that Alejandro was a strong believer (TN: in God) and Dario didn’t believe in anything. So, when faith was in the conversation, then conflicts and quarrels appeared because Dario complained to Alejandro that prayed every day. And he said to Alejandro, “Why? Don’t you see that if God existed, we wouldn’t be here in the middle of nothing, with a rifle… killing other people. Does it make any sense to you?” But Alejandro spoke and shared his faith. And Dario sometimes respected him and others they quarreled.
“And one day, they were in the attack to Argentinian port. There, they were… both of them, in a trench… in the same trench, one beside the other. And then it fell down on them, a bomb… they didn’t know what. It fell down next to where Dario was, who was thrown 4 or 5 meters (TN: 13 or 16 feet) away. Alejandro was also injured but in the trench. After some hours, Alejandro could drag himself where his friend was. He was very surprised because the closer he was getting he heard someone like praying… And he never thought that one could be his friend. When he got there, he saw him laying stretched out upwards… and praying… the prayers he heard from Alejandro. And when he [Dario] saw his friend coming, he said, “I need you to forgive me for mocking you, for quarreling when you spoke to me of God. Now, I understand everything.”
“And he [Alejandro] wasn’t able to carry him to the infirmary. They had to wait to be taken [TN: over there]. The two of them went to the infirmary, where they were taken care of…
Finally, Dario past away some days after, but in those days, he was able to tell Alejandro what happened after the explosion. He was laying down looking at the sky, and he couldn’t move around. And there, he remained some hours until his friend arrived. And he told him that during that period he had the experience of encountering a God that loved him. Of finding himself covered by God’s love while looking at that starry sky… he entrusted his heart and his life to God”.
Una Catholic peregrina 