What brought Christian Layral, a former drug-addicted partygoer, to Montligeon? Watching this man with a neatly combed white beard pray for hours a day in the basilica, how hard to imagine his journey to conversion.
Christian was born into a farming family in the Aveyron region of France. The nearby plate of Larzac, where hippies of all stripes settled in the 70s, appealed to the young man as soon as he finished school. He dropped all to go and party. He then entered a life disconnected from reality, a partygoer’s life. He believed he will one day find the answer to his quest for identity and the absolute in the hallucinations brought on by all kinds of drugs.
A quick appearance at court for trial brought him to a brutal and forced landing. Prior to his trial, he works in a locksmith’s shop as a mere token of good goodwill. Although, driven by his quest for meaning, he turned to esotericism and devoured books. The best-seller of Henri Vincenot, Les étoiles de Compostelle (not: the stars of Compostela), was a revelation. He decided to walk to Compostela. Upon reaching it, Christian was welcomed by a Spanish schoolteacher who happened to be consecrated. She straightaway realised that this brightly coloured hair young man of 27 was thirsty for God and sent him knocking on the door of the French monasteries.
Christian Layral, the prodigal son, found his Father
He finally settled in the community of the Beatitudes. On the feast of the Nativity of Mary, a confession triggered off a most painful realisation. He realised how much he had made his mother and father suffer, and really felt a tearing in his heart. Then came the flood of tears, followed by utter joy and the answer to all his questions: “This is essentially what we were created for: to love God”. The prodigal son had found his Father.
“I tell myself I’m in the right place to pray for them”.
claims Christian Layral who now lives in Montligeon
Sent first to work at l’Arche to look after disabled people, Christian subsequently spent about ten years to assist an old hemiplegic priest, who shared with him, among other things, his love for the Eucharist. “What matters is to open your heart”. This is what guides Christian from now on: opening his heart to have it filled with the love of God.
After twenty years as a care assistant, I went on retirement. Yet, what will I do? “Pray”, was the answer. His steps led him to Montligeon, where he found he could pray at length. Today, his mission is to pray for the souls in purgatory, and especially for the elderly people he used to look after and who passed away in homes for the elderly. “I keep telling myself that I’m in the right place to pray for them.”
