From feeling lost with respect to my beliefs, my vocation and my faith, to being a leader, an animator, a witness and the representative of the youth of an entire continent (America).
From a very young age I was very involved in the parish of St. Anthony Mary Claret, located in Guatemala, thanks to my mother’s desire to instill in me the Catholic faith so that I would develop a belief system aligned to the philosophy of Jesus. In that sense I began at the age of 13 to serve as an altar boy and despite my young age I quickly took much love to the service, and that love was perceived by the community of the parish to which I also took much affection over time.
Later, when I was 18 years old, I started to move away from the Church and the service because I began to have doubts about God and my faith. All these doubts were the result of the noise of the world that bombarded me all the time with different opinions, criticisms and arguments against God and the Catholic Church.
Then with the arrival of the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020, my relationship with God became even weaker, as I did not even routinely go to feed my Spirit of the Word and the Eucharist at Holy Mass due to the quarantine in my country.
During all those years I felt lost, without direction, without clarity, without identity in the spiritual realm and that undoubtedly affected other areas of my life as well, mainly at a personal, emotional, family and work level.
However, God was always present, even if I could not see or hear Him at the time. I voluntarily decided to stay away, but as a good shepherd, He did not forget that I was a lost sheep.
It was not until 2022, when everything began to normalize after the Pandemic, that, out of old habit, we resumed going to Church with my family. One Sunday at the end of one of the celebrations I met a priest (Fr. César Spinoza CMF) who recognized me for my years of service as an altar boy and greeted me. He asked me how I was doing and how my “vocation” was going, I remember that I jokingly answered that I still did not feel the call and he replied: “You cannot leave all the work to God, you have to do your part…”.
At that time, he introduced me to a Claretian brother (Brother Hugo Agrazal CMF) who invited me to a coffee and to begin a process of vocational discernment with the accompaniment of the Claretians. I began the process without expectations, thinking that I had nothing to lose (but I had a lot to gain) and without expecting it and as a result of that first approach of God to me, I accepted soon after, to join the pastoral ministry of proclaimers, which caused me much enthusiasm since it was a service that allowed me to go up to the altar and that reminded me how I felt when I served as an altar boy. Suddenly like a row of dominoes, one thing led to another, and I also began to serve as a confirmation catechist and youth ministry coordinator.
The doubts I had, they began to dissipate, I got answers to several questions and once again I felt how the Spirit was guiding my path and giving me clarity. God through the community (specific people) was guiding me to stay in communion with Him and to “be salt of the earth and light of the world (Mt. 5:13-16)”.
The commitment, the good will and the joy with which he served inspired me to go deeper into the faith and the Church. So much so that I traveled to Portugal to live the WYD (World Youth Day), I supported in the organization of the R+FC 2023 in El Salvador (encounter of young Claretians of my Region) and I went on mission to different missionary positions in my country together with the Claretians.
All this and more made me accept the responsibility of being the representative of Claret Way of my Region (Romero) and later also of the continent of America. Excited, grateful and with God’s help I humbly hope to be a witness from my youth for the building of His Kingdom.
Guatemala City, Guatemala.
November 2024.
