“If you are truly willing to do whatever it takes, come and follow me”. My skin turned, as we usually say in Mexico, chinita or goosebumps. A shiver shook my whole body, from feet to head.
It was the year 2008. I was in the Holy Hour on Thursdays at a parish in Aguascalientes. I had just told Jesus in my prayer, looking at Him in the Eucharist: “It’s so sad that so many friends don’t know you. I would be willing to do whatever it takes for them to know you”. I wasn’t thinking at all about the vocation. Then I felt that from the monstrance He responded: “Are you really willing to do whatever it takes?” I answered Him: “Yes, whatever it takes”. And then He told me: “If you are truly willing to do whatever it takes, come and follow me”.
FAMILY
I was born on February 10, 1989, in Aguascalientes, into a traditional Catholic family, composed of my parents, my two brothers, and me. From a young age, I was educated in the Catholic faith. Before starting school, my dad led us in prayers that I memorized. We went to Mass every Sunday and sought to go to confession. But religion was not only about receiving, but also about giving. That’s why my parents also instilled in us customs like performing works of mercy, such as, for example, every December 24th, going in the morning to give candies and boots to street children.
My father comes from a traditional Catholic family from Durango. There, instead of saying “Fernández de Castro,” they often said “Fernández de Cristo.” A fundamental part of my dad’s faith transmission came from my grandfather q.e.p.d., a pious man, solid in sacraments and formation. Several generations back, we had a martyr relative, Saint Luis Bátiz Sainz, executed during the Mexican Cristero War.
My mother also comes from a Catholic family, perhaps not always attending sacraments and church regularly, but with attitudes that we can consider very Christian. In this family, there have always been examples of stepping in to help the needs of other family members who are sick or in need, always spontaneously.
My two brothers are older. They have always cared for and protected me. They have taken on many heavy responsibilities in the family over the years, always accepting my vocation without demanding anything from me. My older brother lived many years in China and then in Malaysia, where he met my sister-in-law, an Italian, with whom he has built a beautiful family. He has always taught me many things by example, not only about faith but also about daring adventures with trust in God.
From my second brother, the middle one, I have learned to live with discipline in everyday life, work, and study. What he has set out to do, he has achieved, and he is a great professional. He paid for a portion of my university studies and at various times has taken on my expenses, always generously and without asking for anything in return.
CHILDHOOD
I had the grace to study at a school of the Legionaries of Christ, the Instituto Cumbres Aguascalientes. I remember fondly so many teachers, staff, administrative personnel, and cleaning staff. I learned many things from all of them that make me who I am today. I had great classmates and friends. I enjoyed participating in soccer and in declamation, oratory, and debate contests.
As a child, I said I wanted to be a priest or a policeman. Honestly, I don’t remember why I said that, maybe just because I saw that they were lifestyles with eye-catching uniforms. In fourth grade, there was a contest at school where we had to draw what we wanted to be when we grew up. I drew a priest confessing; it was very ugly, with fins instead of feet, but I won first place. I sensed that perhaps I was given the prize because I had written that I wanted to be a priest, but I just enjoyed the prize without overthinking it.
At home, when I said I wanted to be a priest, I joked that I wouldn’t forgive the sins of the PRI (a major political party in Mexico, to which many of my maternal relatives had belonged, including my great-grandfather, who was governor of Aguascalientes). Even today, they ask me if I will forgive them, and I joke that I am still thinking about it. My great-grandfather found this very funny.
Many people think I behaved well at school, but my teachers could tell many stories. I share some so that those reading these lines see that God calls not the best, but those He wants.
In fourth grade, I was suspended for a day for fighting during recess, while playing soccer, with a classmate. Years later, I don’t remember if it was in first or second grade of secondary school, I gave a “slap” to a teacher (a blow to the head), and when it seemed I would be suspended again, the teacher mercifully told the discipline prefect that a disciplinary report was enough. Also, in third grade of secondary, I received many disciplinary reports for using bad words in class.
In third grade of secondary, my parents took me to a psychologist. At first, I didn’t want to go, but I enjoyed those sessions very much and left saying: “Someday I want to do what she does”.
Today I am infinitely grateful for the patience of my teachers and my parents. Thank you because they never responded to evil with evil, and despite everything, they trusted me. They had to sow for many years, so that later others could harvest.
CONFIRMATION
In the midst of those turbulent years at the disciplinary level, in that difficult puberty, I don’t know why or how, but a few days before my confirmation, I felt in my heart that “something important was going to happen”. In front of others, I was just one more among many approaching to receive the sacrament, but inside me, I had a consciousness that something very important was happening.
During those months, I changed my behavior. From being a student with disciplinary reports, bad words, and too much indiscipline, I became a student with very good behavior and excellent grades. The teachers couldn’t believe it; they asked me what had happened. I never told them, but I always attributed the change in me to my confirmation.
There was an event I have only told a few people. On the night of January 23 to 24, 2004, while I was lying down about to sleep, I believe I heard a voice in my bathroom. I turned off the radio, paid attention, and heard the voice again. It was a soft voice that inspired peace. I got up quickly and went to the bathroom, opened the door, and saw no one. I don’t know why, but I left my room saying: “I saw the Virgin, I saw the Virgin”. My dad ran into the room. Honestly, I don’t remember seeing her. I don’t know what happened. I only remember that the voice was sweet, that it spoke to me, and gave me peace. Almost twenty years have passed, and I haven’t deciphered what those words meant. I am not saying the Virgin appeared; only God knows. The only thing I am trying to understand is why I had that experience, even if it was just mental.
After these two events, I began to integrate into a youth group of Regnum Christi, led by Legionary priests. From the beginning, I found great fulfillment in this group, where there were prayer activities, fun, formation, and apostolate. Little by little, the parents trusted me more and asked me to lead teams and apostolates like the Holy Week missions. Those challenges helped strengthen my self-esteem and realize that living the Gospel through works of apostolate is something that fills the heart.
A very special experience was in 2005, the first year I went on Holy Week missions. I remember that Holy Thursday in Aquixtla, Puebla. The town had the tradition that after the Mass of the Last Supper, a kind of wooden bars was placed in the atrium symbolizing a prison, with Jesus imprisoned inside, with His crown of thorns. At the back of the atrium, there were crosses and crowns of thorns, and the idea was for each person to take a cross and a crown and kneel to accompany Jesus, obviously without hurting themselves. They played music from Mel Gibson’s The Passion in the background. I remember I stayed kneeling for several minutes, in what was my first heart-to-heart dialogue with Jesus.
The next day, I had to walk a six-hour Stations of the Cross under the sun, through all the communities. Honestly, I was already tired of those days, and I said to God in my heart: “I am tired. Why do you want this now if I have already given you so much?” Amid my complaints, I began the Stations. A few minutes later, I realized that an elderly woman, barefoot and with sore feet, was walking in front of me. She was singing and praying fervently. I realized I couldn’t complain. That day, I learned that when you are tired of the path of faith or life, you need to lift your gaze from your own navel and find people who have more reasons to stop but keep walking.
COLLEGE CAREER
After finishing high school, I decided to study pedagogy, like my middle brother. I wanted to “work with people, not things,” and I was interested in what my brother was doing. I visualized helping children and young people grow, and I thought that in the future, I could open a school or university with my brother. I enrolled at the Universidad Panamericana, of the Opus Dei.
CALLED
Six months later, in January 2008, I attended a youth retreat in Chapala, Jalisco. It was a beautiful house overlooking the lake. About 100 young people from various parts of Mexico participated. I can say that I had beautiful dialogues with God and with Mary there.
I returned from the retreat the day before starting my second semester at university. I went to buy a notebook, and while at a traffic light, this thought came to me: “Rodrigo, you have been very happy these days. And now, what more?”.
During those days, I realized that God was knocking on the door of my heart and from outside He was telling me: “Rodrigo, I want something more from you”. I was afraid to open the door; I sensed that He might ask for my whole life. So I ignored it. I told myself that maybe it was just the excitement from the retreat. I continued my life as usual.
Two months later, I went for the fourth consecutive year to Holy Week missions with Regnum Christi. Again, a great experience alongside my friends. There, I felt again that God was knocking on my heart’s door and asking for something more. He, always respectful, did not force the door but waited for me to open it. But I told myself again that it was just the emotions of the missions, and I didn’t delve deeper into it.
One month later, I went with my friends to the Youth and Family Encounter of Regnum Christi in Monterrey. There, I heard incredible testimonies from people of all kinds, from artists and soccer players to the official photographer of four popes and a bishop from a persecuted area. Again, I felt that God was knocking on my heart’s door and asking for something more.
Returning to Aguascalientes, I couldn’t take it anymore. I decided to talk about it with one of the Legionary priests who was my spiritual director. Since I was afraid to tell him in person, I first wrote him an email. I remember he responded the same day and told me to be at peace, that he would help me discover what God was asking of me. He shared with me a phrase from Benedict XVI that has accompanied me throughout my life: “Do not be afraid of Christ. He takes nothing away and gives everything”.
From then on, I intensified prayer, the sacraments, and spiritual accompaniment. I tried to pray daily before work and before sleeping. I attended Mass not only on Sundays but also on some weekdays, always in secret because I was ashamed for others to find out. I sought to live in a life of grace and to receive Holy Communion more often. Along with that, I maintained regular spiritual direction. I can say that this was what helped me discover what God was asking of me.
Gradually, I understood that that “something more” God was asking for was to become a Legionary priest. Now I say it easily, but at the time it was difficult; it was a process of gradual interior illumination and, above all, of embracing what I saw with my intelligence.
SOME STORIES FROM THESE MONTHS
It’s curious how, when one is in that process, they ask God for signs. God usually doesn’t give signs so obvious because perhaps He would be forcing us, and mainly because He wants our decision to be free and out of love. However, even though at that moment I didn’t feel they were signs, after these years I can see some. Here I share a few of them.
One day, during my cousin’s First Communion, a cousin my age asked me: “Rodrigo, have you ever thought about becoming a priest? I don’t know why I thought of asking you this.” Nervously, I told him no, but that if God called me, I would consider it. The same question was asked to me one day by another friend’s mother. Inside, I told God: “Take it slower”.
On another occasion, during Mass, the microphone failed after the consecration. The priest was already elderly and went to the ambo to continue the Mass, leaving the host and wine, already consecrated, on the altar. My gaze fixed on the empty altar, then turned to the elderly priest, while these words came to my mind: “Rodrigo, who will replace this priest when he dies?”.
One Sunday, I arrived at Sunday Mass and was struck to see the priest leaving after the 11 o’clock Mass. He finished the procession, wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, and turned around, ready to start the 12 o’clock Mass. These words came to my mind: “Rodrigo, there aren’t enough priests; more are needed”.
Every time I experienced this, I felt something inside me, like a call, but sometimes I didn’t want to see it or I wanted more signs.
When I finally discovered that God did want me as a Legionary priest, another problem arose. Leave university halfway? And what if one day I leave and see that I don’t want to continue? Inside, I felt that God was asking me to trust, telling me: “Rodrigo, if you’re going to do this, you have to abandon yourself with trust in Me”. I understood it, but it was very hard for me.
At that moment, one day, while I was in the parish, waiting in line to confess, an older person approached me and handed me a little paper with a message. I never knew who it was or why they gave it to me, but it was what I needed to hear. That Rodrigo, afraid to abandon himself to God, afraid to leave his career halfway, received this Message from Jesus:
“Why do you get confused and upset about the problems of life? Leave the care of all your things to Me, and everything will go better… When you abandon yourself in Me, everything will be resolved peacefully, according to My plans. Do not despair, do not pray to Me anxiously, as if you
