{"id":19020,"date":"2023-04-29T20:51:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-29T18:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legionariosdecristo.org\/?p=19020"},"modified":"2025-08-12T19:51:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T19:51:05","slug":"testimony-of-p-joel-ruiz-lc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2023\/04\/testimony-of-p-joel-ruiz-lc\/","title":{"rendered":"Testimony of Fr. Joel Ruiz, LC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u201cBless the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name\u201d (Psalm 103:1)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since I was a child, everyone told me I would become a priest, and I liked the idea. Over time, many doubts arose, and I was afraid, so I started to set this idea aside. I remember once, when I was about 18 years old, during a spiritual retreat, a priest told me as we were saying goodbye: \u201cJoel, God is calling you, and you have to answer Him.\u201d Since he said this in front of all the young people with me at the retreat, I blushed and replied: \u201cNo way, nobody\u2019s calling me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I went to university and graduated, but I always carried the thorn that perhaps my vocation was to be a priest. After graduating, I felt stuck, dissatisfied, passing through a desert. Then I thought maybe I wasn\u2019t progressing because God had made me to be a priest, and I was determined to follow another path. I cried over this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At that time, I came into contact with Father Jorge Loring, SJ. I wrote an article citing his book \u201cTo Save You\u201d and sent it to him via email. To my surprise, he responded and told me I had cited his book very well. We exchanged several emails, and finally I told the father that I probably had a vocation but hadn\u2019t responded. The father told me I couldn\u2019t leave the doubt, that I should have a vocational experience, that in his opinion I should take a step toward the priesthood, and that I should contact the Legionaries of Christ, who were good people. I was trembling reading what he told me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I wrote an email to the Legionaries, and that\u2019s how I met Brother Juan Carlos Quintero, LC. After a year and a half of talking with him, he invited me to a gathering at the novitiate in Caracas. From the very first moment, I felt at home. I loved the formality and discipline and, at the same time, the closeness of those living there. The Masses were also impressive. That weekend, I received an invitation to begin the Candidate program, which would start in a few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At that time, I went on a first Friday to confess at a church far from my home; I wanted to be alone. I was very nervous because leaving to become a religious was like starting over; I would have to go back to studying, and I knew the Legionary formation would be long. It was starting from zero at age 28. I asked God for light to do what was right. After confessing, I went to pray before the exposed Blessed Sacrament, and to my surprise, a familiar person approached me to greet me. We spoke quietly for a while in front of Christ. I told him I was doing very well, working, and taking an online Bible course. When I told him this, he looked at me and said: \u201cJoel, if that\u2019s really what you like, why don\u2019t you go to the seminary?\u201d I started to laugh. Clearly, almost shouting, Jesus was telling me to leave the fear behind, that yes, He wanted me to be a priest. (He still wanted me to be a priest!). I have no doubt that Jesus placed that person there that day to speak to me. I left the church with great peace and a joy that filled my chest. I went to the Candidate program. I became a Legionary of Christ, and ten years later, by God\u2019s pure mercy, I was ordained a Deacon. How great and good God has been to me!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cBless the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name\u201d (Psalm 103:1) Since I was a child, everyone told me I would become a priest, and I liked the idea. Over time, many doubts arose, and I was afraid, so I started to set this idea aside. I remember once,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18991,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[732],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-testimonies-2023"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Testimony of Fr. Joel Ruiz, LC - Legionaries of Christ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover Fr. Joel Ruiz&#039;s inspiring journey to priesthood, from doubts to calling, and his path with the Legionaries of Christ.Testimony of Fr. 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