“Walking humbly with the people.”

I met an Irish friar while working as a Civil Engineer in the humanitarian field in El Salvador in 2009. I was trying to live out my Catholic faith by helping bring about a more equitable and fairer world. However, even though I had been doing good work there already, building houses for poor people, I realised that the deep inequalities in the world will never be fixed by humanitarian work alone.

This friar impressed me by the way in which he walked humbly with the people as a brother and was always brimming with joy and spreading it to them. I thought, this is how I want to live my life. I then realized that this is how the Lord’s prayer ‘that they may all be one’ is answered – by spreading the real joy of the Gospel. It is accessible to all, especially the poor – something I was experiencing. 

I entered the Franciscan postulancy in September 2012 after completing the various projects I was working on in El Salvador and I completed my formation, being solemnly professed in Sept 12 of this year (2020). 

The Franciscan spirituality is of joy and fraternal fellowship and I am drawn to accompanying young people on their life journey in this way, giving them the gift of faith in Christ’s love, something that will enable them to become truly alive.