In Guatemala, Father José Pérez carries out his missionary service with young people, helping them learn about missionary life and discern the specific vocation to which God calls them.
When I arrived in Guatemala in November 2022, I was assigned to Casa Comboni, a community for missionary and vocational promotion, where there is also a centre that organises training courses on current topics for parish leaders.
I am somewhat involved in all this work, but I was asked in particular to focus my service on vocational promotion and since then I have been accompanying young Guatemalans who want to become missionaries.
It is always nice to work with young people, even if it requires a lot of patience because you don’t always see the results right away. When I am with them, sometimes I fear that I will not be able to understand which path they will take, but I also know that my close presence can help them a lot, and this encourages me.
An important part of my work consists of visiting parishes, youth groups and schools, but also participating in vocation exhibitions, which are ecclesial meetings in which young people can learn about the many specific vocations offered by the Church to live a Christian commitment, including religious and missionary life.
We usually go with men and women from different congregations to introduce ourselves and I, as a Comboni missionary, always speak about the missionary charism ad gentes, that is, beyond borders. The vocational exhibitions are an excellent opportunity to meet young people and invite them to participate in the retreats that we organise every first weekend of the month.
During my visits, I meet and talk to many young people, but the reality is that very few respond positively to the invitation to participate in the retreats, and even fewer are those who are encouraged to enter into a more personalised process of accompaniment and vocational discernment.
In these three years, I have realised that Guatemalans, and perhaps Latin Americans in general, are very rooted in their family and in their country, so when we tell young people that our charism requires them to leave their country for long periods of their life, to learn other languages, to live in different cultures and to do so with an open mind, they gradually distance themselves.
It doesn’t matter; even if there are only a few candidates for the missionary lifestyle that I propose to them, all those who participate in the retreats receive a human and Christian formation that I am sure will help them in their lives.
During the year, we have two or three mission camps with young people. They take place at Christmas and Easter, but also during Lent, which are liturgical times lived very intensely in Guatemala. We usually go to our parish of San Luis de Petén, in the north of the country, and invite young people to join the Christian communities.
Not only do they participate in religious ceremonies, but they also visit the sick and organise meetings with local young people. Knowing the Comboni community present in the parish, they show that we Comboni Missionaries are of different nationalities and that we work with a marked missionary style. As a vocation’s promoter, I attach great importance to the ability to listen and empathy, human attitudes that allow us to put ourselves in the shoes of other and understand what they are going through.
Every young person is different from the other and we must be very patient, give them time and not jump to conclusions too quickly. If all goes well, this year three young Guatemalans whom I accompany will be able to enter the Comboni postulancy in Costa Rica: José, Julio and Nelson. Each of them is different, but they have all had a great journey. José comes from a very simple family. He left school to help in the family business, a small fruit and vegetable shop.
One day he said to me, “I want to be like you,” and I was surprised. When I asked him what he meant, he told me that he really wanted to help people and talk to them about the Word of God, but he knew he didn’t have the necessary preparation and that his family didn’t have the resources to help him with his studies. We started a journey together, I spoke with his family and, in the end, he managed to combine work with his studies.
Now he is about to get his university entrance qualification. Although Julio and Nelson come from different cities, it is curious that they are both studying to become accountants. Julio lives in Retalhuléu and Nelson in Alotenango, two departments far from the capital, which does not prevent them from socializing. Julio finds it easy to interact with others, he is restless and quite religious.
Nelson is very playful, and jovial and knows how to look on the bright side of everything, which is no small quality. I regularly visit their families and spend days with them to get to know them and for them to get to know me. May they move forward with faith and hope today, overcoming all difficulties and may they become good missionaries tomorrow.
