Orlando Antonio Rostrand made his final commitment to the Pius X Secular Institute in Nicaragua on January 5, 2024. Trained as an architect, he lives in Managua. Unfortunately, due to the social situation in the country in recent months, the Institute’s leaders were unable to travel to Managua to preside over the celebration. A priest friend was delegated to officiate at the celebration. On the same occasion, Ms Mérida de la Trinidad Arrieta renewed her commitment as a consecrated woman within our Apostolic Family.
Orlando wrote a few days after her commitment: “More than 12 years ago, I found a website on the internet and that’s how I came across the Pius X Secular Institute. After a period of discernment and getting to know each other, I began the formation process. With Father Henri Roy’s thoughts, I fell more and more in love with the Institute and the more I got to know it and the more I journeyed, the more I painted myself with the colour of the Pius X Secular Institute. Today I am part of this Apostolic Family. Through this consecration, I feel that Jesus has entered like a sword into my heart; it is a renewal, a new baptism, which leads me to live a life project centred on charity towards the poor, to love them, to give myself unconditionally for the common good, not just with words, but with the witness of my life.”
In Cartagena (Colombia), on January 6th, it was Eduardo Santos Ribón Badillo’s turn to say “yes” to Christ. A few days ago, he shared his initial impressions with the Institute: “For me, my first commitment to the Institute means giving a personal response to Jesus, following him more closely in this form of life, the consecrated secular life. It’s a response that commits me to being and continuing to be a witness to God’s love; that’s how I want to follow Jesus closely in the daily tasks of life, in my work as a university professor, continuing to engage in apostolic work with the children and young people of the Santa Maria de la Esperanza Foundation in Villanueva. This commitment means that now my Family is also a whole Institute of consecrated men and women, of associated couples who live the joy of dedication to the poorest. It means trusting in the Providence of God who calls, consecrates and sends.”
During this celebration, Fabián Alonso Rodríguez also renewed his commitment as a consecrated member. A few days earlier, in Popayán, Néstor Landínez and Mónica García made a definitive commitment as an associate couple, while Diego Fernández and Giselle García renewed their commitment and Angélica Fernández made her first commitment as a single associate.
On January 28, in Guatemala, consecrated members Darwin Jiménez and Doris Maribel Lorenzo will renew their commitment. This renewal means that the vocation continues to take root more deeply in the hearts of the members, but also in the midst of a people who are looking for signs of hope for a new seed of peace and justice in the country.
These celebrations in Nicaragua, Colombia and Guatemala are confirmation that our vocation touches men and women, both single and married, who wish to give their whole lives to Christ so that he may be better known, loved and served ! May the Holy Spirit continue to dispose hearts so that the “yes” freely given may be the bearer of fidelity and generosity in order “to renew all things in Christ”.
(The photo shows the commitment of Eduardo Ribón Badillo in Cartagena – Colombia. En segundo plano, José Fernando Paruma and Yezenia Muñoz, regional directors for Colombia.)