Faith a Thousand Miles from Home

A member of #MP2 and our favorite blogger this week, Ricky hails from San Antonio, Texas. As a PULSE volunteer, Ricky is working at Our Lady of the Rosary School as well as El Puente, a non-profit seeking to help Latino students achieve academic success and social well-being. Ricky shares his learnings about the need for a constant faith here:

It’s been seven months since I took the leap of faith into a year of service with Marianist PULSE. And in the past seven months so much has occurred; from wonderful things like gaining new relationships in my community and in my work, to very sad times like the loss of my beloved grandmother, Valentina, the matriarch of my family. But one thing for sure that has remained constant and ever present, is my faith. In my blog post today, faith will take various forms— in particular, my faith in family, friends, community and most importantly, God. 

Ricky with his beloved Abuela

My faith has always been a constant in my life. Good or bad, it has always been there. But it wasn’t until this past year that I felt that my faith in an even more present way. My mind immediately goes to the night I got the call that my grandma was passing. Mind you, I had just been home a week prior to say my goodbyes but in my Abuela’s true fashion she put up a fight and held on until she couldn’t any longer. She was a fighter! So the night I got the call, literally a week after I had just been home with my family, I had such a strong feeling of despair; I felt like I had no control, no idea of what to do. But it was also that night when I honestly felt the closest I have ever felt to God.

It was too late that night to purchase a flight immediately, but I had to do something to calm down and come to peace with my thoughts. If this was really the night she was going home, then I prayed she go to God in the most peaceful of ways. With the help of two of my community members, we drove around Dayton looking for an open chapel where I could sit in silence and pray. Looking back, what is crazy to me now is my thinking that I would be alone, because now that I can reflect on that night, I realize that God was there with me the whole time. 

I remember at first just sitting there thinking “What do I do?”  and “How do I go about this?” As I entered the chapel in UD’s Marianist hall, I picked up a rosary, and let me just tell you that I have never been more grateful that I did. I sat there with the rosary and prayed through the five decades until I no longer felt lost or like I had no control. And in truth I was very much in control. I could control the very fact that I was able to put my worries in God’s hands and offer my prayers up to Him and that’s exactly what I did. I was able to reminisce about the great memories I shared with my grandmother, and thank God for the beautiful blessing that she was to me. 

Ricky with fellow PULSEr, Lauren

So, I don’t share this story to make you, the reader, feel sad or bring you down, but I share it as a reminder that no matter where you are, alone or in a crowded room, even thousands of miles from family and friends, the things you will always have are your faith and God by your side. It may sound cliche, but it’s true and you don’t realize it until you find yourself needing to fill a void; a void that can only be filled with prayer and faith in God’s plan. 

So, here’s to a continuous faith-filled journey, where we can all be open channels of love and can meet our daily obstacles with faith in God and his plan.

Con mucho paz y amor,
Ricky