Testimony of Jorge and Laura
There are people who say that coincidences do not exist. And I think the same. That Jorge and I met was not a matter of chance.
The first time we saw each other was at a gathering organized by the parish. It was the parish of both of us “for all our lives” but until then we had never met and we were already over 30 years old.
Due to life reasons, we did not see each other for 7 years, but on the day of the Immaculate Conception in 2013 we saw each other again at mass in the same parish. Was it a coincidence? I do not think so. I think it was the virgin who intervened to make us coincide. Since then almost 10 years and 2 girls have passed. It was certainly no coincidence.
Being united in faith is something important to us: more than I thought it would be. It is the pillar of our family, and it is the filter through which we have passed any difficult decision that we have had to make.
Jorge welcomed and was welcomed at the FENI, I think even before we got married. But we also try to make life in our current parish: we are part of a group of couples, receiving formation and where there is also space to share dinner and confidences about life and children.
That the Lord is in our midst, I don’t know if it makes marriage easier. We have the same difficulties as any other couple. But knowing that Love unites us, I suppose, gives us the strength to face problems in a different way, to forgive more easily, to give in with a better disposition. We try to read the gospel together every day, to be aware every day of what is the basis on which our alliance is founded.
The education of our daughters is not easy either. We must keep in mind how the topics are treated, how the situations we see on the street are focused, what films we choose and, above all, what example we set. We have moments of tension with them, when we cannot get them to obey or understand the family rules that they must respect and we become desperate. These are complicated moments, which once again lead us to keep the Virgin Mary in mind as her mother, and to ask for her help.
Although they are very little, little by little they learn prayers and every night they pray to “Santaria Ignacia”, as they call Santa Nazaria Ignacia, whom they ask to protect sick children or those who cannot go to school. Let’s hope we are planting a seed that takes strong roots and grows throughout its life.
Many times we feel like we are swimming against the current, when the school families we get along with do not share our devotion, when our brothers and nephews do not go to mass, when no one practices at work. That is precisely why being in various Christian groups makes us feel that we are not alone. I don’t know if I’m being proud when I say that I have the family I’ve always wanted. Although I should rather recognize what I once heard from a priest: we do not form our family, but rather we accept the family that God gives us
