Luis David Hernández Cruz is a seminarian from the Diocese of Tabasco, in southeastern Mexico.
"My vocation, I would have to say, did not come about at a specific moment when I said: I have it, I want to be a priest! It was rather the fruit of frequent contact with the Eucharist; there was nothing else I liked more than to be able to be near the altar and that the Holy Mass was my daily strength for my other daily activities.
Like all young people of my age, I was a boy who lived a normal life, wanting to aspire to what the world sells us as something new or to what we are called to, to have a professional career, to be successful at work, to accumulate material goods and to enjoy a certain prestige. All this in order to be what we are prepared for from an early age, to train ourselves to be able to aspire to a similar status.
However, as I came to know many realities of the particular church in my diocese, I also realized the importance of holy priests who can help the people of God. The Eucharist was my spiritual nourishment that helped me to be able to serve others in the various movements or pastorates of my parish and through prayerful discernment I decided that the Lord was calling me to the priesthood and I entered the priesthood of my diocese, where I studied for almost two years, until my arrival in Bidasoa.
My arrival in Bidasoa was unusual, out of the times in which almost everyone usually arrives, but undoubtedly God's timing is perfect and He knows which paths to guide us.
Being here I have been able to see the richness of the Universal Church, I have shared many experiences with my companions and they are moments in which I have enjoyed with the Lord every moment that He gives us.
A curious part of my stay has been, for some time, being the youngest in the seminary, or being able to help the non-Spanish speaking seminarians with language issues when they are learning.
As Jesus teaches us in the Gospel "By this you will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (Jn 13:35) it is in these small moments, which may seem insignificant, that the fraternity of the seminary is born, and in the future the priestly fraternity or the gift of one for the faithful in our respective dioceses".
"All thanks to his great collaboration for the formation of future pastors of the Church in various parts of the world.
I thank all of you for your constant effort and dedication, I ask you not to stop praying for priestly vocations and especially for this community of the Bidasoa International Seminary, which constantly prays for each one of you, with affection and gratitude."
