Rodolfo José Monsalve Villegas is a priest of the diocese of San Carlos - Cojedes in Venezuela.
""All of us in the family are named after the Holy Patriarch Saint Joseph: my little brother is called José Gabriel, my father Rodolfo José and my mother María Josefa.
My vocation is the fruit of the prayers of many good people, especially my family.
At the age of 13, at the invitation of my mother, I joined the Sacred Heart of Jesus Youth Group. There I deepened in prayer, missionary spirit and fraternity. At the age of 14, seeing the example of some priests and after a vocational talk at a missionary camp, I decided to do a 2-year missionary discernment to see if my vocation was the priesthood; meanwhile I practiced martial arts to grow in discipline.
During this time, the desire to become a priest for the service of others grew.
In the year 2000 I entered the Seminary of Our Lady of Succor in Valencia, where I completed three years of Philosophy; then four years of Theology at the Bidasoa International Seminary, in the city of Pamplona, Navarra.
In 2007 I was ordained a priest, from then on I have served in the seminary, parishes and the Marian and Diocesan Shrine Mother of the Divine Shepherd."
God has given me the opportunity to be formed in Spain as part of my seminary and now as a priest.
I feel very grateful for the material and spiritual support of so many generous and self-sacrificing Christians, so that in the future as a priest I will continue to accompany the different ecclesial communities, consolidating groups of apostolates and creating Christian fraternity in all the places that God has reserved for me.
Trusting in the prayers of so many benefactors, the grace of God and the help of Mary Most Holy, I hope to be faithful to this beautiful vocation that God has given me."".
