It comes from a family of five siblings, four boys and one girl. With a Catholic mother and Protestant father, a married couple in the food trade, he is very proud of his parents, both for the values they have passed on to them and for how hard they have worked to give them all a well-rounded education. "They have been a great support for all of us. They passed on very good values that have curdled in all of us," he says. Their mother is very happy with their vocation to the priesthood and his father respects him and supports his desire to become a priest. "My older siblings are not very church-minded and my mom motivates them to get closer to the faith. God has his time for everyone."
Dani has always enjoyed studying and training to serve society. He studied Educational Sciences and worked as a teacher in a Christian-Protestant school. Since college, the Lord was preparing his path.
During his university years, his vocation to be a priest. "It all started when my pastor proposed that I enter the seminary, something I had not thought about, but it was a light and a door that opened in my life." After this invitation, the following happened several events in his life that aroused in him a determination to do God's will.
One day, while he was in the basilica of his diocese, in a healing mass The prelate surprisingly said, "I am very grateful to the bishop for his presence at the funeral for the sick: "There is a young man who is interested in entering the seminary to become a priest and is now in the midst of discernment." It was then that Dani understood that it was Christ who was calling him. "It was me who was telling me that," he says.
From that moment on, he started to reflect on his vocation and what a priest is. That was very significant in his life. The love he had for the Church grew and the testimony of his parish priest, very dedicated to the people, to the Church and to a life of service, was a determining factor.
I saw my parish priest happy
"I saw in my parish priest a very happy life, dedicated to the Lord and to others as a priest. This conquered my heart to to give myself completely to the Church and to the priesthood. Another event that occurred in his life and that marked him strongly: praying before the Blessed Sacrament in a church, he heard a person behind him praying. "When we went out into the street, he turned to me thinking that I was the parish priest. His words touched me strongly, it was for me like another sign from the Lord that I was called to the priesthood. Vocation is a mystery, but God calls you in everyday events".
After these events, he entered the seminary at the age of 22 in his diocese of Our Lady of Altagracia. At the age of 25, his bishop sent him to study in Spain to prepare himself to become a priest, and has been residing in the Bidasoa International Seminar and studies Theology at the Ecclesiastical Faculties of the University of Navarra.
When he told his friends that he was leaving everything to become a priest, they tried to dissuade him: "My friends tried to convince me not to enter the seminary, they gave me a thousand reasons, that I would no longer have a wife (I had had a girlfriend when I was 17), no family, no children, that I was going to leave my profession for which I had prepared myself. But my calling was stronger and none of these things stopped me. Now they have understood that I am happy with my decision and they support me."
For Dani, one of the characteristics of a priest of the 21st century is to be close to the people and close to young people. "He must get involved in the actions and hobbies of young people and take advantage of that space to evangelize. And that he loves his Church very much. In his preaching he should speak the word of God and give testimony that he is a Christian and a holy priest. Through our witness we can encourage people to find God. Therefore, I believe that transmitting the faith through our witness and caring for people is the most important thing for priests today.
How to encourage young people
This young seminarian from the Dominican Republic considers that young people today are "very distracted with the things of the world, with networks, technology, fashion. All this has brought a lot of confusion to the youth of our society who follow erroneous ideologies. The young Catholics We have to give testimony of our faith, to transmit that it is possible to be young and Christian. Let them see in us a light. True happiness is in following Christ," he says.
The majority religion in the Dominican Republic is Catholic, although there are also many Protestants. For this reason, he is convinced that, in order to evangelize, the main thing to do is the doctrinal formation of the catechists. "The more prepared we are, the better we will be able to make Christ known to others. Many Catholics go to the Protestant church because of lack of formation. An ignorant Catholic is a future Protestant".
"We Catholics have to give witness to our faith, to transmit that it is possible to be young and Christian. Let them see in us a light. True happiness is in following Christ".
Dani Alexander Guerrero
For this reason, he is extremely grateful to the people who make it possible for so many seminarians from so many parts of the world to have the opportunity to study to become a priest in Bidasoa and in the Ecclesiastical Faculties of the University of Navarre or in the University of the Holy Cross in Rome. "Thanks to the benefactors of the CARF Foundation we are training with great enthusiasm to return to our dioceses with enthusiasm to be able to evangelize. May God repay you.
Marta SantínJournalist specializing in religious information.
