Father Jesús Salinas, LC

I was born in Mexico City on June 19th 1988. I’m the youngest of five children and uncle of 4 nephews and 4 nieces. For me it was a big grace to study at the Cumbres Institute, the first school founded by the Legion of Christ. There is where I met the legionary brothers and priests for the first time, and I was very impressed by their lifestyle, their love for Christ, and for doing always big things. These things attracted me a lot, due to my strong desire to become a priest. I joined ECYD, which will be my group of friends with whom I will try to grow deeper in my faith and to serve others through specific apostolates. In the midst of many activities of school, social life with my friends, and growing up, I started to forget little by little about my interest for the priesthood, until one day a priest friend sent me a postcard in which he asked me: have you forgotten about your priestly vocation? This question was like a bucket with iced water thrown directly to my face. It really brought back that interest that I had for the priestly vocation. In 2000 I was able to go on a pilgrimage to Rome with my ECYD club for the closing of the Jubilee Year and for the 60th Anniversary of the Legion of Christ. For me this was a huge experience. It was an eye opener to see the charism of the Legionaries and Regnum Christi, besides the opportunity of being so close to Pope John Paul II. Coming back from Rome, I was at school in the most boring class for me: Math….(I was never a good friend of Math), and a legionary brother that I hadn’t met before came into my classroom, interrupted the class (I was very happy), and gave us a little talk about the different vocations in life and asking us if any of us had ever thought about becoming a priest… This talk had a big resonance in my heart. Later on this legionary invited me for a weekend camp at Mexico’s City apostolic school, and I went, visited, and had a great time. But it was later on, when I visited again, when I felt Christ calling me more strongly to be part of this. So I went to the chapel and talk to Jesus about it, and told Him: If you want me to follow you here, let me know! I felt a great peace and unexpectedly I started crying, but at the same time I was very happy.