Experience of Rui Leal      

Hello to all the brothers and sisters in this dear Verbum Dei Missionary Family on the other side of the World! It is with great joy that I share with you the experience of God’s call in my life! I met the community when I was only 17 years old. Despite the fact that I was very young, I had a very strong encounter with God the Father! Some time after, I did a weekend retreat where I felt the call of Jesus to follow him closely and to become a Verbum Dei Missionary.

I still remember the deep love I had for Jesus. In that retreat I had a very clear and constant awareness of his presence in my heart

I shared those feelings and the call to follow Jesus with the Missionary who was guiding me in this journey. He told me that my first challenge was to be a missionary in my family and my university. Besides I was too young, and about to start my studies in the University.

I studied in a University that is about, 600 km. from my city.  Despite the long distance, I kept in touch with the Verbum Dei Community. In my University there wasn’t any Catholic group and it was something that made me feel quite sad.   Yet, I felt myself a Missionary very strongly and this provoked in me the desire to build up an environment where I could grow and take care of my experience of Jesus.

I began to share my faith experience with my classmates. They too wanted to do or start something in campus. Thus, we decided to organise a recollection with the help of the Verbum Dei Missionaries. After this recollection, we continue growing in our experience of prayer.

While I was studying, I was involved in the dioceses promoting youth activities as well as vocation promotion. This involvement brought me to meet other Religious communities and to value much more our Verbum Dei Charisma.

Honestly during those years as a student I had a very rich and fruitful experience of Mission. After my studies I started to work as a Teacher in Mathematics. Even though I enjoyed what I was doing, I still felt the intense desire to be a missionary. I decided to do an experience with the Verbum Dei Missionaries of Porto for one year.  It was a truly rich experience of prayer and community life. As the time drew near to start the formation Course, it was not easy to carry on due to the struggle to leave everything and everyone behind. I was torn within to commit myself to two years of formation Course and 6 years plus of Theological studies.  Moreover the reality of living in an unknown country hit me.

Deep inside me, I understood that I have what the world needs, i.e. the personal love of God the Father.  In order to share this love I felt that I didn’t need so many years of theological studies or to move away form my country.

Besides I reasoned why should I spend my youth studying when God had already made me participate in his mission… why must I go far away if there are people around me living like orphans without the Love of God the Father? 

I spent some years asking God for the strength I needed to be detached from everything. I used to think that my prayer was not authentic because I felt that I was not being faithful to the call of God. While I was going through all this discernment, I was having at the same time, a great experience of living the mission and a good experience at work.

As time went by, I felt myself a true missionary in the world, in my working environment, with the people in the apostolate and in my family… and frankly speaking, I was very fulfilled with all I was doing.

Yet deep in my heart, I experienced the pain of being unfaithful to God because I didn’t consecrate my life to him in the community. That was the reason why I decided to do a long retreat where I could do a more sincere discernment and I be more willing to ‘do whatever he tells me,’ even if it was tough. With this spirit of trust, I started the retreat. With total abandonment and the deep desire of being faithful to his call, I understood him from the depth of my heart. I knew he wanted from me not a radical option of following him but to live my life with radicality.  I felt that God was calling me to live my consecration fully, in the place where I am. From then, I could see clearly that my vocation is to be a Verbum Dei Lay Consecrated Missionary.

I knew in my heart that this way of living the mission is not a limited or less generous answer to the call of God, but a different call in the community. The discovery gave me peace within.

I am now 30 years old and teaching Mathematics. I live quite close to the missionaries’ house in Porto. I am very committed with the mission in the community, especially with the teenagers; I can say that I am a deeply happy person.

This year I am going to renew my promises of consecration for the third time. In every challenge I face in my daily life, God helps me to grow in the certainty and greatness of this vocation in the Verbum Dei Missionary Family for the world.