Luis Palacios is student of the Ecclesiastical School of Philosophy. Although he started the licentiate degree in September 2017, he is not new to the University. He is living for the second time the experience of being student, but now as a priest, since in between 2013 and 2017 he completed the high school program in Theology, while residing at the seminar International Ecclesiastical Bidasoa.

He himself defines his vocation as a vocation to joy: "When I met people who loved God, what struck me most about them was that they were really happy, they were young and did things very well. I realized that happiness lasted me a party and I thought 'I want to be as happy as them'".

The change between imitating them and beginning to feel that joy himself was very quick. "If you really know the Lord and the happiness that only he can give you, there is nothing like giving yourself to do what he asks of you: in my case the priesthood, but in other people through marriage or through a religious vocation," he says.

He studied at a Catholic high school , but he says he didn't like going to Mass or praying very much. In fact, when he graduated from high school he said to himself, "I've heard Mass for the rest of my life."

He began studying at the Catholic University of Guayaquil at degree program in Civil Engineering, the equivalent in Spain to degree program in Civil Engineering. When he was in his first year he met many young Catholics who lived their faith in a fun way: "I became good friends with them, I started to participate in their Catholic group (PROCARE) and little by little I began to ask myself what the Lord was asking of me. I was really happy. I had a girlfriend, I gave catechesis on Saturdays in marginal places in my city... But I noticed that something deep inside me was missing. Asking the Lord and telling my spiritual director , he told me: 'Could it be that you want to become a priest?

"Two months passed between the time I made up my mind and told my parents the news. The day I told my mother that I was going to be a priest she was very happy, because it was like the Lord was fulfilling and surpassing all her dreams. It took my father a little longer, because he dreamed that I would work with him at his business. It took him many years to get used to the idea. However, on the day of the ordination he cried as much as my mother.

His friends at high school did not really understand the idea of wanting to become a priest; it seemed to them that it was a waste of life. "In spite of that, the day of my diaconate ordination they got up at 3 in the morning to watch it in streaming and then uploaded it to social networks. And on the day of my priestly ordination in Guayaquil they accompanied me, even dressed in jacket and tie. And, although they never go to mass, they were very happy. During these years, they have looked to me as a reference and as the priest friend they can turn to when they are having a hard time.

What he likes most about the priesthood and at the same time impresses him the most is knowing that the Lord called him to be a bridge between himself and men, as he himself affirms "in spite of being who I am and how I am".

He is sample enormously grateful to those who have made it possible for him to be formed at the University of Navarra, now living in the high school Mayor Albáizar and first living at high school Bidasoa International Ecclesiastical, where he assures that they have taught him "to be a priest".