"Normally, vocations germinate in families where the Lord is present, but this was not my case. My parents are non-practicing Catholics and although my priesthood has not brought them closer to God, I still consider this status as a mission statement staff , to open the doors of the Faith to them, with respect and patience". This is how Jeus Jardin Pontigon speaks about the family in which he was born and raised, 36 years ago, in Davao City (Philippines). It is this status that has led him to ask himself on numerous occasions "Why me? Why the priesthood?", but he assures that "the Lord calls whom he wants".

In his case it was at the age of 16, when he considered the possibility of serving God through the priestly ministry. However, shortly after entering the seminar and after some hesitation, he decided to leave: "When I left, I studied nursing and practiced the profession for eight years. But in my heart I heard an insistent voice that would not be silenced. It was the call of the Lord and, after a long reflection, I decided to stop deceiving myself". It was at that moment that he visited the Bishop of the Diocese of Davao to express his concerns and to enter for the second time at seminar.

Jeus arrived in Spain in 2011 to study theology at the University of Navarra. Five years later, he was ordained as a deacon in the church of San Nicolas in Pamplona, together with thirteen other companions from the International Ecclesiastical high school Bidasoa. Once he finished his programs of study, he returned to his native Philippines, where he was ordained a priest. Without being able to hold back an emotional cry, he says that on that day he felt a great peace: "When I stood before the Lord, I was aware that I was finally about to take a great step. I realized that, with God's grace, I had reached my true path, a path that was beginning at that moment. At that moment, I saw the hand of the Lord behind everything I had experienced until then: my leaving seminar, having studied Nursing.... It is a feeling of smallness before the greatness of God".

When he made himself available to his bishop, he sent him back to Pamplona to continue his formation, this time at licentiate degree in Moral and Spiritual Theology. "I have had the opportunity to return to the University of Navarra and I feel like I am coming home. The professors, the classmates, the atmosphere, the friends inside and outside the classrooms.... all make me remember old times and relive good times," he assures. In addition to receiving academic training , he defines the University as a much broader school: "Our professors not only form us through their classes, but also through their lives. By their example, they teach us to have love for the Truth and for the Church. Moreover, since we students come from different countries, we can live more intensely the universality of the Church. Being here is providential.

Next year, when he finishes his programs of study, he will return to the Philippines to help in the training of future priests at seminar in Davao: "I would like to transmit to them that the priesthood is a gift that no one deserves, that it is not given to us because of who we are, but because of who the Lord is. It is a very great gift, the ability to bring God back, here and now, in Body and Blood. It is a call, because the initiative is always His".

For this second opportunity he has had to continue his training in Pamplona, he says he keeps his benefactors very much in mind: "I constantly remember them in my prayers. These people who help us are God's instruments to remind us of his Providence. If it weren't for them, we would not be able to study or serve others, applying the knowledge we have acquired at the University of Navarra".