"When God has something for you, it fills you with happiness and commitment to move it forward."
José Luis Solís is 37 years old and from Mexico. He is in his last year at licentiate degree at Canon Law and assures that this experience of training academic and human that he is living at the University of Navarra will help him to better serve the Church.
10 | 05 | 2021
When José Luis Solís (Mexico, 1983) turned 15, he and his father emigrated to the United States to work. He is the eldest of nine siblings and his contribution was necessary for everyone in his home to get ahead: "It was an experience of fear coupled with the excitement of helping my family. I spent four years working in construction in Texas and North Carolina".
This experience helped him to consider his future, he prayed a lot and asked the Lord to enlighten him: "When I was 19 years old I returned to Mexico and joined the seminar in Celaya. The very fact of having worked helped me to have money to pay for my programs of study. I was happy and I realized that God was answering my prayer through different opportunities.
There he was formed for eight years, a time that also helped his family understand his vocation. Although they were Catholics and used to praying the Rosary every day, it was difficult for them to accept his decision: "The same seminar was a process staff, but also a family process. My father continued to work in the United States, but my mother and siblings gradually came to understand. The training for our families offered by the seminar helped them a lot".
In 2011 the bishop of his diocese sent him to Pamplona to study the high school program in Theology at the University of Navarra with a scholarship of the CARF Foundation and the association FORSA. He completed the four courses and in 2015 he returned to his homeland.
Three years later, in 2018, he was sent back to Spain to do the licentiate degree at Canon Law. The news gave him mixed feelings. On the one hand, it filled him with joy to return to the University of Navarra for everything he had experienced here. On the other hand, it was hard for him, because Canon Law was not what he had liked the most during his previous training . So he says that he put it before the Lord and assumed the challenge.
While completing the programs of study he has been able to do internships in the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of the Diocese of Pamplona and Tudela, and says that it has been very useful for his learning. He is currently finishing the last year of the licentiate degree. He says he feels happy for the road he has traveled and is aware of the importance of it: "This experience of academic and human training that we receive today we must manifest it in the attention with the souls".
His stay in Spain has coincided with the pandemic and the confinement. On February 6 his mother died of COVID-19 and he was unable to travel to his country to be with his loved ones. He has received many expressions of affection from colleagues and priests and is very grateful for the generosity they have shown him with their closeness and prayers. In addition, he explains that this pandemic has been an opportunity to make him see the great number of priests who have given their lives for others.
God willing, in June he will return to Mexico, his home country, where 77% of the population is Catholic. In spite of this, he recognizes that there are moments in which his condition as a priest has made him feel a certain fear, "because we and our families have also been victims of violence. However, I am from there and belonging and love make you give yourself despite the dangers. When God has something for you, it fills you with happiness and also with commitment to carry it out.
