"Wherever the Church is in need, that's where I want to be. I would like to be a priest in places that need the Christian faith." Amiel Bracino Albao is 27 years old and in June he will finish his fourth year of training at the School of Theology University of Navarra. He will then return to Basud, Camarines Norte (Philippines), where he will be ordained a priest.

There he spent his childhood in a house near the parish. He grew up in a Christian family and recalls that with it he acquired the first virtues that were the foundation of his growth in Christian life and vocation. He says that since he was a child he "had the idea of becoming a priest", but as he grew up he said to himself: "It's a child's thing".

He finished the high school and took the exam at the university to study Political Science. He was a sacristan in the parish and, although he had no intention of taking the exam to enter the seminar, "after the graduation of the high school one of my classmates encouraged me". He took the exam for more than three hours and spoke to the vocation director . It was then that he realized that he had the desire to become a priest: "I began to remember what was a restlessness and it gave me great joy".

He entered the seminar, in Labo, a town near Basud, and there he studied philosophy for four years at programs of study . He did the corresponding pastoral year and, when he was barely over 22 years old, the bishop of his diocese suggested the possibility of studying at the University of Navarra. "We are all called to holiness, the priestly vocation is one of the ways to reach it and it seems appropriate for me to follow. I want to be a holy and good priest," he says.

After almost four years of training in Pamplona thanks to help received from benefactors, he says he has enjoyed and learned a lot both in the capital of Navarre and at seminar Bidasoa International, where he has lived since he arrived. The day begins for him at 6.45 a.m. with the prayer staff and concludes thanking God for the day lived. In between, he focuses on daily Mass, study, classes, prayer, spiritual direction and time with his companions at seminar: gatherings, documentaries, training... The pastoral work at the Good Shepherd of Pamplona occupies his time. residency program The pastoral work at the Good Shepherd College in Pamplona occupies his Sunday afternoons. He travels there by bicycle. He also likes to play sports when he has time and, although he says he is not much of a "soccer player", he enjoys playing squash and ping-pong.

When the road is uncertain, he is accustomed to ask the intercession of St. Raphael the Archangel, patron saint of his parish in the Philippines: "That he may enlighten me as he did Tobias. Not only in the priestly vocation, but in life".

Before ending the conversation I asked him about his reading tastes, "What are the books that have marked you the most," I said, "I prefer to think about it," he affirmed. First thing the next morning he brought the following books written on a piece of paper in neat handwriting: Father Brown Stories, complete edition, by G.K. Chesterton; Tuesday's with Morrie; Hardy Boy's Adventure Stories; Mero Cristianismo, by C.S. Lewis; and Un Papa sirio, by José Adalid.