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| Fr. Mario Alonso Márquez Escobedo , LC | |
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I can trace the beginning of my vocation back
to one afternoon when I arrived home after classes one
day. Adolescence was as alive as a wild horse. Being
kicked out of school was pretty ordinary. My parents said
that I was uncontrollable and I wanted to take on
the world. My brother, Sandro, told me that that morning
the Legionaries of Christ had given him a medal which
he wore around his neck. It had two inscriptions: on
one side was the word, “ideal”, and on the other
side was the image of the Blessed Mother, Mary. My
immediate reaction was to want to be something great.
Since I
was little I wanted to be a soldier. It seemed
to me to be the best way to spend my
days, embracing the ideal of defending my country or a
just cause. The Legionary priests grew very close to my
family. My brother was an exemplary student at their minor
seminary. We call that school the “apostolic school” and it
was a very attractive place for me. But I barely
showed any interest, since my record at school and at
home was disastrous: I didn’t match up to what you
might call a “good kid.” And so what happens with
this young man? He didn’t stop his active career of
receiving school reports and complaints from the neighbors; so much
so that they recommended I attend a military school, something
that actually didn’t sound too bad to me.
Like heaven
on earth for a growing boy
May came around, the
month in which we celebrate Mary: the other side of
my brother’s medal. My mom took me to accompany her
to the celebration that they organized at the apostolic school
for all the moms on Mother’s Day. I liked that
place a lot. I was mesmerized by the respect these
boys had for everyone, and how they were full of
joy at the same time. The priests in cassock and
the boys that were excited about the priestly ideal struck
me. The games they played were demanding, the hikes they
did motivated them to conquer the nearby mountains. I saw
in these boys how to pray a God that is
close to us, without fake piety or girly behavior. Nothing
had ever gotten me so excited. I wanted to be
like them. Immediately a hurricane of desires came over me:
either a comfortable life life fulfilling my personal projects, or
a possible invitation to follow Christ in the Legion. The
difficulties did not wait to show up. The first was
my dad who did not like the idea.
One day after
classes, I followed a couple of girls that I saw
leaving school. I saw them go into a church and
they kneeled and piously prayed. As I waited for them
to come out I too knelt in front of an
image of Immaculate Mary. Since the girls didn’t come out,
I started to pray. I asked Mary to do something
to make my dad change his mind.
When I arrived
home my mom said with a smile on her face,
“Your dad has given you permission to go to the
apostolic school.” I never thought that the Blessed Mother would
make herself a part of a vocation so openly. The
other side of the medal is still to be achieved…
Marked by the example of others
The apostolic school was
incredible. Two moments had a special impact on me. One
was when our founder visited. His joy and his way
of being made the priestly ideal of being a bridge
between God and man contagious. The other was John Paul
II. He has a sort of sanctuary in my memory.
While I was in Rome I was able to be
with the Pope several times in St Peter’s Square. Of
these encounters I can only say that I felt very
close to God.
I did my pastoral work as a seminarian
in Spain and Mexico. I worked in a society of
good people but often with people proud of their antichristian
secularism. I went through schools where at times the resistance
to faith in Christ was palpable. Those who wanted to
be Christians had to live a valiant and coherent testimony
of their faith. I was inspired by one young doctor
who discovered that God was calling him to his service
and who left everything to follow him.
I also worked in
San Luis Potosí in Mexico. All of a sudden I
found myself in a school with 500 students. I hope
to have presented the ideal of being Christian youth and
entrepreneurs in the sharing of your faith. Mrs. Luz de
Lourdes Urquiza de Gómez -rest in peace- although in a
broken voice due to her cancer, spoke these words to
me one day: “I would love to be healthy so
as to work in the ECYD!” Even in the midst
of her sickness this woman wanted the young men in
ECYD to commit to being friends of Christ and to
do something for others.
I have special memories as well of
Holy Week missions when many young men shared their missionary
ideal in the midst of the neediest of people.
Throughout my
Legionary formation I have realized that studies can change your
life. I will never be able to thank God nor
my Congregation enough. New York and Rome have been the
gymnasiums of studies for me on my way to the
priesthood. Study, well taken advantage of, can lead a man
to search tirelessly for the Truth in his life.
After
the death of our founder, a new chapter in the
history of our congregation is opened. Now I have the
opportunity to live my life totally for Christ together with
many brother Legionaries. I hope to make it to heaven
fulfilling the priestly ideal and to embrace Mary, our Most
Holy Mother.
Father Mario Alonso Márquez was born in Los Angeles,
California on the 7th of September of 1976. He studied
in the Independence School run by the sisters of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus and Our Lady of Guadalupe, in
Zacatecas, Mexico. In 1989 he entered the apostolic school of
León, Guanajuato, Mexico. He did his novitiate in Salamanca Spain
where he also did his humanities studies. He did pastoral
work with youth and promoted vocations in the region of
Castilla-León in Spain. He later worked as an instructor of
formation in the grade school Andes de San Luis Potosí
in Mexico. He did his Philosophy studies in New York
and his Theology in Rome.
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