Father Luis Alberto Chavarría, LC.

My life was well on it´s way. I was twenty-six with a law degree under my belt; a small business I had started with two friends was doing extremely well; I was ready to settle down and think about getting married. Being a member of the Regnum Christi Movement I was constantly involved in different apostolic activities and really looked forward to consecrating my future marriage to our Lord. I traveled all over the world, developed a great number of friendships and could boast of a wonderful family. I could confidently say that God was blessing me more than abundantly.

Then God began to ask for more and more. I thought I had been giving God everything but I soon realized that you can only "buy God with the last cent." Not with a lot or a little but only with the last ..., what we leave for ourselves. He was taking me on a long adventure and keeping each one of my "cents" till he reached the one he was going for: the Legionary vocation. There is no doubting his patience.

When I was twelve I incorporated to ECYD. I didn´t really take it too seriously but the spirit of prayer and friendship, united with the great academy of virtues that is the family, began to form me in the faith, the apostolate and a whole host of Christian values without me realizing it. With ups and downs along the way I joined the Regnum Christi family at seventeen via my incorporation. This step was one that I did take seriously as I did my future commitments within the Movement. During this time the experience of being a cofounder of the Regnum Christi section in the southern side of Mexico City truly marked my life. With twenty other young men, when I was eighteen, we set out to buy a house which would later become our Regnum Christi center. It took us five years to pay for it. The project was enormous and the graces we received were infinite.

My job, my friends, my whole life revolved around the apostolate and God continued to ask for more. In 1991 I had another unforgettable experience: Holy Week Missions. This was the first time I ever saw with my own eyes how much the world and the

	Father Luis Alberto and his family at St. Peter's a few days after his priestly ordination.

Church need priests. The year after I went again but this time something special happened. While we were visiting a family near the mountains of Puebla (Mexico), a man asked us if we could have a priest come to his home to hear his mother´s confession. She was extremely sick and it was very probable that she would die soon. We went for the priest but ... we were too late. I will never forget the tears in the man´s eyes as he opened the door of his tiny home. As we were walking back home late that night I heard very clearly in my heart: "if you had been a priest that good woman would have received the sacraments and went on to eternal life in peace." After this everything in my life seemed to lead me to a vocation to the priesthood in the Legion of Christ.

I thank the Lord with all my heart for the countless graces and gifts that he has showered on me throughout these past ten years of my Legionary life: my parents´ support and affection showing me that they were always there for me; my vocation, which has become a wonderful fountain of unity within my family; the encouragement of my directors. Last but not least I would like to thank God for the marvelous gift of my brother Legionaries and Regnum Christi members with whom I have had the grace to live, work and grow. Their testimony has changed my life forever!

Father Luis Alberto was born in Mexico City on 1 January 1967. He did all of his pre-university studies in the CEYCA (a school run by the Legionaries of Christ). At seventeen years of age he incorporated to the Regnum Christi Movement. He studied law at the UNAM (Universidad Autónoma de México). In 1993 he began his religious life in the Legion at the Novitiate in Salamanca, Spain. He completed a bachelors degree in Philosophy at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum and is currently studying for his master´s degree in dogmatic theology at the same institution. He has worked as a general administrator of Francisco de Vitoria University in Madrid, Spain, and the Legion´s territorial administrator for Italy.