Fr. Jerónimo Espinosa

I grew up in a Catholic (Mass not only Sundays but weekly) family in Colombia (with an O). I have an identical twin (so if you see me wandering on the streets without a collar and you say hi and I don't respond to "father", it is because it is not me) and a sister with three awesome nephews.

I always dreamt of being a priest. When I was in kindergarten, they asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I draw myself in a pink alb as a priest. Thanks to my parents and uncle priests, time passed, and that dream continued in me. They called my brother and me to make some advertisements, commercials, and magazines because we were identical twins. We rose to fame, and that made us earn some money. We use some of that money to acquire all the sacred vessels, one by one until we end up buying a monstrance. As children, we were not aware of what that was and the value it has, nonetheless it was our money.

Apart from that, some cloistered nuns (Poor Clares) from far away in mission towns made us a complete set of vestments for the Eucharist. After that… we were all in… Mass here, mass there. The whole family gathered to celebrate mass offered by my brother and me. We gave for communion cookies with blackberry juice. My father tells us that in the rite of peace, he would take us and give us giant hugs and fill us with kisses, to which we responded. "When have you seen that people give peace to the Father like this at Mass?"

I knew God was calling me to something else. After studying and receiving my degree in Animal Husbandry (also called Animal Science) and living in Europe, I returned to my home country and started seminary. The journey to the ministerial priesthood was of eight years and a half.

I was ordained a transitory deacon at the beginning of the year dedicated to St. Joseph on December 22nd at 3 pm (hour of mercy). After that I was sent to Dallas to pursue a master's in Pastoral Ministry -with a concentration in Youth, and after a year there on December 3, 2021, Feast of Saint Francis Xavier at 3:00 pm (again) Divine Mercy time in the San Bartolomé parish, still the year of St. Joseph I was ordained a priest.

I must say, it was the happiest day of my life. I give glory to God for His immense love and mercy toward me. This has been the best Christmas gift I could have had. I hope to share this gift with everyone I meet, especially the young people who have been my passion all these years.

What I feel is an indignity that you cannot imagine. Saint Paul says in his second letter to the Corinthians "But we carry this treasure in clay jars so that it appears that such an extraordinary force is from God and not from us." I will always be only the messenger, it is Christ and His strength that are worth it, it is He who cures all disease and all ailment, both bodily and spiritual.

I am amazed at my weakness, my littleness, but blessed be God, I have come to understand (many times with strikes), like Saint Paul, that the grace of God is enough for me, and it should be enough for me. That the Lord has noticed me ... is not even an affirmation, it is a question that I ask myself with astonishment. Why me?.. yes, the Lord noticed me…wow…. Seeing that the Merciful Father has noticed me, the only thing that makes me feel is love, and my heart melts with love. Love because He has chosen me. He has loved me despite my smallness, despite all my clumsiness, mistakes, acceleration, recklessness, and stubbornness, in short, several things that could disqualify me, but Jesus has chosen me and has loved me. However, I fully trust that the Lord will continue to heal me (John Paull II Healing Center has significantly contributed to this) and release me from all of that, to better serve Him, to serve God's people, especially the young.

In His Divine providence, the Lord allowed me to grow in things that He dreams of me, in my best version. I felt, discovered, and lived uniquely the love of God through many people. I could feel His caress, His tenderness, His love. I have always remembered the words of my great friend, father Juan Pablo. The people, my friends, are like Aron and Jur. They were the ones who supported Moses when he was tired and when he felt that he had no strength. (Exodus 17:12) One on each side, there at the foot of the canyon, supporting, accompanying, helping, and loving.

I have felt the desperation in the process but always shared that with Jesus in the Tabernacle, and I know it is because of Him that I am now what I am and what He wants me to be to keep being and doing. And all of these for the young people of the Church of the world. So praise Jesus.