I decided to be a Religious because Christ showed me “One day within his house is better than a thousand elsewhere” (Psalm 84:10).
I joined the Community of the Franciscans of the Immaculate in 1995 at age 17 and made solemn vows in 2000 in Griswold, Connecticut at Our Lady of Guadalupe friary mother house in the hands of our founder, Fr Stephano M Manelli and in the presence of our co-founder, Fr Gabriel M Pelletieri.
I was sent to Australia in February of 2001 to help out at a mission here in Perth. I am 35 years of age, have been skateboarding for 25 years and am still loving it.
Ethnically, I am half Costa Rican but all American. I was born in Concord, New Hampshire, USA and raised in Bristol, NH. Many people visit NH in the fall to see the foliage change colour.
Thanks to my beautiful parents, my childhood is full of happy memories. I have one sister whom I dearly love and three brothers who were my best friends growing up and always will be.
In 1994, I had a conversion which, I am very happy to say, enjoys some humour because I love humour. Having moved from Concord to Virginia Beach, Virginia because of my dad’s work transfer, my three brothers and I all managed to find jobs on the beach front.
And after having purchased a house inland, our family settled there a good distance from the shore. Naturally, travel to school and work became an issue. My brother had the presence of mind to make a novena to ask the Lord for a vehicle.
The deal was if he obtained a car through the nine-day Novena and fasting on bread and water, he would assign himself to an hour of Eucharistic Adoration (my mother was already going nightly).
Low and behold, he obtained a car! It was procured very quickly too! Not just any car but a 1970 Cadillac Coupe deVille in beautiful condition from an elderly lady who gave it to him for a shoe string.
After having covered this low rider with new upholstery and gold tassels around the ceiling, we, The Cortes Clan, would drive around like suave Latinos blaring Santana: “Everything is going my way’… Keep in mind that even though we were “practising Catholics” my three brothers and I were, unfortunately, all living double lives in the sense that our personal lives, on a practical level, did not line up nicely with the Gospel.
To make a long story longer, one day my brother was about to leave our home for his hour of Adoration and he asked me if I wanted to go. I immediately felt like saying, “NO!” Looking around the kitchen and living room, I realised there was nothing else to do and pronounced the most important “OK” I’ve ever uttered.
There, I found myself faced with 60 minutes ahead of me of what I thought at the time was (please excuse me) holy “boredom”.
So I began to recite the holy Rosary (at least mechanically) as we had been taught as kids. I ended up completing the entire Rosary of all three mysteries! That, in itself, was a miracle.
Well, after my conversion, for a year previous to my entry into religious life my daily routine consisted of: Three Masses every morning, followed by Stations of the Cross, travelling to school, gardening and cleaning around the house, and Eucharistic Adoration and Rosary in the evening with my mum.
I basically lived like a religious before I became one. As St Augustine put it, “You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.”
Then my second eldest brother, London, was thinking about joining the Cistercians, which I did visit for a week in company with my eldest brother Daniel who, when there, experienced an incredible grace of conversion while watching the sunset over the hills opposite the monastery building and that got me thinking.
In addition, my mother had an image of St Francis embracing Christ Crucified and I said to myself I want to be that, even though I knew almost nothing about him.
I found the order and ministry I was to adopt as my own through an elderly Conventual Franciscan friar by the name of Br Francis Mary Kavelage. He directed my steps toward the Community of the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FI) and then joined himself about two months after I did.
My novitiate year was so beautiful and educational and forever I am grateful and pray for Fr Francis M Pimentel whose example, at that time, formation, direction and charity I’ll never forget.
I chose the community because: it enjoyed faithful adherence to Rome and Magisterial teaching, Eucharistic adoration was recognised as the chief work of its apostolate and its members made a solemn promise to God that they would live and die for the Blessed Mother.
My solemn profession day couldn’t have taken place on a better day, viz August 22 ie The Feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, year 2000. From that day onward She was mine and I was hers forever!
My parents were excited and delighted and my three older brothers joined the Order with me. My parents, too, wanted to separate and become 1st Order members as well but, in God’s providence, it didn’t work out so they joined the Third Order of St Francis for married couples.
My sister, who is the eldest, always loved me, and especially in this decision. At that time I was withdrawn from friends my age.
I have overcome obstacles in my life by reflecting on these words: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy… and your joy no man shall take from you” (John 16:20).
To my great consolation and joy I have met and made friends, so to speak, with saints and angels here. I have been showered by Australians of all ethnicity with so many unmerited gifts and unforgettable experiences and kindnesses.
In return, as the Bible says, “But I most gladly will spend and be spent myself for your souls” (2 Corinthian 12:15).
In conclusion, my vocation to religious life was sown in the wheat field of the Eucharist and there germinated in the moisture of Mary’s grace and it is in this happy field I wish to remain.
My three older brothers all had subsequent conversions immediately after me and when we all joined the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate together we were received and invested as aspirants and then postulants at the same time.
My two older brothers eventually discerned that marriage and family was their vocation. As for myself, I am most at home in Adoration where there in the Castle of the King and Queen (ie with Jesus and Mary) I, a Knight of the Immaculate, live happily ever after.