MALEN LORENZO
Early in our marriage, Cito and I were very happy with the birth of our four children. We welcomed each one with excitement and joy: Simone, Luis, Jaime, and David. We were a young couple, married at 24 and 25 years old, and I was only 35 when our youngest was born. Like most young couples, we were busy with our careers, building homes, and finding the right schools for our children. Our responsibilities were heavy, but life was relatively simple then.
Through this phase, my deepest desire and prayer was: ‘Lord, help my children to truly love and serve You!’ With this as the foundation, I believed everything else would follow, and they would become good persons.
However, we never planned or asked our Lord for our sons to be priests. We only wanted all our children to know how to love others and to love our Lord most of all. So when our two sons, Luis and Jaime, first told us of their wish to discern to become priests, it was a special surprise!
To this day, I cherish the moments they first told me. Luis was 18 years old, and Jaime was 19 when they each decided to enter the seminary of the Legionaries for Christ. Luis and Jaime had very different personalities. Luis was more studious and made many friends with fellow student leaders and athletes, while Jaime was creative and musically talented and made many friends in high school because of his natural warmth. I believe God calls all kinds of men to serve Him.
When friends ask me how I raised two priest sons, I am unsure what to say because each person’s journey with our Lord is unique, and parents can only teach their children how to love, pray, and be good. So, I will share glimpses of our story as a family that perhaps helped our two sons discover and grow in their faith and love for God and others.
First, from the beginning, Cito and I tried to build a home that was peaceful, safe, and full of love. We tried never to fight, but more importantly, to give witness to the love of their parents who wanted to stay strong, affectionate, and overcome trials together. We designed our home to be devoid of too many decorations so that it will be a place of rest and reflection, a refuge from the busyness of the outside world. The two most important spaces were our small prayer room and the library. We gave toys to our children, but not too many.
Second, we encouraged our children to work hard at school and do simple manual work. From a young age, we tried to make them aware of poor people and how our family has an even greater responsibility to serve because we were more materially blessed than others. Doing community service projects in Payatas, Pasig, Nueva Ecija, and Laguna were part of their childhood. Our two eldest sons experienced working with rice and pineapple farmers during their summer breaks. In this way, the children learned to care about the suffering of the poor.
The third and most important gift was faith and prayer in the family. Because of His love and mercy, He tries to knock on the door of every family in a unique way at a very special time.
This happened to us starting in the summer of 1992 when our three older children were ages 7, 6, and 4. Before that, Cito and I were regular practicing Catholics who would go to regular Sunday mass.
But our 1992 experience brought us to a deeper level. We were introduced by a long-time friend, who became a religious brother to the messages of Mama Mary through her many apparitions from our Lady of Guadalupe, Lourdes, Fatima, Akita, and Medjugorje. We then started a devotion to praying the Holy Rosary. The children were too young to appreciate the Holy Rosary prayer. Still, when we began to bring them from a very young age to Marian Pilgrimages, they began to understand and discover their own lives of faith. We would pray the Holy Rosary at the shrines, attend Eucharistic vigils, and discuss scripture reflections. Our youngest son, David, caught up with his older siblings and joined our climb up Mt. Krisevak and the Eucharistic vigils as soon as he was able. So, through middle school, they learned about the Blessed Mother and Jesus in the Holy Eucharist in their own ways as children. They learned about the love and goodness of Mary through the many stories of miracles and apparitions. But maybe the most valuable experience was when they would pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament, sometimes together, sometimes alone. I think this was the seed of our four children’s faith journey because they experienced God’s presence.
For Luis and Jaime, what happened to them through high school and early college was unique and personal. Each has his own story about the experience of his first calling and what opened their heart to finally say ‘yes’ from the first time they entered the seminary, at every profession as a seminarian, and until they became deacon and priest. It was a tear-filled moment when they first offered the host and wine at the consecration in their first mass. Until today, in my heart, I cherish dearly every little story of conversion and blessing they share with me, which are God’s quiet successes through them, as well as their loneliest moments.
As for our two other children, Simone and David, whose life vocation is marriage, they keep their faith strong with their spouses, Philip and Abby, and their three children and one child, respectively. They also continue loving and supporting Fr. Luis and Fr. Jaime, especially through their children’s warm hugs. Cito also offers his never-tiring fatherly support for his two priest sons. And because we are grateful to our Lord for the gift of two priest sons, our little family is inspired to live an even more fervent life of prayer and mission of faith together. May you remember that God knocks at the door of every family in His own time and in a unique way.