I teach catechesim in my parish.
I was already doing that when I met Opus Dei,
and I continue to do it now.
At the parish I teach a catechism class to a group of those preparing to receive Confirmation.
Obviously this also gives me an opportunity to grow,
because I have to prepare each class
very well beforehand and doing that I discover things
about the faith I hadn't understood before,
and it also helps me to learn a lot about the boys. That's something I've often experienced.
I try to imitate Christ
And we do that better thanks to people like you
who pray and also try to imitate Him. Each of us in his place,
because Our Lord wanted there to be a general mobilization of Christians
in all environments: people of all ages
of all cultures,
people of all professions, wether they are healthy or sick,
wether single, married, widowed or priest... — whoever!
A mobilization of souls that will say to Him, "Here we are!"
Why is that? Well, to serve.
In these times when no one wants to serve, we do that to serve others.
I read a point in St. Josemaría's book "The Way"
"Don’t let your life be barren. Be useful."
I thought to myself, how can someone who is 17 years old be useful?
What could I do to be useful, to serve? How could I change the world?
I thought about it, asking myself what I might do with my friends,
so that they not remain stuck in a small life but rather serve others
since everyone can be useful,
everyone can help at whatever age he or she is.
Then we heard about two places in Seville:
a nursing home for elderly persons
and another home for sick people.
Last year we started visiting those to help out.
We like it a lot. We always leave very happy to have been able to help.
I teach catechism to two groups of youngsters:
one is in a poor neighborhood of Montevideo, Uruguay,
and the other is for boys from my neighborhood,
who are well off.
I see a difference. Those who are well off
have everything, but sometimes they don't realize that they are a lot more needy than the others.
The boys who are less well off impress me with the happiness I see in their faces.
All it takes is a small gesture to make them joyful. We play soccer
and then give them a 15-minute talk in Christian formation,
and even if they don't understand it all,
they are happy and very appreciative.
But the others often feel like they are obliged to go.