Jonathas Camargo (1998) felt God's call during the Covid-19 pandemic, although this was not always the case. One of the things that held him back from taking that step was his fear of opening himself to a true encounter with the Lord. Jonathas is now in Pamplona training to become a priest. He comes from the diocese of Leopoldina, Brazil.
Jonathas arrived in Pamplona in 2023, where he is studying Theology at the Ecclesiastical Faculties of the University of Navarra. From a very young age, he participated in catechesis in his home parish.
God has always been present in Jonathas' family. Since he was a child, his mother took him and his three sisters to the parish to participate in the catechesis of formation. But in his adolescence, a time of rebellion and crisis, he drifted away from the faith, because all he did was attend Mass just for the precept. "Not leaving Sunday Mass, even if it is only to fulfill the ecclesiastical norm even if one does not feel like it, confers an infinite value that is always rewarded by God".
To this reluctance was added a temptation: "that always stopped me from committing myself more to God; it was my fear of opening myself to a true encounter with the Lord," he confesses.
However, the sacrament of Confirmation was vital to become more committed to the Church. Receiving this sacrament is a Grace from God, a sacrament that, as its name indicates, helps a Christian to commit himself to be a witness of Jesus Christ: the baptized person is strengthened by the gift of the Holy Spirit, becomes more deeply rooted in the divine filiation and is more intimately united with the Church.
With this determination, Jonathas began to participate in other celebrations of his parish, such as the coronations to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
"In addition, my commitment to the service of the Church was greater when I helped form and coordinate a youth group, also in my parish. This mission brought me very close to God", he says.
This young Brazilian seminarian recalls that being close to young people means above all listening to them in order to accompany them on their journey of faith and true love for the Lord.
Thus, her union with God grew, fruit of her will, of the good people around her, such as the parish priest, and of her own freedom.
Jonathas recounts the moment he felt in his heart a striking presence with the Lord: "In 2016, at the age of eighteen, I was invited to be an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, and with this service to the Lord I felt in my heart the duty to live my faith in a more responsible way.".
Later, with the arrival of the pandemic, came the turning point for Jonathas: "I was studying for a degree in another city when the pandemic started and with it, all the restrictions imposed on us.
So, I returned to my hometown and dedicated myself to helping my parish priest in everything necessary so that the faithful could follow the celebrations through the Internet. Witnessing all the difficulties we were facing, and being able to feel the people's desire and expression of faith, I felt God's call like a flame burning in my heart as I participated in a Eucharistic adoration".
After this wonderful experience, in 2021 he began his vocational discernment process, and in 2022 he entered the preparatory seminary of his diocese. In July 2023, his bishop sent him to study at the University of Navarra, Spain., as it relates the website of your dioceseHe landed in Bidasoa accompanied by the rector of the seminary of Our Lady of Apparition of Leopoldina, Father Alessandro Alves Tavares.
His experience in the Bidasoa international seminar is discovering to him the great beauty of the universal Church: "My stay in Bidasoa has been of great benefit to my vocation. Here I have been able to grow even more in my prayer life and also in my academic life. Sharing life with priests and seminarians from the farthest corners of the world teaches me that the Church is universal and that the Lord can reach all hearts, and for that he wants us to be prepared to evangelize all nations.".
When he finishes his theology studies at the University of Navarra, he will return to his diocese where he will be ordained a priest. Jonathas is aware that all cities and countries have their peculiarities and difficulties in evangelization, but without prayer little can be achieved.
"I believe that, in my diocese, as well as in the whole Church, we must continue to pray that many holy vocations may arise for the Lord's harvest," says Jonathas.
A thought very much in line with the initiative proposed by the Church for March 19, the Day of the Seminary. The first thing the Church asks is to pray for vocations. Then, as far as possible, to help financially to support vocations.
He leaves his future in God's hands, but asks him to continue with this desire to serve the Church wherever necessary and "to take the truth of the Gospel to all corners, and never forget to be faithful to what the Lord asks of us through our bishop".
Marta Santínjournalist specializing in religion.
