It's amazing to think of how God can single out a soul for a mission. As a teenager, God spoke to me with clarity. He invited me to leave my family, my friends, my farm and my plans for my career. I responded with simplicity. When I was 16 years old, I responded to the call to follow a path chosen by Christ.  

Immaculate Conception Academy in Wakefield, RI, was the place God had in mind for me. It's a high school which gears every minute towards preparing young women for the life and the mission of an apostle, no matter what vocation Christ has entrusted to them. During my junior year, after many struggles of generosity and the need to stop calculating whether I should do it or not, I knew in the bottom of my heart that I ought to accept the call of Christ to me in the consecrated life through the Regnum Christi Movement.  

On the feast of the Sacred Heart of 1992, I spiritually consecrated my life to him. One year later, on the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, the Church received my promises of poverty, chastity and obedience, consecrating my entire life and self to Christ and to his kingdom. 

I have never felt so close to the Pope, to the Church's teaching and mission and to the entire world, and especially to those who are in greatest need of help materially and spiritually. "Seeing the situation of the world, we cannot keep our arms crossed", our founder, Fr Marcial Maciel, wrote in the 1940s. And this spirit continues to live in his own heart and actions, and in each one of his cofounders.  

I was gifted with four years of intense formation in Mater Ecclesiae. My first two years of consecrated life were in Rhode Island, where I not only enjoyed an extra half hour of adoration one-on-one with our Lord, but also two years of study of the Church's spirituality and doctrine, the specific charism of Regnum Christi, humanities and philosophy. The next three years of my consecrated life were dedicated to full-time apostolate with families, the girls clubs and young women in the United States and Canada. Then I completed my last two years of sciences of theology and education in Monterrey, Mexico. 

Now let's turn and ask a question from the perspective of a high-schooler: how can you live chastity? There is nothing more fulfilling than knowing that Christ dwells in the middle of your heart and that he blesses every act that you do within his will. I have the absolute certainty that even making my bed in the morning puts a smile on Christ's face and that it saves souls. Not only is this a reality on the spiritual level, but also in my day-to-day practical life. Once I was asked to go pick someone up at the airport and I was noticing that so many different types of people were crying: a girlfriend shedding tears out of sorrow because she had to be separated from her loved one, a set of parents shouting for joy as they welcomed home their voyaging son, and a young businessman having an expression of regret on his face because his job would take him away from his new wife and baby. As I left the airport, the thought came to my mind: "Lord, you have given me the best life. No matter where I go and no matter what I do, I never have to be separated from you. You live here, right in the middle of my heart."  

The specific charism that Christ has entrusted to us in Regnum Christi for the service of the Church has launched me to do things that I had never attempted to do on my own. I always had a great desire to educate the youth. This is due to the fact that has always been my experience that when I discover a new truth, or an old truth in a deeper and more practical dimension, it brings me joy and marks my life. Regnum Christi has given me the chance to reach out to thousands of youth through Catholic World Youth Network and the various Challenge clubs in the US, and through so many other apostolic works. These are an active means to bring about the Pope's call for the new evangelization (through schools, family centers, missions, pilgrimages, seminars, retreats, etc). Of course, the needs of souls out there are never-ending, but it's always a consolation for me to know that I'm doing my best in God's will and he is doing the rest. He's the first one interested in transforming this world and bringing us true love and happiness. 

Psychology teaches us that a man is made to have projects, and to yield; and a woman is called to receive and to respond. I discovered that Christ has already paid the bill - I have received a lot - and he just asks me to pay the tip: my response, to the best of my abilities. This is the greatest desire I have in life: to pay back the debt I have to our Redeemer in gratitude for all that he has done for me and to dedicate my life to go to the foot of the cross to ask him: "Lord, who do you want me to tell how much you love them? I know how it will transform their life, just as it has transformed mine." 

Only God knows how many more years I will live on earth and how many more souls he will allow me to serve, but one thing is clear: I have the best retirement savings plan. Heaven is the best place to make reservations for vacations. May your own search and response to Christ and he will bring you the same certainty and fulfillment.
 

Diane Jubinville can be reached at djubinville@inteducators.org.