The Rev. Victor Ramirez, LC, was born on February 10, 1986, in Pereira, Colombia. He entered the Vocational Center of La Estrella, Antioquia, in November 1998. He moved to Spain with his family and finished high school. He entered the candidacy in Salamanca, Spain, in July 2005, where he did his novitiate and studied humanities. During his apostolic practices, he worked as a Formation Instructor and assistant of ECYD at the Everest School in Madrid. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy, studied Theology, and completed a Master’s in Psychopedagogy in Rome, where he also collaborated as a catechist and in ECYD at the Highlands School of Rome. On August 17, 2019, he received the diaconate ordination from Mons. Rigoberto Corredor Bermúdez, Bishop of Pereira, and he will be ordained a priest in Rome on May 2, 2020.
Why did you choose to become a priest?
Actually, it was not I who chose it. I have only tried since my childhood until today to respond to that mysterious desire to follow Christ and to give myself to others. The question that arises is: Why did God choose me? I believe the most appropriate answer would be: out of love. That is how I try to live each day, rediscovering that calling and humbly responding in my daily commitment. I want to be a priest for two reasons: the love of Jesus Christ and the desire to help Him in the salvation of souls.
How do you want your priesthood to be?
I want it to be a priesthood of free love and selfless service.
Who is a priest for you?
He is a man of God for others. A humble servant chosen, anointed, and sent by God to serve others in the Church through his ministry. A bridge between God and men, administrator of His forgiveness and graces. But above all, he must be a man deeply in love with Jesus Christ, who has internalized His feelings and desires to show His merciful face to the souls he encounters.
What moments in your life and personal history led you to think about the priesthood?
First of all, since I was a child, I have been amazed to contemplate what God has done for me, and I have always wanted others to discover that treasure of His love. To this desire, I add the existential search for answers in my youth, intensified by the loss of a great friend and the need to build a better world.
Once, while playing billiards and fixing the world with a beer, a friend asked me, “And what do you do for others?” On the way home, this question kept turning in my mind, and the priesthood was suggested as a concern. I have always considered life to be an adventure—”something crazy”—and worth risking for Someone and for something truly worthwhile. Nothing is more dizzying than signing a blank check to God and leaving everything in His hands. My young heart considered following Christ, religious life, and the priesthood in the Legion as that love madness that gives you fullness and is the source of the authentic joy we all seek.
Over these years, you have surely experienced difficult moments and others wonderful; tell us about some of them.
The moments of farewell and separation from my family, a girlfriend, and many friends, amidst tears and hugs, have always been a renunciation I have offered to the Lord. At certain times, walking through some cities, seeing evil advancing, and some problems within the Church, I have felt the temptation of discouragement and doubt about whether it is really possible to change something. At other times, especially at the end of my formation, I have felt the weight of the cross and my fragility, even questioning whether I could truly fulfill my mission. In all these moments, God has been present and has reminded me that the protagonism belongs to Him and that I am not called to be a superhero but to trust in His grace.
I fondly remember many hours before the Blessed Sacrament, looking face to face at God, and some rosaries under the stars. Also, encounters with people in need where I could hear God, and moments of fellowship with brothers who have become true friends. Additionally, the joyful exhaustion of working with teenagers and seeing how God’s grace acts silently in souls.
What has helped you the most in your vocation?
Humility to let myself be helped, prayer, and Eucharistic life. Honesty to name problems, the closeness of friends and superiors, the filial relationship with Mary, my Mother, and the trust in knowing that my life is in God’s hands and that Good, Truth, and Beauty will always prevail.
A saint to imitate
St. Augustine, St. Paul, Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
What will be your destination as a deacon?
Formation Instructor and assistant of ECYD at the Cumbres School in Medellín.
What would you like to contribute as a priest to the Regnum Christi family?
Freshness, dynamism, a spirit of family, and my experience of Christ’s love. A burning desire to evangelize by proposing the beauty and joy of the Christian message that is capable of breaking schemes and crossing borders. Confidence in a charism that is God’s work and that can truly change your life. A smile and my willingness to extend a hand to those in need.
