It all began with a seemingly insignificant conversation. Germán was a young man who liked soccer, being with his friends, and enjoying life. One day, a numerary of Opus Dei asked him a question that stuck with him: “Why don’t you start taking things seriously?”
He decided to give it a try. For a week he made an effort to be truly present in everything he did. And something unexpected happened: he enjoyed soccer, studying, and his friends more. “I loved that week,” he recalls. That small piece of advice was the start of a transformation.
Little by little, through conversations, new goals, and his friendship with Pedro, he discovered that becoming a better person also brought him closer to God. But many questions still remained.
The answer came in his first year of university, on a Blue Monday, of all days. Germán was reading C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity when he came across an image that changed his perspective: God doesn’t just want to fix the plumbing in our old, run-down house: He wants to turn it into a palace.
“I thought, ‘I want that palace.’” Although Germán understood that building it meant giving up certain securities, he decided to trust: “Well, Lord, I trust you, I surrender myself, let’s build the palace.”
Ever since I started taking my vocation seriously, I’ve realized I’m genuinely happy.
It wasn’t a hasty decision. When he expressed his wish to join Opus Dei, he was encouraged to think it over, pray about it, and let it mature. He discovered that a vocation isn’t a single yes, but a path you freely choose again each day.
Meanwhile, university gave him another decisive experience. His friend Raúl suggested they start a different kind of volunteer work: finding simple ways to help, without waiting for grand occasions. They started by visiting nursing homes, and their initiative went on to bring together hundreds of volunteers.
The project gave rise to something special, Germán says: in it, “people discover that they’re truly made for love.”
He also came to understand that sharing a meal, listening to a friend, or accompanying someone in need can be a way of bringing others closer to God.
A year and a half after that Blue Monday, and after coming to understand that God was calling him down this path, he took the step of requesting admission to Opus Dei as a supernumerary.
Today, looking back, he recognizes that his vocation hasn’t taken him away from the things he loves. On the contrary, it has taught him to enjoy them more and to discover who he wants to be: “For me, Opus Dei is the place where I can be myself.”
And that palace he dreamed of building keeps rising, day by day, among friends, work, soccer, and small acts of love.