Lucero Arellano-Castañeda
Why am I Catholic? I’ve never responded to this question concretely, and I’m not sure if I am able. The only thing I know for sure is that I have lived my life as a Catholic and have discovered the love of a loving Father who embraces me as a beloved daughter.
I was born in Mexico and baptized. As a child, my parents took me and my sisters to Mass each week. I was introverted and carried a sadness inside of my heart because I needed to know that I was loved. At the same time, there was something inside of me that nudged me to look for consolation and refuge in God. In my prayer, time and again, I would ask God to show me his Divine Providence.
I grew up, and when I was 15, I was drawn to the ministry of music. I joined our church choir to sing at Mass, and during this time I met the man who would become my husband. Participating in the choir unconsciously helped me to fill the emptiness that I had felt in my heart.
When I was 22, Esteban and I married, and our life soon changed when we immigrated to Minnesota in search of more opportunities for our lives. Living here we dearly missed our families and being a part of a Catholic community that could provide consolation and support. This need motivated us to form a small choir and integrate into a parish in St Paul.
In 2010, we were introduced to the “Emmanuel Community” and felt called to participate with this spiritual family. This community is a great blessing in our lives and sustained us when we had to withdraw from the choir at St. Francis de Sales in 2018 because my husband was diagnosed with ALS (an illness without cure that gives the afflicted, on average, two to five years of life after diagnosis). Esteban’s disease advanced rapidly and he died in less than a year. I remember our receiving the diagnosis: There was a moment of silence and we looked at one another knowing that this was God’s will. Fully accepting God’s will brought me a lot of spiritual peace, and after my husband’s death, I continued to feel joy for having been able to accompany him until his last breath.
Months later, I realized that God had heard my prayer as a small child seeking to know his holy providence. Even though the journey has not been easy, God has given all that has been needed to forge ahead. Members of St. Francis de Sales parish, members of the Emmanuel Community and many others opened their hearts to help us. Today I can see with more clarity God’s presence that has accompanied me throughout my life, and how God prepared and fed me through my life’s experiences and the Church’s sacraments to discover the sweet love of the Father.
Arellano-Castañeda, 46, is a widow and an active member of St. Francis de Sales in St. Paul, where she serves as a sacristan. She is a graduate of the University of St. Thomas’ Certificate of Lay Ministry program in Spanish, and a member of the Emmanuel Community. Arellano-Castañeda has three daughters, Estefany, Melissa and Mónica, and a son, Manuel.
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