Maca Exérez is studying a master’s degree in educational support at the Francisco de Vitoria University in her hometown of Madrid, Spain at 29 years old. After years of contact with Regnum Christi, she felt the call to become part of it. She joined the Almagro section after Holy Week Missions. The following interview explains how she sees being part of the Regnum Christi family as a gift:
Interviewer: Maca, when did you incorporate into Regnum Christi?
Maca: Easter Monday of this year!
How did you meet Regnum Christi?
I would not be able to put a date on it since Regnum Christi is a well-known movement here. But, there have been several moments in recent years that have let me know it well. For example: listening to the testimony of a Legionary, attending a silent retreat in which someone “forgot” a Regnum Christi Member Handbook, which I decided to start reading, a Consecrated Woman who opened the door to RC to me, inviting me to a team and proposing an apostolate when I desired to learn more about Regnum Christi…
And of all this, what made you want to be part of Regnum Christi?
I suppose, at the beginning, I was interested in how the movement was forming young people, because we are the future. However, once I got to know it more deeply, I loved the depth and variety and ease of being able to include an apostolate in your day-to-day life. To this day, knowing the movement from within, I would highlight its charism and the formation that it offer us. On top of that all there are incredible people, who for me are an example, are what make me want to be part of it.
So, what is Regnum Christi for you now?
For me, Regnum Christi is an investment in the future for me, my family, my future family, my environment, and the people that I know in my day to day life.
Do you have any special memories in relation to Regnum Christi?
I guess I could tell you the last one… Even though I have a lot!
I had been planning to join for several months, but since I am very social, no date would fit all the people who wanted to come to attend the incorporation ceremony.
However, on Easter Sunday, when it was 27° C [81° F], and we were putting suitcases onto a bus while trying to coordinate 35 16-year-old girls, after 4 amazing but exhausting days of missions in Cartagena, I was told to go running to talk to Fr. Francisco Ramos, LC. And I said to myself, “Yes, yes now I will go!” They insisted that it be at that moment.
I went running and the priest asked me if I had spoken with Fr. Miguel Segura. I did not understand anything, Father Miguel had not come on the missions with us…
Fr. Francisco said, “Maca, Father Miguel thought ‘why don’t you join tomorrow?’”
I think I drowned. I looked at my cell phone and there I had calls and a voicemail from Father Miguel. I called him and he more or less told me: “Look, I thought that since you want María (a friend who lives in Córdoba) to go to your incorporation, and I am going to Madrid from Cordoba tomorrow… We can go together – María and I – and then you can join!”
I remained silent evaluating this. The truth is that it was very sudden, but perfect. I told him I would talk to my mother, and if she could come, we would go to it. Half an hour later, I was sending this message to my friends: “I am joining Regnum Christi tomorrow at 8:30pm, Fr. Miguel has given this time to me; I understand if you can’t come.”
It was a beautiful Mass, with all the people who could attend, where I was thrilled with the commitment I was making. I was pleasantly surprised to receive messages from friends of mine, who do not belong to Regnum Christi, telling me that it had been one of the most beautiful Masses they had come to. Those who could not go were accompanying me from the heart.
Well, and after these experiences, what are you looking for in Regnum Christi?
A way to grow and form myself as a human being, that allows me to help and contribute to others.
Maca, tell us: what is the phrase that most inspires you?
¡Hagan lío! [A Spanish phrase that means “Make a mess!” or “Stir things up!” indicating the idea that you get involved and make things happen even if it isn’t perfectly planned.]
Do you participate in apostolate?
Yes! We are forming a team to give talks on affectivity and sexuality in parish youth groups. I think that, not only because of what we are going to help them, but also on a personal level, this is going to be great for us to apply it and understand many things that we simply assume.
Read the original in Spanish.
