VÍCTOR FERNANDO REINO QUINDE

My name is Víctor Fernando Reino Quinde, I am from the city of Cuenca, the first son of three brothers. I am 46 years old, my father passed away 19 years ago, I belong to the fifth community of San Juan Pablo II in Cuenca and in Quito to the second community of San Blas.

Today I bless God because I see and live his love and mercy made flesh in me, because until I was 18 years old I had not known what love is. From the age of 12 I fell into a senselessness of life and into a suffering that was death in life: this was due to the fact that I did not feel accepted at school, at work and even rejected by my father; the only way to endure all this was with alcohol and drugs and I became an alcoholic. I drank for 45 to 50 days, day and night, and I thought that God had made a mistake by bringing me into this world. I suffered at the thought that nobody loved me and it hurt me to see my parents suffering for me and I thought that I was a monster and that I had better disappear. More than 18 years old, thanks to a sister, I was able to return to the Church when I entered it and heard: GOD LOVES YOU! It was the greatest gift I had received, I felt my heart beating and crying, crying with joy, with joy to hear this good news, because I had not felt loved all this time. From there I have been able to see the love of God and also His mercy, because on the Neocatechumenal Way God has gradually healed me of all these weaknesses that had me enslaved, especially alcohol, drugs and believing that nobody loved me. God has been healing me thanks to my community.

Today I live grateful for this beautiful gift from the Lord, and I see God's mercy for me, because I look back and remember a person who had no meaning and no hope, and who today lives firm with hope, grateful for being the son of God, and living God's love every day, in my falls and rises and in the healing that God does in me. Today the Lord has given me the gift of being part of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary of Esmeraldas.

I thank you for all your generosity to us. Pray that the Lord will continue his work in me.