A Vocation Forged in Companionship
The story of Fr. Juan Carlos Palacios does not begin at an extraordinary moment, but in something profoundly human: the encounter with others. Recalling his journey, he speaks not first of decisions, but of faces, of companions, of shared history.
“It has been an experience of getting to know each other, of accompanying each other… we are a silent team: if one wins, the other also wins.”
That first vocational retreat—in which only two young men responded—was not an anecdotal detail, but the beginning of a way of living faith: together. Since then, vocation has been for him a profoundly communal experience, where the other is not an addition, but an essential part of the journey.
In an Augustinian key, the community appears as the place where vocation is verified. It not only sustains, but reveals. It not only accompanies, but forms. It is there that faith ceases to be an idea and becomes shared life.
A Process That Allows Itself to Be Illuminated
When asked about the origin of his vocation, he does not offer a date, nor a specific moment. His answer breaks with the logic of the immediate:
“More than a foundational experience, it has been a process… allowing the light of God to illuminate my life.”
From childhood, his inclination towards faith took shape in daily life: the parish, service, apostolic groups. There was no rupture, but continuity. There was no “before and after,” but a story that was gradually illuminated.
That process found clarity upon discovering his place in the Order:
“When I met the Order, I said: this is where I must be.”
But even that “yes” does not appear as definitive, but as part of a path that continues to open up. Discerning, in his experience, is not about resolving, but about learning to view one’s own life in the light of God.
A Priesthood That Learns to Love
Upon receiving the priesthood, his perspective is not that of one who has arrived, but of one who begins anew. Far from any self-sufficiency, he simply acknowledges: “I don’t know everything… there is much to learn.”
From there, he redefines what it means to live the ministry. Not as a function, but as a relationship. Not as certainty, but as a shared path. And he expresses it with a deeply significant image: “The people of God are the root of this tree… without that root, it would bear no fruit.”In his experience, God does not appear in the extraordinary, but in the concrete: “God is in my brothers, in my community, in the people.”And that certainty has led him to an inner attitude that permeates his entire life: to trust. “It is not my timing, but His… it is not my way, but His.”
Therefore, when he addresses young people, he offers no formulas, but a simple and radical key: “How does one hear the voice of God? By loving.”Because, at its core, his entire story can be summarized in that experience: allowing oneself to be loved in order to respond. Allowing oneself to be guided in order to serve. Allowing oneself to be transformed in order to give one’s life.
And so he expresses it himself, as a synthesis of his journey:
“To allow ourselves to be captivated by the Lord… and to always continue in the desire to love.”
