Former soldier leaves the Royal Guard to serve Spain as a priest

Lieutenant Colonel José de la Pisa is, since last May 27, a priest who follows in the wake of the saints who throughout the history of the Catholic Church abandoned the military to serve the King of Kings.

In his case, furthermore, he has done so by leaving command of a battalion of the Royal Guard that had been entrusted to him. “I wrote to HM the King explaining the reasons, telling him that he was renouncing command to serve Spain in another way and that, in that sense, we would now have a common leader,” he detailed in an interview published in the website of Opus Dei.

For 25 years, the now priest served in the Spanish Marine Corps, the oldest military body specialized in amphibious special operations in the world, where he has participated in military deployments in the Middle East and Africa, with special relevance in Lebanon and Somalia.

In war zones he has been able to see first-hand that “the idea of ​​mercy and dignity disappear outside the Christian sphere,” even in the midst of the damage caused by war and “the drama of the displaced and those who have lost it.” all”.

In 2017 he abandoned his weapons – a service present in his family for generations – to follow his vocation to the priesthood, although during his military life faith was not absent, as he was already a member of Opus Dei.

“In this environment, being a member of Opus Dei raises many questions and if you also work in an environment as close as that of a special operations team, the questions immediately go to the bottom, without detours. There are many beautiful stories, thank God, like that of a very friendly lieutenant who, now that I have been ordained, says that he is willing for me to baptize him,” describes the new priest, whose doctoral thesis is titled Human virtues and military ethics. Moral virtues, support for the military’s ethical behavior.

It is not the only case of conversions in which he has intervened in some way. So it was with Brian, a Taiwanese officer she met during training at the United States Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia.

During one Lent, Brian visited Joseph in Spain. “We went to Seville and we met a group of costaleros training… it was quite a challenge to explain it to them, so we ended up at the Macarena and then at the Cathedral to try to make them understand it. A few years later, in 2021, Brian was baptized. I like to think that his visit to the Macarena had a lot to do with it,” he explains.

Priestly service like military service

Father José considers priestly service “in the same way that I considered my service in the Armed Forces.” In this sense, he assures that the writings of Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer help him a lot.

“I want to help others, serve in what is important. I think this serves both purposes, although in the priestly role I no longer need to look for “adversaries” now I am open to everyone and I can dedicate myself to the most important needs of people, helping them reach God,” he details.

Lessons received during his training in Rome

Father Luis de la Pisa explains that his years of formation “in Rome with the Pope have been a gift,” especially because the Pontiff “spoke clearly and strongly to the seminarians of Rome about the need for the sacraments, for prayer and cultivating friendship with God. “To be sincere, to have spiritual direction and not to be dependent on social networks.”

On the other hand, as a member of Opus Dei, in those years his closeness with his prelate Mons. Fernando Ocáriz was relevant: “Talking with him before ordination I asked him for advice on being kind and having a good character. He made me see that others expect him to be a priest one hundred percent, to speak about Christ, as Saint Josemaría highlighted. And that my opinions take a backseat. He encouraged me to listen first and then to speak, to tell things, to be interested in others without controversy, to unite with the help of God.”

Bring Christ to all souls

For Father de la Pisa, the mission of the priest today is “to bring Christ to all souls, to all, not only to Catholics”, a reflection that is born from his experience in the military: “From the shortcomings personal, you can see people thirsty for God. This is well observed in conflict zones,” he details.

Deployed in combat zones is when he has had the “deepest conversations about God” with his men, with whom he talked “about faith, mercy and the meaning of pain or the existence of evil.”

“I have also found that thirst among those who have suffered the consequences: refugees, in the civilian population and among combatants on both sides,” he adds.

In order to be an instrument to quench that thirst, he defends that in the mission of the priest the first thing is to “take care of his own interior life, his piety and his relationship with Jesus Christ. And then, to be able to act as him, to bring the mercy, tenderness and love of God to others.”