April 15, 2008. Today is Rocio Moreno’s 32nd Anniversary of consecration to God in the Regnum Christi Movement. In this interview, she shares some of her experience of being one of the first ones to blaze the trail in a new vocation in the Church.
The Legionaries and the Regnum Christi Movement were a part of your life since you were a young girl. Can you tell us how this relationship shaped you from your youth?
My family has known the Legionaries of Christ since 1959 when my brother Rafael went to the apostolic school. I was three years old. The only memory I have from that time is of Fr. Carlos Mora, LC coming to my house often after my brother left. We loved Fr. Mora a lot; we admired him, and we made sure he always had everything he needed.
When I was fourteen years old, the Legionaries invited my older sister to consider consecrated life, even though it was just beginning in Regnum Christi. When my parents accepted her vocation, they said they knew that Fr. Maciel, LC was doing something very good because there was already something great: the Legionaries of Christ.
How do you see the founder’s role in your vocation?
He himself invited me to be a part of the Movement. He showed me that God loved me so much and that God could be calling me to consecrate my life to him, just as the apostles did. I don’t remember everything that he told me, but he spoke a lot about Christ, the Church, and the apostolates and places where we would be going after we formed ourselves as consecrated women.
As one of the first consecrated women of Regnum Christi, was it hard for you to say yes to your vocation when everything was just beginning?
No, it was not difficult to say yes, although, it was hard to leave my parents. I remember that I was happy. Everything was new, and we were going to be formed under the guidance of Fr. Jose Alonso, LC, Fr. Rafael Arumí, LC, and Mari Carmen Perochena (a consecrated woman). We also learned a lot through the visits from Fr. Maciel, LC and his letters to us. Our formators showed great interest in assimilating the charism and putting it into practice; there was a great interest in being what we should be. Fr. Jose Alonso, LC was always reminding us of the seriousness to form ourselves well because we had to bring the Movement to many other places.
What has helped you to persevere in fidelity to Christ in your vocation?
What has helped me persevere in fidelity in my vocation has been, above all, to know the love of Christ, to know that immense love he has for me and to desire to console his heart by doing his holy will wherever obedience places me.
What advice would you give to those who are searching for God’s will in their lives?
To those who are searching for God’s will in their lives, I would tell them to be generous with God. Give him everything he asks. Because God is love and he loves you very much: put him first and yourself second.
Where have you worked in your years as consecrated woman?
My first apostolate was in the United States for one year and eight months. I was helping in ECYD – a little bit because I didn’t speak English. Then I was sent to Cotija, Mexico for 10 years and there I had a variety of apostolates: I was an administrator for a time, I worked in the Regnum Christi young women sections, the ECYD sections, the Regnum Christi women’s section, and I was the head of an apostolate called ANSPAC for a time as well. Later I worked at the precandidacy school (for high school girls who are discerning a possible vocation) in Mexico for 9 years. Currently I am working in the formation center for consecrated women in Rhode Island and I have been here for 8 years.
What has it meant for you to be one of the first consecrated women?
Being one of the first consecrated women has meant a huge responsibility for me personally. I am aware that I must live and pass on what I learned, saw, and heard directly from Nuestro Padre. I feel like it depends on me, on us cofounders, to preserve the spirit in its entirety, and I will do this if I live each day with fidelity, trying to live my life according to the Statutes (the Statutes of the Regnum Christi Movement). I will do this if I guard the virtue of charity as the most precious pearl.
What is the greatest gift for you of being a cofounder?
I think that the greatest gift of being one of the first ones is the grace of having lived alongside my founder. I saw him living what we were being asked to live: humility, detailed charity, always speaking well of others, and tender love for Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the pope.
Rocio Moreno is from Leon, Mexico. She has a brother who is a Legionary of Christ, Fr. Rafael Moreno. Her sister, María Laura Moreno, is also a consecrated woman in Regnum Christi. Rocio’s fidelity over the years and her simplicity in her daily fight for holiness continue to be a shining testimony for all the young consecrated members who live with her in the formation center in Rhode Island.
