Choosing God as a family

Together with their three children, four years ago Edgar and Maquency moved to “El Diamante”, the Focolare’s little city 50 kilometers from Puebla, and close to 170 kilometers from Mexico City. Although only a couple of dozen inhabitants, each year a few thousand visitors come to this land, which has a culture of sharp contrasts, including modern, well-populated cities and vast surrounding areas.
The little city is a true point of a diamond, the beating heart of the Focolare Movement that Chiara Lubich founded in 1990. It is a place that bears witness to how Gospel life can become enculturated if it is based on dialogue and mutual exchange between diverse cultures.
“We decided to move to the little city with our three children to contribute in a practical way. We landed here after responding to a real and true call from God to build the city togethe rwith others,” says Edgar.
“For us, making ourselves available was a way to pay back all the love that has been given us ever since we heard about the ideal of unity,” Maquency adds.

“Recently,” says Edgar, “we were trying to make ends meet, which was difficult without having a steady job. During our first year in the little city, I had different carpentry and plumbing jobs, and then I worked as a house painter to support our family. After that, discussing it with Maquency and the other focolarini, we decided I would go and search for other income in my field, engineering. After some time, I found a job in a city 90 kilometers from the little city. The work was good, and I was happy, but there was always that feeling that I was far away from home, my family and the little city.”
Then another opportunity arose in a nearby city. “Talking about ita t home, we decided to accept the job. At first it seemed a good option, but after a few months of working at that business, I realised that things were not quite what they seemed and gave my notice.
“I then went back to the little city and dedicated myself to silk-screen printing. It felt like I had gone backwards.
“Instead just after that, an unexpected job offer came up as a consultant for a project. I was immediately hired, and I really enjoyed the work and the pay was good. Finally we were able to have financial stability in our family.”

When everything seemed to become normal from the financial point of view, Edgar was surprised to be asked to manage the maintenance in the little city, which was quite needed so many years after being built.
“My wife and I entered into a new phase of discernment, trying to understand the right choice to make. There were moments of uncertainty and worry, especially when we thought of our children’s future.”
“We remembered,” Maquency says, “our early experience that God had us live through. We felt we were being asked yet again, since when God calls, he asks to leave everything and demands an. Exclusive love. He wants us to leave our security in order to put ourselves at the service of others. Yet he also offers us everything, as the Gospel says: ‘No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the Gospel will fail to receive a hundredfold in the present age.’”
“And so we decided that I’d put myself at the service of the little city. When I discussed it with my manager at the business, he exclaimed, ‘If only there were many people like you!’ and he proposed that I work for reduced hours, which matched my needs. I experienced how Providence intervened firsthand and how true the Gospel is.”