Quique was convicted of kidnapping and was sentenced to 70 years in prison. While there, he participated in satanic rituals. When a chapel of perpetual adoration was opened in the prison, Quique became curious and went inside. It was then that his life started to change.
We are printing his testimony below.
My mother and her whole family were Jehovah’s Witnesses. As children, we used to take part in prayer meetings, where we read the Bible and studied books and magazines, not out of our own will, but out of fear of our grandfather. This oppressive atmosphere prevented me from getting to know God better. My father abandoned us when I was three. When my grandfather hit me, I would ask God to perform a miracle – that my father would come and protect me. Unfortunately, that never happened … This had a negative effect on my relationship with God.
When I was 16, I started living on the streets and fell in with bad company. After two years, I moved to Puebla. I quickly became addicted to drugs and other things. One day, I was able to get in touch with my father, who was also living there. He told me: “We go to Church every week. If you want to, you can come with us. If you don’t want to, don’t.” He added, “I see in you a need to change. If you want, you can change of your own will. I will not force you. The decision is up to you.” That same day I agreed to go to the Church of St. Jude Thaddaeus. I asked this saint to help me become a better person. Then a wonderful thing happened: I immediately stopped taking drugs. I did not even feel any withdrawal symptoms. I felt free and healthy even though for the past two years I had been addicted to a particular detergent used in cleaning pipes and limescale. I then started to work and study. I even met a girl, who is now my wife. At this stage of my life I prepared for baptism in the Catholic Church and then we married in the church. Soon after I was called to serve in the army and I again drifted away from God. Upon returning to civilian life I once more began to make mistakes and committed serious crimes. At that time, my grandmother, who was like a mother to me, also happened to be in hospital. One day I went to Church and asked God to forgive me all the evils that I had done, and I asked for Him to help me and to heal my grandmother. After that prayer I began on the road to change and I started working again.
In the Chains of Satan
Fifteen days later, in October 2014, several police cars drove up to our house. I was arrested and taken away. I was charged with kidnapping. When I heard the charges, I thought of the maximum sentence of 70 years and that my life was over. I wanted to kill myself but I could not bring myself to do it. They put me in isolation, in a cell without any light, blanket, or anything. At three in the morning I saw what appeared to be my grandmother. She came to tell me that she had just died. She wanted to say goodbye. It was only later that my father told me that my grandmother had indeed died.
In the same cellblock where I was held, there was a prisoner who was a Satanist. We called him Warlock. One day, we got to talking and I told him about myself. It was then that he planted the seeds of confusion in me. He said, “This is all God’s fault. You asked Him for forgiveness and yet He brought you here. You lost your grandmother and your family because of Him.” I began to feel a great sense of resentment against God. I blamed Him: “Why did You do this to me when I came to you and asked you for forgiveness?” My anger grew. I learned how to do magic and cast spells. I set up a small altar with Satan’s image where I would light a candle at three in the morning. I woke up every day at that hour to pray to Satan and raise my pleas to him. I became the Satanist’s right-hand man. I made my own deals with Satan. I told myself, “Satan will help me, he will take me out of prison.”
Adoration on Holy Thursday
I served the demons for two years until one Holy Thursday. In our cellblock we had a chapel where prisoners could go for adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament. When Sr. Lupita came to visit, I told her off, and in the most vulgar way told her to leave me alone, that I did not want to listen to any of her Bible stories. But on that very day, I heard people say that the Most Holy Lord will be present and this caught my interest.
When the Eucharist began, I had a strong desire to go to confession, so I stood in a long line with other prisoners. When it was my turn to confess I began crying like a baby. I admitted to all my sins and asked God for forgiveness. And then a miracle happened! I was completely transformed and freed and I felt real joy. I understood that there could only be freedom with Jesus. It was like a page had been turned and a new chapter began. I heard: “From this day on God is present with you in the Most Holy Sacrament.”
The Consequence of Evil
After my conversion I started to feel the consequences of all my evil deeds. When the Lord Jesus entered my life, my wife was three months pregnant with our child, but she suffered a miscarriage. I did not allow myself to get discouraged; I offered up my pain to Jesus and continued to follow Him. At about the same time that the Chapel of Perpetual Adoration was established, a choir was also formed. There were about a dozen inmates involved who sang and played the guitar. I also wanted to sing for the Lord. One day I entered the chapel and told Jesus: “Help me, I want to sing for You, I want to praise You. Help me learn to sing, for You.” I started to practice on my own, in my cell. Sr. Lupita gave me a guitar. Only God knows how I learned to play the guitar. Amazingly, I even played better than others who had been playing for years. Surely God gave me the talent.
The more I got closer to God, however, the more obstacles came my way. In previous years, Satan gave me everything – money, drugs… Now I told the evil one that I wanted nothing more from him. I continued to pray during Adoration. This is when temptations to rebel against God started. I would ask God, “Where are You? What do You want from me?”
When I converted and rejected Satanist rituals, the warlock told me, “I will take away from you that which you love the most.” Immediately after, my father became ill. He lay in bed and could not move. It was a difficult time and I felt helpless. Every night Satan would come and tell me, “Don’t be a fool, the answer is in your hands.”
Song to God
One day Bishop Felipe came to our chapel. I was in my cell and was angry at God. Some fellow inmates called out: “The Bishop is here, do you want to talk to him?” When I started heading for the chapel, I met one of the sisters and she said, “Bring your guitar. The Bishop would like to hear you sing!” It was at the end of the Year of Divine Mercy. When I entered the chapel, everyone was praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. I made my way through the crowd and got to the center of the chapel, near the Bishop. I joined the prayer unwillingly, with gritted teeth, hurt and angry that my father was so seriously ill. After the prayer, the Bishop asked if I was Quique, and said that he came to hear me sing. I felt privileged and honoured.
A few days later, my sister visited me. She said that our father was in the ICU and was near death. I applied for leave to go and visit my father, even though I knew that I was in a maximum security prison and no one ever gets permission to leave. I went to the chapel and told Jesus, who was present in the Sacred Host: “Let me be able to say goodbye to my father, give me the chance to see him one last time. Do this miracle for me!” After 15 minutes, a guard came for me, calling: “Quique! You’re leaving!” I left the Chapel in tears. When we were at the prison gate, the guard said, “I don’t know how you managed it. No one has ever been given permission to leave. We will take you to the hospital, so you can say goodbye to your father. But if you give us any problem, we have orders to shoot.” I entered the hospital in handcuffs and in the company of prison guards. They gave me 15 minutes with my father. He was in a very serious state and was unconscious. I managed to keep the tears back as I prayed silently and held his hand. A few days later my father died. That night I dreamt that I was in a big beautiful Church. Jesus came to me and said that he would teach me something new. He took the guitar and started to sing. I remember vividly that He sang a song of praise that contained the words: “No one loves you like I do!” In this moment I saw my father and bade him farewell. It was an incredible experience. Another gift that I received from God is marriage, which was blessed by Bishop Felipe.
Lay missionaries from the Chapel of Perpetual Adoration in Puebla would come and talk to the prisoners. These two women treated me like their own son and gave me courage: “Quique, you can do it! Pray! Surrender to God! Go for adoration in the chapel!” I rebelled but in my heart I felt a longing to sing for Him. At night, I would get up to pray and talk with Him. Finally the moment came when I told Jesus: “I will not ask You for anything more. If you do not want to let me out, then I will accept it. Just give me faith. But if you want me to be free, I will be extremely grateful.”
One day I was moved to another cell with other prisoners. I knew that it would be hard for me to get along with them. It was strange for me but I found that I did not even protest against it. I remember that I looked up at heaven and said: “You know why You brought me here. You have a plan. Let Your will be done. Protect me, help me and look after me.” Everyone in the new cell respected me. I started talking to them about God and they told me all their problems. I laughed and said: “God, now I know why You sent me here!” They were surprised when I would turn off the TV and start to pray. In spite of the frustration and pain of being apart from my wife and my family I remained faithful in prayer. There came a time when I felt that I had accepted the cross that I was carrying. I told Jesus: “If it is Your will that I stay here, then so be it!”
The Power of Prayer
In September 2017, after having already been in prison for three years, I was sentenced to 70 years in prison. It was a very difficult time for me. On the day of the sentencing my grandfather died. I cried, asking “Why?” After hearing the sentence, I talked with my wife and told her to leave me and to start a new life. She said that she wanted to stay with me and that she had not lost hope that I would get out one day. This kept my spirits up at first, but even this failed to help as time went on. It was a struggle every time my wife left after her visit. The most difficult was the thought of such a life for the next 70 years.
An incident occurred one day, about one year after my sentencing. I was innocent of the charge. There was no evidence of my guilt and I had never even faced my accuser. I asked myself why I had to be punished? I told God that if it was His will that I should spend the next 70 years in jail, I would accept it and I asked Him to take care of my family. After about half-an-hour a guard came in and told me that I was free. I told him not to joke with me. With a serious face he repeated that I was free. I could not believe it! After all, I had been sentenced to 70 years! The guard said: “Whether you believe it or not, it’s your business. I am telling you, you’re free!” All the guards confirmed this and congratulated me. I went to take my Bible and guitar. I left everything else; they did not mean anything to me. I called my wife and asked her to come and pick me up. I bid goodbye to all my fellow inmates and around midnight I was already walking about free in town. I felt so small compared with the greatness and goodness of God!
The Goodness of a Merciful God
I was freed on 23rd October 2018. My daughter had her First Communion on 27th October. In my wildest dreams I had not imagined that I would be able to take part in this celebration. Bishop Felipe performed the sacrament.
God is great … I suffered much – I had to face the consequences of my sinful deeds – but thanks to this I experienced the wonderful gift of a personal relationship with God. I also met incredible people, like Bishop Felipe and my two mothers – the lay missionaries.
I returned to a normal married life. Each day I pray to God. And though I fail many times and I have numerous faults, a lot has changed in my life. With God’s grace I now have my own business, which allows me to make a respectable living. God takes care of me and has given me so many things! I am convinced that there is no freedom without Christ, that I am free only when I am with Christ, which means when I am in a state of sanctifying grace.
Quique
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