José de la Pisa is 53 years old and has served as lieutenant colonel of Spanish Marines in Lebanon, the
Indian Ocean, and the Royal Guard
From the special forces to priest of
Opus Dei: I wanted what is most difficult, where I could help more.
"In the difficulties and hardships of life you learn to
give to others without reservation, to share and to need nothing but
others," says José, who has served on missions such as Lebanon or the
Indian Ocean (photo: Opus Dei).
"It's been 25 years of military
work in the Marine Corps. The toughest thing in the Navy. A quarter of a
century in areas of conflict, warring territories and peace missions (from
Lebanon to the Indian Ocean) from which he has learned some teachings that, he
says, will now serve him on his new priestly path," thus begins the report
in El Norte de Castilla,
on José de la Pisa Pérez de los Cobos (Valladolid, 1971).
Jose was ordained a priest last
Saturday in Rome, in the Basilica of St. Eugene, in
a ceremony officiated by Toshihiro Sakai, auxiliary bishop of Osaka-Takamatsu
(Japan).
"Military life has allowed me
to be in contact with many people who suffer, with people completely uprooted,
with refugees, with human beings who have lost everything or who live immersed
in hatred. Knowing these realities firsthand allows you to see the people
behind them, to realize that everyone, in the end, wants the same, and that
we all suffer" says De la Pisa, 53 years old.
You learn to give yourself to others
The priest tells the Spanish media
that at the age of 18 he already felt the vocational call. "I had decided
to prepare the exams to enter the military academy and I felt God's call
to give myself totally to Him in Opus Dei," recalls Joseph, who had
studied at the Peñalba School in Valladolid.
He was ordained a priest last
Saturday in Rome (photo: Opus Dei).
His great vocation since childhood was the Armed Forces. He entered the Naval
Military School and for five years was trained to be an officer of the Marine
Corps. "I found a world that prepares you to
defend others, and that is inspired by the greatest ideals, which makes it
easier to dedicate the best energies to work, forge great friendships, and
always be in a position to help where it is needed," he explains.
When the training in the Naval School ended, he completed a Special
Operations course and for several years served in the Navy Special Operations
Unit, with his participation in international missions. Then he trained in the
United States, and transferred to Cadiz. 'I was always attracted to the
possibility of being there where the situation
was harder, where I could help the most, even if that would be a challenge.
I never liked being told things, I wanted to be there," he explains to "El
Norte de Castilla".
Jose de la Pisa (at the
center of the image) with his Armed Forces company (photo: Opus Dei).
That's why he bet on a corps that's
ready to deploy at any time it is needed, ready to disembark anywhere. "In
the difficulties and hardships of life you learn to give yourself to others
unreservedly, to share and to need nothing but others," says Fr. Jose.
"In 2006 we were deployed in
southern Lebanon. A few weeks after the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Our mission was to occupy a strip of land near the border, to make it difficult
the return of hostilities and allow the ceasefire to be maintained," says
Joseph, who, in those months, was very aware of the drama of Syrian
and Palestinian refugees, thousands of homeless people.
'It was especially hard to see the
kids approach the moving vehicle to ask for water and some food. It was even harder to have to
give the order not to do so because if not, we risked that one of those
kids could end under the wheels of our moving vehicles," explains the
Spanish priest.
"Entering the refugee zones was
a big impact and we were trying to alleviate their needs. When you talk to them,
when they show you their homes and shanties or offer you what they have, you
realize that, really, we are all the same, we have the same illusions, needs
and fears, and that a little humanity and affection solves many problems. One
of the things that caught most my attention was to see how the idea of
mercy and dignity of the person disappears outside the Christian sphere,"
he comments in this case to the Opus Dei website.
His letter to the King: "We
will have a common boss"
When he left the Navy, in 2017, he
had been assigned command of one of the Royal Guard battalions, the unit in
charge of protecting the King. 'Although I'm not active, I haven't lost touch
with my colleagues. In fact, they are now looking for me to ask for spiritual
advice from trust. It is very enriching to me and, at the same time, allows me
to remain in contact with the profession and the military career. And on my
resignation from the battalion of the Royal Guard, I wrote to H.M. the King
explaining the reasons, telling him that I was resigning from command to serve
Spain in another way, and that in that sense, we would now have a common
Chief, so I hoped that he would not find it a bad decision, and because
besides, it would not be difficult for him to find another candidate for the
post."
In 2009, De la Pisa was stationed in the Indian Ocean under the command of a
special operations team. "We were able to stop a big group of pirates,
with a history of murders and excesses that would horrify anyone. When you
questioned them, you realized that, just as they had chosen to go out to sea
and face the real dangers of drowning, many others in their villages had chosen
to seek honest ways of living. In a world where
they have nothing, it is very interesting to wonder why some opt for good and
others don't," he explains.
"I was lucky enough to study for a year (2010) in the United States, at
US Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia. There, I coincided with 200
other U.S. military personnel and 25 other foreigners. Then we started a social
group that looked like a joke: a Spaniard, a Taiwanese, a Tanzanian, an Afghan
and a Malaysian. We were forging a good friendship and questions came up. About
the Blessed Trinity, or the role of Our Lady... and so many questions and very
varied, which they then reinterpreted according to their Muslim and Shintoist
beliefs, which greatly enriched me. Brian was the one I forged the deepest friendship,
Taiwanese, who years later came for a week, during Lent, to visit me. We went
to Seville and we met some members of a devotional confraternity... it was quite a challenge to explain to him, so we
ended up in the procession of Our Lady of Macarena and then in the Cathedral, trying
to get him to understand. 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
says.
Some experiences that have served his life of faith? "The brine and saltpeter
of the sea quickly damages all electronic systems and weapons. If continuous
maintenance is not done, when the systems are to be used, they are of no use.
The same can be applied to our way of acting daily. As well-intentioned as we may be, if we do not
struggle continuously to avoid bad inclinations, the laziness of not finishing things
right or not starting the tasks at the scheduled time (or leaving them for later),
at the end, soon, our will breaks down, and we are left at the mercy of our
passions," he says in "El Norte de Castilla".
And, he says, as Catholic, in the Army, he has encountered surprising
facts. "In this environment, being a numerary of Opus Dei raises many
questions, and if you also work in an environment as tight as that of a special
operations team, their questions go to the bottom, without beating around the
bush. There are many amazing stories, thank God, like
that of a lieutenant friend who, now that I have become a priest, says he is
willing to be baptized by me," he says.
"The times I have been deployed is when I have had deeper conversations
about God with my men, on faith, mercy, and the sense of pain, or the existence
of evil. I have also found this thirst among those who have suffered the consequences: in
refugees, in the civilian population and among combatants on both sides. If
you try to serve others, to try to take care of their needs, people notice it
right away, and show interest and curiosity about that way of behaving. Then it
is possible to explain the reason: the love of God behind it," he
concludes.
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