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.