Rogelio Quintero’s faith changed after one simple question from a stranger two years ago: “Why are you so distant with God?”
At the time, Quintero, a Catholic medical student from Guadalajara, Mexico, was serving as a volunteer paramedic in Jerusalem with Magen David Adom (“Red Star of David”), Israel’s medical emergency services system.
One day, after finishing a 12-hour shift, he visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher — the church built at the site of Christ’s crucifixion and burial — in the Old City of Jerusalem. He watched for hours as pilgrims came and went. One person in particular stood out to him: a barefoot man with long white hair and a beard clothed in a white tunic. This man carried a walking stick and a rosary. He was strange, Quintero said, but not in a bad way. Somehow, he knew this man was special.
When the church closed, the man approached Quintero outside and immediately spoke to him in fluent Spanish, even though Quintero carried nothing that indicated he was from Mexico. The man first asked Quintero why he was so distant from God. Next, he asked, “Why did you come to Israel?”
Quintero told the man that he came to Israel because he knew God was calling him there, and also acknowledged that he was distant from God and not living as he ought; the barefoot man responded by telling Quintero that he needed to come to Israel again. The stranger, who said that he knew all languages and had traveled the world, knew the prayers of Quintero’s local community — and the name of his church.
This meeting, Quintero said, began a transformation of his faith, leading him to change course and promise, “God, I am your son. I will follow you.”
A lesson for life
Quintero completed meticulous training before volunteering for Magen David Adom, Israel’s ambulance, blood-services and disaster-relief organization, in 2022. The organization, which is supported by donations, exists so that every person in need receives medical care regardless of national origin, religion, ethnicity or political affiliation.
“I learned Hebrew to be able to serve,” Quintero said, calling his six months of language training one of the hardest things he has done in life. “Because I did some shifts in ambulances with only Hebrew speakers.”
In 2022, he said he was the only Catholic in his volunteer program, which includes young people from all over the world. When he returned to Mexico to graduate from medical school, Quintero took his training in Israel with him. He remembered how Magen David Adom treated their patients: as human persons worthy of care.
“I think when a population — when a people — are very close to God, they do things differently,” he said.
Today, he takes the time to listen to the patients he serves. He seeks to understand what they’re going through and to try to make them feel better.
A transformation in faith
Since his first trip to Israel, Quintero has told only a few religious friends about his encounter with the stranger.
“They say either this is a person that God wanted [to approach you] or an angel or something [like that],” he said. “Normally I don’t tell this to anybody because I think this is very special — this is a very special part of my life … but I think God maybe wants you to hear this story too.”
“I believe he was something God sent,” he said of the stranger. “Since then, I made the promise to God to follow him.”
His faith has grown, he said. These days he attends “el Santísimo,” or Eucharistic adoration, weekly to worship God with other Catholics.
“It’s like a community, very young people go,” he described, adding that they listen to the word of God, sing and pray.
Quintero still faces difficulties in following God, he said, and struggles with temptations. He added that he is surrounded by people his age who do not believe in God.
“It’s been a very, very, very difficult path,” he concluded. “But I think I am winning.”
He plans to return to Israel this summer, where he will spend some days volunteering once again for Magen David Adom.
