Slaves of all - Jesus Army

Marist
Brothers
Teachers at
Carmino’s secondary
school, a Roman
Catholic religious
order. The order was
founded in France in
1817 by Marcellin
Champagnat, a
young French
priest. Champagnat
was disillusioned
with the growing
secularism that
gripped the areas
of rural France
where he worked.
He decided to start
a religious order of
brothers, building
schools for the
underprivileged
where they might
learn to become
“Good Christians
and Good Citizens”.
go to church? It just doesn’t make sense.”
Carmino began to sense that God wanted
him to get baptised – but he struggled
with this.
“God said, ‘Get baptised.’ I said, ‘Why
should I?’”
A few months later, another crisis loomed
as his mum became ill with breast cancer.
This was enough to bring Carmino to his
knees and God spoke again:
“Will you get baptised?”
“Yes,” said Carmino, and he began to
weep. “Something inside me just knew I
was born again.”
With this “yes” came the power to say
“no” to drinking and other bad habits. In
their place came an insatiable thirst for
God. Four months later, on 23 June 2002,
Carmino was baptised and he began to be
involved in local mission work with London
City Mission.
But still he wasn’t satisfied. In 2004, he
was in Spain, sitting on a bench with his
mother when he began crying.
“Look mother, there’s just one piece of
the jigsaw puzzle that I need and I don’t
know where to find it. God must give me
the last piece to see the full picture.”
Not long after, a Jesus Army bus was
parked in Croydon shopping district, and
Carmino walked straight on board.
“I just felt I could belong!” he recalls, “And
as soon as Jesus Army member, Anthony,
mentioned community Carmino thought,
“Yes – thank You, Lord!”
Here at last was the missing piece, “the
kingdom of God” lived out in a concrete
visible way, and Carmino moved quickly
to take hold of it – he became a committed
member of the Jesus Fellowship and
moved into Christian community that
same year, and made a commitment to
celibacy the next.
“It’s been a quick and exciting journey”, he
says, “but it has not been easy. I had found
church – but there is a price tag attached.
“God wanted everything. Everything
meant everything. Each part of the ‘everything’
has been difficult to surrender and
I’ve had to fight and fight and fight.”
Perhaps the most remarkable part has
been celibacy.
“Celibacy has multiplied my love for God,
for those around me and for the Church at
large. I can love without measure because
I feed from the love of God and the love of
God is completely unstoppable – the love of
another human being can be quenched.”
Carmino continues: “My calling is to
voice in a very humble and simple way
what is the heart of God and to be very
clear about it. It reminds me of the miraculous
multiplication of bread and fish:
a small, humble offering – five loaves and
two fishes – transformed into a huge meal
for a multitude.”
“That’s where God is at. That is the God I
love.”
“My greatest joy would be for people to
say ‘I saw Jesus through you; I saw God’s
love and beauty through you and you have
helped me to find God in a fuller way.’” JL
Far left:
Carmino
breaks bread
Left: Carmino
in Croydon
www.jesus.org.uk
Jesus Life Life Three/2007 Two/2007 Page 23