María de los Ángeles Pelechú remembers going to Mass as a child in her native Guatemala but found something was missing. She believed in God and would climb a hill near her home, where she would witness nature’s beauty. In the midst of recognizing God’s handiwork, however, she admitted she would challenge the Lord to show her a sign – seeking proof that God was with her always.

While she does not remember receiving an immediate answer, de los Ángeles Pelechú began to see the Lord at work in her life 23 years later, during a retreat with fellow members of St. Joseph Parish, Trenton. God, she said, was calling her to seek the Sacraments and a deeper relationship with Christ.

She began the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process as a candidate who would receive the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Confirmation at the Easter Vigil with Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., in Trenton’s Cathedral.

“I arrived at the Cathedral very early to pray,” she recalled of the March 31 Vigil. “I felt God asking me if I remembered the tests I put to him as a child and I said, ‘Yes, Lord, I remember.’ Well, the Lord said to me, ‘Today is the big day. Today I give you the answer to your tests.’”

Filled with emotion that she admittedly struggled to describe, she approached Bishop O’Connell for his blessing and found herself crying and unable to speak. “What’s the matter?” she recalled the Bishop asking.

After being fully initiated into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil, she turned her attention to the Sacrament of Marriage. She and her husband, Pedro, celebrated their wedding April 7 with their children  Angie, 10, Pedro Jr., 7, and Angel, 5, continuing the Lord’s loving response to her “tests.”

During the Mass, celebrated by their pastor, Msgr. Joseph Roldan, in St. Joseph Church, an emotional Pedro turned to his wife to say, “At last, the moment has come when we can receive the Body and Blood of Jesus together.”

By Matthew Greeley, associate director of communications