Meet Anna and Alvaro Martinez: The Long Journey Home

Sometimes, in the midst of life’s struggles, it can feel as though God is far away. You wonder why He allows the pain He does. You question if He is actually cares about you and your suffering at all.

For parishioner Anna Martinez, it was these kinds of feelings that kept her away from the Church for many years. Born into a Catholic family and raised in the faith, she fell away as a young adult, in an abusive marriage. In 1999, she moved to Nebraska City, alone with her two young children, not knowing anyone. But in the midst of complete uncertainty, God provided in surprising ways — a home, a job, and safety for her and her family. However, in her pain, she still struggled to recognize His provision.

“I was still mad at God at that point,” Anna says. “I had to go through a horrible separation and moving from Texas to Nebraska City, it was so horrific.

“I’d ask, ‘God, where are You? I don’t see You — things keep getting worse,’” she adds. “Every time I would have struggles, I would say the same thing, ‘If I’m your child, where are You? You say You’ll protect me from evil, so, where are You? Are You sleeping?’”

Several years later, Anna and her children moved to Omaha, and God brought Alvaro into their lives.

“We didn’t start dating right away because of my past, I was scared of men,” Anna says. “We would just talk and every time he’d invite me to go out, I’d say, ‘yes,’ and then that day, I would call back and say I don’t have a babysitter, because I had second thoughts.”

However, in time, Anna’s heart softened. The couple had two more children, and began sporadically attending Mass in Omaha, where they had their children baptized.

“Alvaro was born Catholic and he would go to Mass with me, but we didn’t practice anything else,” Anna says. “We started going to Mass because we needed to baptize our kids, and they required us to be there. That’s how we got pulled into going to church.”

Several years later, the family moved to Carter Lake, and it wasn’t long before Anna found Fr. Joel McNeil — literally — knocking on her door.

“One day, I was at home and a man knocked on my door and said, ‘I’m looking for Anna — is she around?’” Anna says. “I open the door and I saw his collar — that he was a priest. And he said, ‘I’m Fr. Joel, I heard you’re from Texas and you speak Spanish and you’re Catholic?’ And I was like, ‘Everything, but Catholic — I don’t practice anything.’”

Fr. Joel shared with her his plans to begin a Spanish Mass at Our Lady of Carter Lake, and asked Anna to help him.

“We talked about my situation and me being mad at God and he told me that everything was going to be okay,” Anna says. “He started talking to me about forgiveness and how God forgives us, and I started the process of healing and forgiveness with myself, with God, and my surroundings. It was not easy — it was a long process. But we started our involvement with church then and there.”

Within weeks, Fr. Joel had trained Anna as a sacristan and lector, and she began coordinating the Spanish Masses at Our Lady of Carter Lake. When Fr. Joel realized how many children from the area were not receiving faith formation, Anna worked with him to arrange bus transportation for the children so they could attend classes. Step by step, she became more and more involved in the life of the parish.

“I started losing all that negatively I had inside and letting go,” Anna says. “I said, ‘I will do this because I love God and He loves me, and this is where I belong and where I want to be.’ I started losing that hole that I’d felt in my soul.”

Five years ago, Anna and Alvaro moved to Corpus Christi when the Spanish Masses at Carter Lake became too small to be sustainable, and, at the request of the pastor, began to coordinate all the training for sacristans and altar servers in the larger community.

And yet, after all this time, serving and being active in the life of the parish, something was still missing. Although Anna no longer doubted God’s presence in her life, she still longed to be fully reconciled with Him and united with Him fully in the True Presence of the Eucharist. So, with the help of Fr. Tom, Anna completed the annulment process for her previous marriage, and this past January, Anna and Alvaro had their marriage convalidated and blessed in the Church. For Anna, not only was it was beautiful moment for her marriage, but a moment of long-awaited union with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

“Fr. Tom was the one behind me getting all of this taken care of,” says Anna of the annulment process. “I said, ‘I’m not going to make God wait for me any longer, He’s been waiting for me for so long — He’s waiting for me at His table, and I want to be part of His table, at His feast.”

The celebration of Mass was a powerful one for Anna, both in the celebration of her sacramental Marriage and in receiving the Eucharist.

“By the time of Communion, I was crying and crying, I couldn’t stop,” Anna says. “I said, ‘This is the time I was waiting for, for such a long time. I’m sorry for being stubborn in not moving forward, but we’re here to accomplish what You started in our lives and this is where I want to be. This is my house, this is my home. This is the day that I’m not going to see You pass by me.’

“That was the day my soul was waiting for, for such a long time,” she adds. “The only empty spot I had in my heart, that day it was filled.”

Anna encourages her fellow parishioners who may not be married in the Church to consider what steps they need to be fully reconciled with God and their community.

“I will encourage all couples to come forward to your pastor and get the information you need,” Anna says. “Something can be done. Don’t take it from your neighbor or cousin or friend — come to the person who knows what can be done.”

As for Anna and Alvaro, they now look forward to all the new ways that God is inviting them to serve the parish, as a couple.

“We felt that we had our pastor and our church backing us up in everything in our lives, and now we have God backing us up in everything in our lives,” Anna says. “Now He comes with us everywhere — He’s inside us. I tell Him when I take Communion, “Now You’re with me — I don’t only walk with your Word, I walk with You inside of me.’”

Thank you, Anna and Alvaro, for all the ways you have served our community at Corpus Christi over the years! Congratulations on having your marriage blessed. We pray for abundant graces in your marriage and many happy years together!

Parishioners Alvaro and Anna Martinez had their marriage blessed this past January.