Clay in God's Hands: Isaac Delgado and the Digital Mission

Isaac Manuel Delgado Murillo is a 23-year-old Costa Rican who is currently finishing his degree in Business Administration. His true passion and the work that fills his days revolve around ambitious digital evangelization projects. Although he grew up in a Catholic home, where Christian values were instilled in him, he himself acknowledges that at first it was a faith he had inherited.

The turning point toward a personal encounter with God began with a very traditional form of devotion: praying the Rosary. When he tried to pray it on his own for the first time, he realized that he didn't really know how to do it. “I think it was the worst Rosary I’ve ever prayed, but also the one I prayed with the most sincere heart.”, he admits with humor and candor, recalling how he skipped parts and got confused. 

Despite the setbacks, grace did its work: “I felt that motherly love, and every time I prayed it, I drew closer to her Son.”. That experience cemented his conviction that his faith would not have developed in the same way without that beginning, confirming that “The Rosary changes lives, and it’s a practice that gradually leads you to greater and greater things.”.

That very day, he felt a deep and overwhelming calling to form a group of young people to share their faith, driven by his concern at seeing so many people his age completely estranged from the Church. Filled with anxiety, he sat down to write out topics and activities, originally dreaming of an in-person project. However, when he invited his close friends, there was no response: “No one wanted to join in”. He was also unsuccessful when he suggested it to Catholic friends he had met online.

Work Without Losing Heart

Far from becoming discouraged, Isaac decided to open an Instagram account to share all the material he had saved about the stories of the saints and the immense richness of the Church. 

His hope was that, by using a style geared toward young people, the content would attract people and a virtual group might form. That's how it all began Catholic Lutum, an apostolate that brings the Word of God to young people online and takes its name from the Latin word for “clay.”. 

What began in secret, with no intention of reaching a wide audience, quickly attracted many young people, proving to him that the project had surpassed his expectations: “I am 100 % convinced that this is something that comes from God”.

Living Out Our Faith in Community

This rapid growth brought with it new challenges. Isaac was tempted to carry out his ministry alone, but he soon realized that “That journey must always be taken as a community”. As she became involved in Catholic initiatives and networks, she discovered that God had a path laid out for her—creating content and videos, forming invaluable friendships, and traveling to places she never imagined. “If my account were to disappear today, I really don’t think it would affect me, because I already have the gift in all my friendships.”, he asserts firmly.

This commitment to the community has led him to cross borders, actively collaborating on projects such as Miracle for Mexico, by participating in a network of digital missionaries and helping to organize the event Acts 29 in Costa Rica. A highlight of his career was collaborating with the Dicastery for Communication to cover the Jubilee of Digital Missionaries in Rome. 

During a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, when he saw Cardinal Tagle enter, his mind drifted back to that first rosary in his room, and he realized with wonder that “God’s ways are a mystery, but they’re always what’s best for us.”.

Thinking about the legacy he wants to leave behind, Isaac realizes that the mission is an extraordinary gift, but he warns that “It can become a danger to those who undertake this mission, because there are many temptations along the way.”. For this reason, his greatest desire is to offer a helping hand to other evangelizers, helping them overcome obstacles by drawing on his own mistakes and failures. Echoing the words of Pope Francis, the young creator describes himself as “a poor sinner to whom God has shown great mercy.”.