Rebeca, or Rebe as many know her, is a whirlwind of energy and faith. Wife, mother of five, businesswoman and Salvadoran marathon runner, her life is a testimony of how the multiple facets of the contemporary woman can converge in a path of encounter with God. "Like so many women of this century, I live each day with my heart divided between multiple facets, trying to give the best of myself in each one," confesses Rebe. For her, this intricate tapestry of life is woven, as she says, "always with the invisible thread of faith".
His relationship with the faith was nurtured in the warmth of a Catholic home, marked by simple and profound examples. "I remember my two grandmotherseach one with her rosary between her fingers," she recalls. Her paternal grandmother instilled in her devotion to the blessed souls in purgatory and trust in divine mercy. However, it was love that would propel her to an even deeper connection.
Running for love
In her youth, she prayerfully asked to "find a boyfriend who would love God and help me walk toward Him." Her prayer was answered with the arrival of her husband, who not only taught her to pray the Salve, but, years later, would be the inspiration for Rebe to put on running shoes.
Family life, with the arrival of five children, became a real "long-distance race". After the birth of their fifth daughter, medical advice led her husband to take up running for health reasons. Rebe, "seeking to share time with him and rekindle the flame of love," decided to join him. The start was not easy. "I remember the first day: I could barely breathe trying to keep up with him, while he came and went by my side," she says. The anecdote that marked a before and after, and forged her spirit as a runner, came when, in a moment of desperation during those first jogs, he blurted out: "Rebe, I didn't come here to walk". That phrase was the starting signal for her determination. She began to train alone during the week, alternating walking and jogging, until the day came when, in the shared runs, it was she "who was now setting the pace".
Long distances soon became his new horizon. She would get up at dawn to accumulate kilometers and return in time for the family's morning routine. In "that deep silence of the early morning, between the sound of my footsteps and the beating of my heart", Rebe found a "sacred space: my dialogue with God".
She discovered that, "in the solitude of the road, I could talk to him, thank him, ask him for strength". Although she sometimes escapes to the Tabernacle, she acknowledges that on her morning runs, "God gives us unique sunrises, each sunrise with its own palette of colors, reminding me that his love is always new and impressive."
Praying and running
For Rebeca, faith is lived "in everyday life. Together with her husband, they are convinced that "example is the best way to bring our children closer to God". But they do not hide their own struggles and frailties, because they know that "it is important to show them our falls, our struggles, and how we get up again and again, knowing that we are beloved children of a merciful Father".
Running taught him a valuable lesson: "A runner always moves forward with pain". This maxim became a fundamental pillar. "As in life," Rebeca reflects, "if we want to reach our goals we must move forward despite the pain, despite our fears, knowing that we are not alone in every step."
She learned to offer that effort, "that tiredness, for the souls in purgatory, for my family, for the intentions of those I love". An illusion constantly accompanies her: "to think that, perhaps, one day I will meet in heaven those souls for whom I ran an extra mile or offered a kilometer at a suicidal pace".
Running has also become a family activity. They have entered several races together, celebrating every goal they reach and learning that "spiritual life, like sports, is a constant struggle, but also a shared celebration".
Today, Rebeca looks back and sees that "every step, every race, every prayer, has been part of the same journey: that of seeking God in the ordinary, of finding Him in love, in effort and in the joy of living. Because, in the end, running and believing are, for her, two ways of always moving towards Him.
