Abram León, associate director of lay ecclesial movements for the Archdiocese of Denver, was born and raised in a Catholic family where faith was always instilled in him. Originally from Mexico, he was baptized just five days after his birth, on August 30, the feast day of St. Rose of Lima.
Although his parents always taught him faith and the love of God, Abram faced challenges that led him away from God’s path when he had to migrate to the United States at the age of 14.
“I began to make work the most important thing in my life, which made my relationship with God very lukewarm. I felt a deep inner emptiness that work, money and luxuries couldn’t fill. There was always a void or a need for something more,” he shared.
However, despite this “lukewarmness” with God, Abram knew that only God’s way would give his life true meaning.
At 18, he married his wife, María Josefa León, who continually invited him to return to his faith. But it wasn’t until he was forced to attend a formation group so that one of his daughters could make her First Communion that Abram returned to God. On the first day, a Bible verse was shared that changed everything.
“People will be self-centered and lovers of money, proud, haughty, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, irreligious, callous, implacable, slanderous, licentious, brutal, hating what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, as they make a pretense of religion but deny its power. Reject them” (2 Tim 3:2-5).
“I felt my face burn with shame. My heart began beating so fast, as if I were being exposed in front of everyone. At that moment, I felt that I had to do something, that all that text was meant for me,” he recalls.
From that day forward, Abram focused more on his formation class and began taking it seriously. Shortly after, in February 2004, he attended a charismatic retreat where he had a personal encounter with Christ.
“It was a turning point in my life. From there, my life made a 180-degree change,” he shared.
After the retreat, Abram immediately joined a prayer group in the charismatic renewal. “It was the happiest Monday of my life. I knew I would receive something more than just a paycheck,” he said, recalling his first day in the group.
From then on, Abram knew he could no longer live as he had before.
“When you have an experience with God, you cannot keep living the same way,” he said. “When you experience the love of Jesus, when you have an encounter with the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, the eyes of your soul are opened, and you begin to see life differently.”
Abram began living his faith by dedicating more time to God, reading the Scriptures, being more present with his family, praying, blessing his meals, talking to his family about faith, but above all, always putting God first. In his own words, he began to be a “sponge” absorbing all the teachings God was giving him.
“I felt a great spiritual ambition, a deep desire to know more and to receive more, and above all, a great desire to speak about what God was doing in my life with others, to bear witness,” he expressed.“When you truly have an encounter, you cannot stop talking about what you’ve seen and heard.”
Through his faith community and prayer, Abram began to discover charisms and gifts he didn’t know he had. He longed to speak about God, communicate the Good News and serve in the Church. From 2004 to 2008, Monday through Friday, Abram dedicated his afternoons to being in the Lord’s presence.
“I felt a great attraction, like a large magnet pulling me to the Blessed Sacrament, to the adoration chapel. Every day, I would spend an hour with him. I didn’t know about meditation or prayers, I just contemplated him, and that filled me and gave me rest, and that’s why I kept going, for four years straight,” he remembered.
During this time, Abram worked in construction. Though he always came home physically tired, he never missed his appointment with the Lord. One day, while in the presence of Jesus, he made a request: “Lord, I’m tired of working in this. Why don’t you get me a job where I can repair parishes that need brick repairs?”
God not only heard his prayer, but he had something much better for him. Shortly after, Abram became the Coordinator of the Charismatic Renewal movement for the Archdiocese of Denver.
“I was working in construction, building cells to imprison people at the Denver City Jail. The Lord took me out of there, and I started building paths to free people through movements, its works, its vision, its spirituality and its charism of evangelizing and bringing more souls to Christ,” he said.
With a new job and a new schedule, he stopped attending the adoration chapel every day, but he had the opportunity to attend Mass every morning before starting his workday, something he does to this day. “You cannot live without the Eucharist,” he said.
“Every time I have needed to talk to Jesus, I always go to the chapel. I know that can talk to him anywhere, but in the Eucharist, his real presence is there, alive: body, blood, soul, and divinity. To worship him, to listen to him, to contemplate him, and above all, to let ourselves be loved by him. That’s how I define my devotion to the Eucharist, to the Mass,” Abram shared.
In addition to his ongoing faith formation over the years, Abram completed his basic education and graduated from Anáhuac University with a degree in Religious Sciences through the partnership between Centro San Juan Diego and the university.
