Called to Serve: One Deacon’s Journey of Faith, Family and Renewal

Deacon Raul Martinez (left) and his family. (Photo provided)

By Caitlin Burm

Answering God’s Call

Sometimes God’s call to serve comes as a gentle whisper — and often when we least expect it.

For Deacon Raul Martinez, that whisper came during one of the hardest chapters of his life. What began in heartbreak became a journey of faith, renewal and service — one that transformed Deacon Martinez, his wife, Linda Martinez, their family and the parish community at St. Theresa Parish in Frederick.

“I didn’t grow up going to church very much. When my wife and I married, she was a faithful churchgoer, but after moving away from our hometown, we slowly allowed the world to consume us. We fell into the trap of thinking that God did not need to be at the center of our lives, that He could simply be on the sidelines ‘just in case,’” Deacon Martinez explained.

“About five years later, everything began to unravel,” he added. “My wife and I were on the brink of divorce, and my young brother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer and passed away. I remember asking myself, ‘What is going on? I’ve done everything the world said would make me happy, so why do I feel so empty?’”

In that moment of despair, he reached out to a local pastor, Father Hernan Florez Albarracin — a decision that would change everything. 

“From our very first meeting,” Deacon Martinez recalled, “I felt something I had never experienced before: an immense love, a deep sense of hope and a peace that filled the emptiness inside me.”

Deacon Martinez shared that through Father Hernan’s guidance, he and his wife, Linda, grew in their faith, serving as catechists, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion and lectors. Through that service, Deacon Martinez felt his heart being drawn closer to the Lord in a new way.

“While reflecting on Scripture,” he shared, “I came across the story of Isaac saying to his father, ‘Bind me, so I may not resist.’ I felt those words deep in my soul that God was calling me to bind myself to him, just as I had made a covenant with my wife. I felt called to make that same covenant with Christ.”

So, in 2015, Deacon Martinez entered diaconate formation. At the time, his family was growing, with three children between the ages of 2 and 17, and a fourth on the way. Balancing his family, formation and work life proved challenging.

“After my first year, Deacon St. Louis, our formator, had a very hard discussion and I discerned out,” he remembered. “I was heartbroken and felt like I had let everyone down, especially God, who had been so merciful to me. Yet, God’s call did not fade. It continued, not in lightning or thunder, but in a gentle whisper.

“Years later, I woke with a deep sense of readiness to return to formation,” he added. “That very day, I learned that Deacon St. Louis had passed away. I truly believe it was his final push from Heaven, urging me to respond once more to God’s call.”

Serving with a Heart Transformed

Through every blessing, doubt and struggle, Deacon Martinez said he has learned that God’s call is “patient, persistent and full of mercy.”

“The diaconate isn’t something you do,” he reflected. “It’s something you become — a continual invitation to grow closer to Christ the Servant and to let his heart transform yours.”

His ministry has also shaped his family. His daughter once told him that his formation taught her that true charity must be rooted in self-sacrifice. 

“She saw me give of myself even when time and energy were limited,” he said. “But she also saw how that giving changed me.”

Deacon Martinez said that his wife and children have not only supported his vocation; they have grown in their own faith through it, seeing that service as a blessing.

“In giving, we receive, and in pouring ourselves out, God fills us anew,” he stated.

Within his parish community, Deacon Martinez’s ministry has also deepened relationships in ways he could never have imagined. 

“Whether it’s serving at the altar, accompanying couples preparing for marriage, visiting the sick or walking with families in grief, I have encountered Christ in every face. The diaconate has taught me to see beyond the surface to listen more than I speak, to love more than I judge and to be present where Christ is most needed.”

Through this vocation, his faith has become more than a belief; it has become a way of life. 

A Lifelong “Yes”

Although no two days are the same, each one presents Deacon Martinez with a new opportunity to encounter Christ.

“On weekends, I serve at each Mass, assisting at the altar — truly the heart of my ministry,” he said. “My greatest joy is standing at the altar during the consecration. In that moment, I’m deeply aware of the privilege of serving so close to the mystery of our salvation.”

Beyond the altar, he walks with couples preparing for marriage, parents preparing for their children’s sacraments and families experiencing loss. 

“My wife and I have carried our own crosses,” he said, “and through them, God has given us hearts that understand the pain of others.”

He added that overall, as a deacon, “I’m humbled that God allows me to serve his people and share in their hope, joys, pain and struggles. And through it all, I’ve learned that the more I give of myself, the more God fills me with gratitude, faith and joy.”

Are You Being Called to Serve?

For those discerning a vocation, Deacon Martinez offered simple advice: “Do not be afraid,” he said, echoing the words of Pope St. John Paul II. 

“When God places a call in your heart, it’s often a whisper — a gentle tug that doesn’t go away,” he noted. “God doesn’t call the perfect; he calls the willing.”

His encouragement is to start small: pray, listen and get involved. 

“Serve as a lector, a catechist, or a volunteer,” he said. “Let God speak through those moments.”

Because, as Deacon Martinez has learned, the call to serve rarely happens all at once. It unfolds — one faithful “yes” at a time.