RESCUED BY FAITH AND FAMILY | KAIROS GLOBAL | OCTOBER 2026

Author: Mboowa Ronald

Audio

Intro: Mboowa Ronald shares how Jesus Youth transformed his faith and life. 

Over the years, my life has been a tapestry of new challenges, intense struggles, deep pains, and moments of profound joy. I navigate this journey knowing I am a fragile vessel, but I am sustained by prayer and a fierce conviction that I am never alone – Jesus is always walking right beside me. Frequently, I experience His tangible presence through the incredible friends and family God has placed in my life.

Among these, the most transformative family I have ever made is the Jesus Youth movement. Here, my faith took deep roots. Through formation programmes, retreats, eldering sessions, and cell groups, I didn't just learn the faith; I learned how to live it. As Scripture reminds us:

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving (Colossians 2:6-7).

The Call to a Sacramental Life

Early in my active ministry as a student, I felt a deep pull toward missionary life. I regularly visited our full-timers in their mission placements, joining them for home visitations. During one such visit to Kasese (Uganda), accompanied by Chris Colaco (now Fr Chris), we visited a dynamic young man. He was incredibly active in the parish and a massive support to Chris’ ministry. Yet, beneath the surface, something was missing: he was not living a sacramental life. He had built a family, but had not received the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.

In my country, this situation is incredibly common. Yet, the Church beautifully reminds us of the true order of family life: ‘The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its very nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptised persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament’ (CCC 1601)

Empowered by everything I had learned in Jesus Youth about the grace of the sacraments, I found the courage to speak to him gently about marriage. He listened deeply, moved by conviction. ‘I will work on it,’ he promised. A few months later, he joyfully updated us: he had registered for Cana, a parish mass-wedding arrangement designed to bring couples back into full sacramental communion with the Church.

My Own Desert Testing

Years later, the mirror turned on me. It was my turn to pursue marriage, and suddenly, the path became agonisingly challenging. The weight of my own past words – all those moments I had urged others to turn to the Lord and embrace the sacraments – pressed heavily on my heart.

Choosing to wed in the Church before starting a family became a fierce battle. It involved facing rejection. Some ladies I tried dating insisted on having children first before even considering Holy Matrimony. I felt completely isolated; not even my closest relatives or immediate family had chosen the path of standard Church marriage first.

Doubts crept in. I wondered if my ideas were outdated. I thought, maybe it’s okay to conform to what society expects. At times, I even felt resentful, thinking my leadership role in Jesus Youth was a cage keeping me from doing things ‘my way’.

During those dark moments, I clung to my JY elder. I poured out my confusion, and his spiritual accompaniment kept me anchored, continually bringing the lightness of heart and the raw truth of the Gospel back into focus. I chose to accept the heartbreaks and wait.

Then, I met my wife. She was a woman of absolute spiritual integrity – zero compromises. The moment I saw her faith, a spark of hope ignited: it was possible to build a holy family, even if my pockets were empty.

Steps of Radical Trust

Once we chose each other, the anxiety shifted from ‘Who will I marry?’ to ‘How will we pay for this?’ We moved forward in radical, prayerful trust. When we went to consult her uncle, who happened to be a priest, we unexpectedly began setting concrete dates for the traditional introduction and the Church wedding. Inside my head, panic loomed because the money simply wasn't there.

But I committed the entire situation to daily Mass and the Holy Rosary. I held onto the promise that if I had truly found the person God planned for me, He would provide the means. As Jesus promises us: But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33).

Leaning on the practical advice of both my biological family and my Jesus Youth family, I did something humbling: I begged. I asked friends and family for financial support. God humbles the proud, but lifts up the dependent. Amazingly, the funds came together, and we wed exactly on the dates we had set in faith.

Today, my life of begging for God hasn't stopped. Serving as the National Team Finance In-Charge for Jesus Youth Uganda, and as a member of the Jesus Youth International Council, I still ask people for funds. But now, I beg so that the youth of my country can encounter the same radical transformation, and the same beautiful life of faith that rescued me

Mboowa Ronald is a nurse by profession. A former National Coordinator of JY Uganda, he is currently a member of the JY International Council.