Testimony shared at Marian Eucharistic Youth Day at Covadonga Shrine by Almudena Martínez-Bordiú, ACI Prensa/EWTN | Adapted for the Sunday Examiner (Hong Kong)
COVADONGA, SPAIN (SE): Originally from China, 32-year-old Shushu never expected that her desire to study Spanish language and culture would lead to a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ.
Now a Catholic, a wife, and a mother, Shushu shared her moving testimony before thousands of young people gathered at the Marian Eucharistic Youth Day [JEMJ] on July 4 at the shrine of Our Lady of Covadonga in northern Spain—a place she described as “the heart of Spain and a very important place in its history.”
Her story begins in 2016, when at the age of 23, she arrived in Spain to pursue her academic interest in the history of the Spanish language. But what awaited her was not merely linguistic discovery, but a spiritual awakening that would transform her life.
On her first Halloween in Spain, she attended a party in Alcalá de Henares, drawn by curiosity. But the atmosphere—filled with zombie costumes and eerie music—left her disturbed and deeply unsettled. Seeking solace, she wandered through the city until she stumbled upon the Cathedral of Saints Justus and Pastor.
Inside, she was drawn by the sound of peaceful, almost heavenly music that stood in sharp contrast to the night’s earlier chaos. There, she encountered an image of the Crucified Christ that left her speechless.
“There was a very large cross, and I saw Jesus there, and it had a great impact on me,” Shushu recounted in an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “By supernatural intuition, I thought: that must be God on the cross. It couldn’t be anyone else.”
Raised in a staunchly atheistic environment in China, where neither family nor school spoke of God, this encounter was completely foreign to her—and yet profoundly real.
By supernatural intuition, I thought: that must be God on the cross. It couldn’t be anyone else
She approached a confessional, not fully understanding what the Sacrament of Reconciliation was. The priest listened to her in silence, then opened the screen and looked at her, she said, “like a father.” That moment sparked a trust she had never known and would lead her to discover a new “family” in Spain—through the Servants of the Home of the Mother.
“I had never seen a nun in my life,” she said with a smile, recalling how she was struck by their joy and radiant peace. “I’d never seen someone so happy, so young. I decided to convert after meeting the nuns.”
One of the sisters eventually took her hand and asked, “Do you want to be baptised?” When she asked what that meant, the sister replied, “It means to be a daughter of God, like us.”
Though the concept was unfamiliar and even confusing at first, something awakened in her heart. “I wanted to be baptized too,” she said, “to be a daughter of God.”
She eventually received the Sacrament of Baptism in the very same cathedral where she had first encountered the Crucified Christ. It was also where she later married her husband, Josemi.
Today, the couple has a son named Emmanuel. Shushu speaks of Spain as her “spiritual homeland”—the place where her new life began.
In her testimony at Covadonga, she acknowledged that the road to faith was not easy, especially coming from an atheistic background. But with the loving guidance of the religious sisters who accompanied her journey, she found peace and purpose in Christ.
“We have no merit; it’s all because the Lord guides us. His mercy is immense,” she said.
Originally written by Almudena Martínez-Bordiú, Rome correspondent for ACI Prensa and EWTN. Translated and adapted by CNA. Adapted for the Sunday Examiner [Hong Kong]
