Últimamente las noticias han traído a nuestros hogares imágenes de muerte y sufrimiento. El 15 de febrero fue televisado un video de Libia que muestra la decapitación de veintiún egipcios cristianos vestidos de anaranjado. Los asesinos llaman a los hombres “gente de la Cruz” y juran conquistar Roma. Se le oye decir a uno de los hombres cristianos antes de su decapitación, “Jesús, ayúdame”. El martirio es la forma definitiva para dar testimonio de la fe. De hecho, la palabra... Read more

Lately the news have brought into our homes disturbing images of death and suffering.   On February 15th a video from Libya showing the beheading of twenty-one Egyptian Copts dressed in orange jumpsuits was released.  The killers called the men “people of the cross” and swore to conquer Rome.  One of the Christian men is heard saying before his beheading, “Jesus, help me.” Martyrdom is the ultimate manner to be a witness of the faith.  In fact, the word martyr... Read more

Hace dos años la cuaresma inició con una sorpresa histórica. Al iniciar el 11 de febrero de 2013, estaba yo escuchando la radio como siempre lo hago.  Las noticias esa mañana parecían tener poco sentido. Creí que había escuchado mal ya que estaba afeitándome.  Paré mi rutina para prestar mejor atención al radio. No podía creer lo que estaba oyendo, el Papa Benedicto XVI se había jubilado. Inmediatamente recordé la última vez que un Papa se jubiló hace setecientos años.... Read more

Two years ago Lent began with a historic surprise.  As I got ready to begin the day on February 11th, 2013, I was listening to the radio as I always do.  The reporter that morning seemed to make little sense.  I assumed I had misunderstood since I had been shaving.  I paused my morning routine and stared at the radio to fine tune my hearing.  I could not believe what I heard, Pope Benedict XVI had resigned. I immediately recalled... Read more

Before starting the Vigil Mass for Palm Sunday two years I decided to check the headlines on a Catholic news website.  My heart stood still as I read towards the bottom of the page, “Syrian priest kidnapped as war rages on.”  During my time in seminary I became a very close friend of two Syrian seminarians from Aleppo.  Throughout the three years that we studied together in Rome I oftentimes compared the conditions that awaited me in the United States... Read more

Two years ago on February 9th my seminary classmate and friend, Father Michel Kayal, was kidnapped along with a Greek Orthodox priest as they traveled from their hometown of Aleppo to Damascus by bus.  Syrian rebels stopped the bus, asked for documents and had the two priests get off the bus.  They were never seen again. Me and Father Kayal (right) in 2007 in Rome.  Picture is mine, all rights reserved. At first the kidnappers demanded $250,000 and the release... Read more

Two days ago, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints formally declared that Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated as a martyr for the faith on March 24th, 1980.  It is now a matter of time until he is declared “blessed” by the Church.  Misunderstood by many during his lifetime and throughout these past thirty-five years after his death, Romero truly is a modern prophet and martyr. Romero was a simple man in love with the people he served.  He’d... Read more

Eleven years ago on Superbowl Sunday I had planned to drive into the city from where my parents lived in Peru to watch the game with my cousin’s husband.  Little did I know that morning that I would not be watching the Superbowl that night.  That night I was at my father’s wake, he died that Sunday afternoon.  He was buried on the feast of Saint Blaise, a day like today, at a beautiful cemetery.  One year after his death... Read more

De los muchos sacerdotes que me enseñaron en el seminario, el más alegre fue un fraile dominico irlandés, el Padre Paul Murray. Era un hombre de oración intensa, fiel a la iglesia y siempre listo para compartir alguna historia. En uno de sus cursos titulados “Dios y los poetas” hablamos de la presencia del humor en la Biblia. También consideramos algunos pasajes de Santo Tomas de Aquino en los cuales el Padre Murray encontró rastros de humor en las obras... Read more

  Of the many priests who taught me while in seminary, the most joy-filled one was an Irish Dominican friar, Father Paul Murray.  He was a man of deep prayer, faithful to the Church and always ready to tell a good story.  In one of his courses titled “God and the Poets” we discussed the presence of humor in Scripture.  We also considered passages written by Saint Thomas Aquinas where Father Murray found traces of humor in the great theologian’s... Read more