En el país de Israel hay un monasterio en un cerro de donde uno ve una de las ciudades más antiguas del mundo, Jericó, continuamente habitada por 11,000 años.  Del monasterio también uno ve el rio Jordán, el rio donde Jesús fue bautizado. Este monasterio donde aún viven unos monjes griegos marca el área del desierto donde Jesús pasó cuarenta días, marca el lugar donde ocurrió el pasaje del evangelio que escuchamos hoy.  El evangelio mismo narra como Jesús... Read more

Conclave literally means “with a key” since the cardinals who gather to elect a new Pope are kept locked away from all contact with the world until they elect a new successor of Peter.  The process by which a new Pope is elected has changed throughout the two-thousand year history of Christianity in Rome.  At times the Pope was elected by acclamation, other times the people, and clergy of Rome selected him and especially in medieval times, noble Roman families... Read more

Supernatural powers at work? Lightning struck Saint Peter Basilica in Rome this evening, the same day Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation as Bishop of Rome and Successor of Peter. Certainly something supernatural will be happening in Rome next month as cardinals from throughout the world will gather to invoke the Holy Spirit to guide them in the selection of the next Pope. I was asked today if I feared the Pope’s resignation would lead to a void or chaos... Read more

The world woke up this morning with shocking news, the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.  After centuries of no Pope resigning, there are many questions as to how things will proceed.  It has been stated however that Pope Benedict XVI will move to the Papal residence in Castel Gandolfo when his resignation shall become effective and he will not take part in the Conclave for the election of his successor.  When renovation work on the monastery of cloistered nuns inside... Read more

Every year I post this same reflection  I wrote eight years ago. The bishop’s miter gently swayed from left to right in front of me as he intoned the Salve Regina. The unexpected yet familiar tune and the tightening of my mother’s grip on my arm awakened me… mater misericordiae. The procession progressed slowly down the path as the hope for a better tomorrow was condemned and as the joy of life was lost.  After emerging from a slumber of... Read more

On March 10, 1543, Spanish colonists founded the capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala in the Panchoy Valley giving it as its official name Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala.  Beautiful churches, public buildings and private homes were built in this city from which most of Central America was ruled by Spain. The city suffered many devastating earthquakes throughout the years, but the Santa Marta earthquake of 1773 devastated the city to such a degree that the King of Spain... Read more

Last week I learned the inspiring and courageous story of Father Stanley Rother who died while serving the flock entrusted to him.  He knew that remaining with his parishioners was his death sentence, yet he stayed.  I met people who knew him and worked with him.  I met one of his seminary classmates.  I heard stories from priests who saw him pacing back and forth in a chapel in Guatemala City days before his martyrdom.  A military death squad killed... Read more

  Last week I met a priest who lost 1000 parishioners in one day in a massacre in 1982. Last week I met a priest who was put in a cage while a lieutenant in front of him radioed the colonel to ask for orders to shoot him.  Since the colonel was out to lunch the lieutenant reluctantly let the priest go, ordering him to stop again at the checkpoint on his return downstream (the priest visited his communities by... Read more

Every time period of history has had its challenges.  It is easy to glorify the “good old days” and to consider mostly the problems of the present time, yet God has chosen for us to live now and he calls us to bless the good and fight the evil found in our present time. One of the greatest evils faced by our generation surfaces to the public sphere every year in January with the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision... Read more

Todo período de la historia ha presentado desafíos. Es fácil glorificar los buenos tiempos de antaño y tomar en cuenta principalmente los problemas de la actualidad, sin embargo, Dios ha escogido que vivamos en estos tiempos y que bendigamos el bien y combatamos el mal del tiempo actual. Uno de los principales males de nuestra generación emerge cada año en enero con el aniversario de la decisión del Tribunal Supremo Roe v. Wade, el cual en 1973 legalizó el aborto... Read more