On a day like today twenty-one years ago I arrived to the United States with my family.  I wrote the essay below in 2001 for a creative writing class in college where I describe my experience returning to my house in Peru in 2000 after my father had repurchased it. Built in 1970 when my parents married, my parents sold the house in 1993 and bought it back in 2000.  From 2000 to 2010 we owned the house once again... Read more

I remember a hot summer evening eight years ago when suddenly a thunderstorm blew over Augusta.  The lights went out.  After the storm passed and since I could not find a flashlight or candle, I walked from the rectory to the Perpetual Adoration Chapel.  The only light in the chapel came from the two candles burning brightly on either side of the altar.  The light reflected off the monstrance onto the several faithful praying.  As I knelt glad to have... Read more

Recuerdo un verano caluroso en Augusta hace ocho años cuando de repente una tormenta pasó por la ciudad.  Se fue la electricidad.  Después de pasar la tormenta, ya que no podía encontrar una linterna o velas, caminé de la rectoría a la Capilla de Adoración Perpetua del Santísimo Sacramento.  La luz de la capilla procedía solamente de dos pequeñas velas junto al altar.  Su luz reflejaba en la custodia hacia los creyentes unidos en oración.  Al arrodillarme, contento de haber... Read more

  Last Tuesday I celebrated Easter Mass at a nearby state prison.  Usually about eight to ten men attend Mass when we go, but this week more than thirty came, and only three or four of them were Catholic. Why did so many come last week?  Did they come just to get a free rosary to hang around their necks?  Or did they come wanting to join in our Easter celebration?  Sometimes during hot summer days men come to Mass... Read more

Durante la tercera década del siglo XX, Jesús se apareció a una hermana religiosa polaca llamada Faustina en Cracovia, Polonia y le dijo, “la humanidad no obtendrá la paz verdadera hasta el día que regrese con confianza a mi misericordia.” Dios existe deseoso de otorgarnos el perdón de nuestros pecados para vivir libres de las cadenas del pecado y vivir en la libertad de los hijos de Dios.  El vivir reconciliado con Dios y el prójimo es encontrar la paz... Read more

In the 1930s, Jesus appeared to a Polish religious sister named Faustina in Krakow, Poland and said to her, “mankind will not have real peace until it turns with trust to my mercy.”  His words teach us that our peace is intimately tied to God’s mercy. God desperately wants to forgive our sins so we may live free from the chains of sin and live in the freedom of the children of God.  Living reconciled with God and neighbor is... Read more

Only recently did I learn three priests lost their lives when the RMS Titanic sunk one hundred years ago.  Fathers Juozas Montvila, Joseph Benedikt Peruschitz and Thomas Roussel Davids Byles perished on the maiden voyage of the “unsinkable” floating marvel. Below is a link to an informative article by Our Sunday Visitor about these three men. “Most people know at least the basic story of what happened to the Titanic on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York,... Read more

On April 10th in Boston, Massachusetts, the Bishop Emeritus of Savannah, Bishop Boland, blessed wreaths and rose petals which will be taken tomorrow by the US Coast Guard to the site where over 1,500 people perished on a cold night one hundred years ago when the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sunk. Below is Bishop Boland’s beautiful prayer and tribute to all those who perished on that fateful night. ———- As her name proclaimed she was Titanic, the greatest... Read more

On Good Friday after the Veneration of the Cross, a live presentation of the Passion of Christ was done by members of the community.  Every year I am deeply moved by it as one becomes part of the crowd accompanying Jesus to Calvary.   Pilate washes his hands as he condemns Jesus Jesus carrying the cross Jesus meets his sorrowful mother     Jesus falls   Leading the prayers Jesus is crucified Jesus dies   Easter Vigil Blessing the Paschal... Read more

These are excerpts from my homily for a funeral Mass I celebrated this morning. We live in a world that praises what is efficient, what is practical, and what gives immediate results.  Yet, there is nothing more inefficient, impractical or delayed in providing results than love. True love asks for sacrifice. True love asks for patience. True love asks for time. Sacrifice, patience and time, all things practiced by a reduced number of folks in our modern times, yet all... Read more