These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.

But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
But woe to you who are filled now,
for you will be hungry.
(Lk 6:24-25)

Most of us could probably come up with one or two of the Beatitudes if we had too . . . but the WOES? I don’t think so. We usually don’t spend much time on those. And perhaps that’s a mistake. When the church speaks about the preferential option for the poor, or when Pope Francis talks about a poor church, a church for the poor, we are entering into the mystery of the kingdom, and the secret of the saints. Saint Peter Claver came to Colombia to be a minister of the gospel, and what he found were the horrors of the slave trade. He dedicated the rest of his life to be a “slave to the slaves.”

Today’s picture is of the memorial to Saint Peter Claver (pictured with a slave) in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.