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.

THURSDAY, WEEK XXIX, ORDINARY TIME—Pope Saint John Paul II, October 22

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I consider all things so much rubbish
that I may gain Christ and be found in him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. (Phil 3:8-9)

Now to him (God) who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine,
by the power at work within us,
to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations, forever and ever.  Amen. (Eph 3:20-21)

God is always accomplishing more than we can ask or imagine. I’ll never forget the joy of receiving my mom into the church in December 1988 and then in January 1989, we made a pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi, just the two of us. She met John Paul II twice: first at the audience in the Vatican; and then a week later at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls on the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul.