Yes. Again.

I first responded to God's call to be a Fr. Kolbe Missionary of the Immaculata while I was in Olavarria, (Argentina). Saying "yes" to Him far away from the "ordinary" circumstances of my life, I realized that the challenge of becoming a Fr. Kolbe Missionary was to adapt and make every circumstance your own, every people your family, and every mission your home. I flew back to California on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I knew well the strengths and weaknesses of my own culture, and I wondered whether my conviction would be shaken when immersed within it.  I was right to pray for strength. I returned to my country and was immediately challenged over and over again: Why a Secular Institute? Why a Missionary? Why give everything up and still stay in the world? Why do you even care?

Every time I am confronted with these questions, there is only one answer: The world is my family, and when one's family is in crisis you do not run away, give up, shrug your shoulders and move on.  You stay, fight alongside of them, pray with and for them, you are present to them, and above all --- you love them. More than ever my family here in the United States and throughout the world needs to know they are loved unconditionally by a God who is all-faithful. Amazingly, God has invited me to be a testimony of that love.

Yet, this requires being really present in every circumstance, to every person, no matter the place. I don't mean physically, of course, but personally - that is with my mind and my heart, with attention and generosity. This is our greatest challenge, but also our greatest blessing. In opening up to the joys and sorrows of our brothers and sisters, we discover the intimacy of God and are unworthy instruments of healing in a very broken world. 

Simply. Forever. Consecrated.