CANADA APRIL 14TH
THROUGH THE 18TH 2006
I flew from Caracas, Venezuela to Toronto on Good Friday, and the next day I
went to Kitchener, Ontario, a city one hour away from Toronto, to give a talk to
the Spanish community. I met with a group of Spanish speaking Catholics from
different countries who are truly hungry for God and have been working hard on
bringing about a true renewal of their faith. It is a joy to see this happening
among immigrants. I'm usually saddened by what I encounter in the immigrant
communities. A lot of them lose their identities and are consumed by the
materialistic ways of living in these industrialized nations. Along with that
they also lose God and therefore lose themselves. We shared a beautiful moment
of reflection of our faith and the Easter liturgical season to come.
That same evening I met with the Servants of the Holy Trinity in Mississauga and
shared a reflection on obedience. Through Carmel, the leader of this lay
community, I have been able to mission in different fronts of the faith. She has
the charisma of reuniting people of great diversity and it brings a spiritual
element that challenges one to get even deeper in the contemplation of the
mysteries of our faith. It was an anointed reunion and we are looking forward to
the mission we'll be sharing in Ontario this coming October God willing.
On Easter Sunday, I was driven to Ridgetown, Ontario to meet with father Martin
Johnston and to prepare for a two day mission in Windsor. In Windsor we teamed
up with father George Bune of the Basilian order and Jeff and Susan Cada, to
hold three different venues.
It was a blessing to be with them again and to see their struggle to stay firm
in the midst of an area of the Catholic church where churches are being closed
down for the lack of priests and where clergy in great numbers have gone into
new age and corporate mentalities. In the meantime, there are the remnants of
God always alert and courageously fighting for the truth and the proclamation of
the Kingdom of God.
On the evening of the 18th I went to Detroit to begin a 45 day mission in the
USA.