Working as I do for an international, Catholic religious order (aka Legion of Christ), I’m often blessed to experience what I call “international moments.”
Some can be huge moments, like finding yourself in St. Peter’s Square with half a million people hoping to catch a glimpse of the Holy Father. Around you can be heard every language on earth, all speaking in Catholic.
Some moments are small and heartwarming, like last night.
After a day of meetings in suburban New York City, I found myself in a Mexican restaurant with work colleagues from several different countries. A couple were men in black (aka Legionary priests).
It was clear that the family running the restaurant were rather happy about having priests in their establishment. The service and food were great. And after dinner, our waitress asked one of the priests if he would honor her by blessing the restaurant’s image of Our Lady of Guadalupe (an obvious thing to do on December 12, which it was).
So…Father (an El Salvadoran), blessed the image – and the entire restaurant, for good measure. And there we were, Catholics of all ages and backgrounds, from Mexico, El Salvador, Brazil, Spain and the United States, united by a blessing and a faith far great than any of us.
