Regnum Christi

As President of the United States, George Washington proclaimed the first nationwide thanksgiving celebration in America marking November 26, 1789, “as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God”. In modern times the President of the United States, in addition to issuing a proclamation, will “pardon” a turkey, which spares the bird’s life and ensures that it will spend the duration of its life roaming freely on farmland. On December 26, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a joint resolution of Congress changing the national Thanksgiving Day from the last Thursday in November to the fourth Thursday.  Continue reading →

“I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves” (Mt.10:16).

Lord, why “as a sheep”?

Why not as another animal? Why as a fickle,  defenseless, weak, dependent, little animal?

Then I remember: you offered yourself as the “Lamb of God”.

Why is a lamb such a perfect,  pleasing sacrifice in your eyes?

Old Testament: lambs were accessible to simple people, even the poorer people.

Why do you love sheep, lambs, so much? Continue reading →

It was during my “Moral de la Persona” class, assuming I was in for a peaceful Friday morning like the others. During this extra year of formation I am auditing a few classes at the Universidad Ecclecial San Damaso, where the rest of my community is studying their degree. The classes are obviously in Spanish and are really good from what I can tell. Oh, by the way, I don’t really know Spanish.

This class happens to be the one that I understand the least due in part to the abstract nature of the content, the voice of the professor and my lack of supplement notes. Its not bad, I just don’t follow it as well as the other classes. The advantage though is the professor uses a lot of quotes, diagrams, ecclesical documents (I look them up in English) and for now seems to be following a lot of the Theology of the Body. The themes aren’t new to me, but its always good to revisit things from a different perspective. Continue reading →

“In the Lord’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water that he channels toward all who please him.” (Prov 21:1)

The feast of Christ the King has always been an important day for Regnum Christi and the Legion. We are arriving to the half way mark of our Jubilee year and coming up on our actual anniversary as we celebrate this feast, so I wanted to share a personal reflection about what it means for me to have Christ, as my King, in the Regnum Christi movement.

Usually for a king to rule, he would have to lead a battle over some land or a nation and therefore integrate those conquered as his subjects. Since God is God, He could have just chosen over whom He wanted to rule; instead, more than merely choosing us and fighting to conquer us, He also decided to fight for us. This battle took place on the cross, and continues to be fought each day, so that we belong totally to Him. Therefore, the cross is the instrument through which Christ conquers and reigns. Continue reading →

“No elderly person should be like an ‘exile’ in our families.

The elderly are a treasure for our society.” — Pope Francis

Khanittha Phasaeng winner of Miss Thailand 2015 returned home and bent down on her knees to kiss and thank her mother for raising her despite many difficulties and hardships.

Today make an act of gratitude to your parents for their love in raising you.

The gift of baptism stamps our life. We aren’t the same before and after. The door is opened to a new and unimaginably wondrous life. We become children of God, apostles, members of the Mystical Body of Christ. These are clichés we hear so often, but they are clichés that nonetheless change everything.

Our religious family, the Legion of Christ, has traditionally celebrated our baptismal day rather than our birthday, our birth into the Mystical Body of Christ rather than our birth into the world. (Both are undeniably special, and without fail, from top to bottom, we always find a way to sneak in the birthday cake too.) The whole community remembers the “ecclesial birthday boy” in their prayers in a special way that day, and the birthday boy himself dedicates an extra hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament to meditate on and thank God for the great gift of baptism, through which all the other graces he receives flow: confession, the Eucharist, and the other sacrament; his vocation to the religious and priestly life; etc. Imagine life without this gift. Continue reading →

We just finished our second “open Mass” of the year here at Cerro Del Coto. It’s beautiful to have the RC family come to our house once a month to celebrate Who and what unites us, especially during this period of formation! They are moments to recall concretely that we exist to make visible His Kingdom as we journey toward the fullness of the Kingdom. Which made me think again (though it’s never too far from my mind lately) about the reasons why I am here in Madrid this year; and more specifically about why I walk 20 minutes down Calle Mayor  in the sun, rain, cold or heat to go to an intensive Spanish class every day.

I go so I can be available.

It’s kinda weird to be in a country and not speak the language.  But it’s downright awkward to be an extrovert in a group of happy, conversing “family members” after Mass and not fully understand what they are asking, let alone try to respond. And the worst is not having a friend nearby to translate because then people typically walk away. Continue reading →

November 11 marked my first 3 months of living in Madrid. Has it gone fast or slow? Have I liked it or has it been hard? Umm…good questions. Maybe it’d be easier to put it in some highs and lows.

 Low: Frustration and exhaustion of being immersed in a new language.

High: The adventure of learning something new and feeling like it´s actually working little by little.

 Low: Feeling a little like the rug got pulled out from under me.

High: Looking under the rug…to the beauty of standing on Him who is my Rock. Continue reading →

Ancient Israelites saw the figure of their king as more than a ruler, a governor, or an authority. He was meant to be a shepherd, close to his people, bearing their burdens and protecting them.

The king was only a “lord” because of THE LORD. In fact, he was meant to make present the LORD’s presence on earth, in a human way. Because of their king, the Israelites could say, “Emmanuel, God with us.”

Why? He was meant to be the Heart of God incarnate.

For this reason, to Saul, the very first king of Israel, God gave “another heart,” and the “spirit of the LORD rushed upon him” (1 Sam. 9, 10). Continue reading →

The readings today put us in the context of being in the last days. It is good to remember that our time is limited and we don’t know when our time will end. A few days ago in Paris the time of many was cut short. When we lose control over things in our lives, we get nervous and want to take a harder grip on what we can. It is hard to let go. It is important for us to learn to let go so that we be prepared for when our time runs out. Those who lost their loved ones, and even us, can question why these terrible things happen. There is no answer. God doesn’t want them. However, in these circumstances we realize that there is only one certainty that we have – God.  All else comes and goes, He is the only one that stands firm for all eternity. May we unite in prayer for all the victims and their families, and pray for peace in this turbulent world.