Sacred Heart Guadalupe
2544 Madison Ave
Kansas City, MO 64108
ph: 816-599-7242
fax: 816-394-9702
alt: 816-842-6146
aracelib
Our Priest´s Ministry
Fr Luis Felipe Suarez
Ministerio Sacerdotal
Padre Luis Felipe Suarez
KANSAS CITY — His entire family attended the ordination of Father Luis Felipe Suarez on a May the 23rd at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.They came from Cucunuba, Colombia, about an hour outside the capital city of Bogota — parents Jose and Blanca, older brother Javier and younger brother Carlos.
But one very special guest had to be remembered in Father Suarez’s heart, Father Rafael Bonilla, who died two weeks before the ordination of the young man whose seed of vocation the priest helped nurture.
Father Suarez said his life was much like that of Samuel of the Hebrew Testament.
“I grew up beside the priest at the temple, like Samuel,” he said.
“When I was 10 years old, I became an altar boy and served for eight years in my parish,” he said“When I was 10 years old, I became an altar boy and served for eight years in my parish,” he said, “My parents’ efforts have been great, generous and dedicated to the purpose of educating their children and helping them become professionals,” Father Suarez said. “We spent a lot of time by ourselves at home while our parents worked, so I preferred to go to church and help the pastor. Wherever he had to go, I went with him — hospitals, cemeteries, rural areas, schools, meetings, church and Masses.”
Father Suarez was chosen to serve at the altar when the bishop of Bogata came to the village to administer Confirmation. It was then, he said, that he first realized that God might be calling him to the priesthood.
“The one moment that caught my attention was the moment of the consecration when the bishop joined his hands over the bread and wine and spoke the words of Jesus,” he said.
“In that moment, I felt like I have to do this,” Father Suarez said. But that feeling wore off quickly, until a year later when Father Bonilla surprised him with a telephone call.
Father Suarez said he had been invited to the transitional diaconate ordination of a very close friend. “I didn’t really want to go. I did not want to spend my money on tickets for public transportation to get to his city,” Father Suarez said. “The day of the ordination, the pastor called me very early and said, ‘Are you ready to go? I am going to pick you up in 40 minutes,’” he said.
“So I got up quickly and went to the ordination. The most beautiful moment was the prostration, the singing of the litanies. Jesus called me for the second time,” Father Suarez said.
In an ironic moment, Father Suarez’s friend was ordained with six other men. On May 23, Father Suarez himself was ordained to the priesthood with six other men. It wasn’t a straight path to his own ordination. Seven years into his seminary studies in Colombia, Father Suarez took a three-year break and taught in Catholic high schools in Bogota.
“I prayed to God through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe and discerned very seriously that I should become a priest,” he said. “It was Our Lady of Guadalupe who opened the doors of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph to me.”
Father Suarez was sent to Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Conn., which specializes in forming priests whose native language is not English.
His first day there, on his nightstand, he found the same passage from Samuel that was on his nightstand 10 years earlier on his first day in the seminary in Colombia: “Here I am, Lord. I have come to do your will.” “Often, God will tell us to do something that may be out of our way or seem too hard,” Father Suarez said.
“However, we must always be like Peter, obeying and trusting him. There is a blessing in obedience, and even if you don’t see it immediately, it is always better to obey God no matter what he tells you to do,” he said.
“God always rewards those who trust him. He is still calling new missionary-disciples to continue working in his holy church to do the will of God,” Father Suarez said.
Catholic Key Associate Editor
Twenty third Sunday
in Ordinary Time
We hear in Saint Matthew's Gospel today a clear-cut process of reconciliation. Jesus, who showers his mercy upon us unceasingly, invites us to make peace with those who have offended us. In his letter to the Romans, Saint Paul emphasizes that only in love can the law be fulfilled. Every gesture toward reconciliation inherently implies recognition of past errors, and strengthens us so that we do not commit them again. When we meet Christ in the sacrament of penance, he forgives us and feeds us with his resurrected life, giving us the opportunity to recognize our faults and to carry out the mission he has entrusted to each of us. Today, the word of God affirms that we cannot be reconciled with God without seeking reconciliation with our brothers and sisters. This theme provides an opportunity for ongoing reflection of our community groups. In the Sunday liturgy this week, emphasize the theme of reconciliation in the song selection and universal prayer to engage the assembly in the deeper meaning of reconciliation before they share in the reconciling love of Christ in the Eucharist.
Vigésimo Tercero Domingo
del Tiempo Ordinario
Escuchamos hoy en el Evangelio de San Mateo un proceso de reconciliación bien definido. Jesús, que derrama incesantemente su misericordia sobre nosotros, nos invita a hacer las paces con los que nos han ofendido. En su carta a los Romanos, San Pablo enfatiza que solo en el amor se puede cumplir la ley. Todo gesto de reconciliación implica de forma inherente el reconocimiento de errores pasados y nos fortalece para que no los volvamos a cometer. Cuando nos encontramos con Cristo en el sacramento de la penitencia, él nos perdona y nos alimenta con su vida resucitada, dándonos la oportunidad de reconocer nuestras faltas y de llevar a cabo la misión que nos ha confiado a cada uno de nosotros. Hoy, la palabra de Dios afirma que no podemos reconciliarnos con Dios sin buscar la reconciliación con nuestros hermanos y hermanas. Este tema brinda una oportunidad para la reflexión continua de nuestros grupos comunitarios. En la liturgia dominical de esta semana, enfatice el tema de la reconciliación en la selección del canto y la oración universal para involucrar a la asamblea en el significado más profundo de la reconciliación antes de compartir el amor reconciliador de Cristo en la Eucaristía.
Copyright 2013 Sacred Heart Guadalupe. All rights reserved.
Sacred Heart Guadalupe
2544 Madison Ave
Kansas City, MO 64108
ph: 816-599-7242
fax: 816-394-9702
alt: 816-842-6146
aracelib