The (not quite) Holy Family.

My grandfather has had a huge impact on my life and has helped form me into the man I am today. I still remember those days of him taking me to the barbershop, driving me to church or waking me up at the crack of dawn during my summer break because he needed to make my bed (I never understood why but it was an act of love).  As my grandfather grew old it was beautiful to be given the opportunity to try to payback all that he did for me (though I never got close) driving him around to who knows where to do who knows what every Saturday morning or bringing him to doctor appointments to only find out he never made an appointment. This man would literally say "the doctor is like my son, he needs to see his father." So we sat there for hours as he told me stories from his " jen jan" (cool young man) days. After hours of telling stories the doctor would finally walk out and say "papa (father) come on in." We would leave the doctors office not without ...

This Lent I'm trying something new: I'm not giving up anything. Every year since I was like 7, I've always given up something for Lent, whether it be my Nintendo, sweets, etc. One year in 4th grade I tried giving up homework but my mom and Sister Joan were adamant on why I couldn't do that. In the past few years, not only have I given up but I've added: more prayer, read scripture, the rosary, exercise, go to daily mass, etc.   Each year, a few days into my list of Lenten sacrifices and add-on's, I find myself failing at most of the things that I've committed to and I've also realized that these are things I should be doing anyway. So this year I have a new plan: as a husband, father, missionary and Christian I have things that I'm already committed to (waking up at the first ring of my alarm, daily prayer for my family and with my wife, daily holy hours, mass, Liturgy of the Hours,    etc.) and I would be lying if I said that I do those thi...

Anna and I are in our 5th year in Haiti and we are constantly being asked when we are leaving. It’s fine to ask this but the question has made me wonder why myself and other missionaries spend so much time on when we are leaving.  If someone were to ask you when you are leaving America, Canada, Europe, your corporate job, or your career as a teacher, nurse, businessman, lawyer, etc., what would your answer be? “That's my career” would be the answer of many people. Well, career is defined as "an occupation or profession followed as one's lifework, especially one requiring special training." (Thanks dictionary.com ) My occupation is missionary and I was trained to do that by some amazing people and quite frankly I'm giving the rest of my life to it, therefore, making it my lifework. It's hard for some people to understand but our missionary call isn't just a phase or some nice thing we’re doing in Haiti to help the poor. Rather, this...