Last summer I saw this in a new way during a month-long mission trip to Honduras. I worked alongside the Missioners of Christ, an American-founded lay apostolate dedicated to serving the aldeas of their region. These tiny villages in the mountains are often scattered farming households accessible only by steep hikes. As missionaries we preached, prayed and visited homes in places where Catholics are isolated from their priests and make do with lay catechists and Mass a few times a year.

For our large group mission, we split up to visit five different aldeas for a week. Each group was able to bring the Eucharist with them, with the seminarians serving as acolytes. In my case, that means I hiked the steep Honduran mountains carrying Our Lord in a ciborium to bring communion to the sick. Literally walking with Jesus was quite profound, and it made me appreciate the task of the first Catholic missionaries who traveled to new lands.

The families were very hospitable, graciously welcoming us into their homes. Their deep sense of community during adoration before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament was beautiful. Each time it seemed as if the whole village turned out to overflow the tiny chapel. For many, it was their first experience of Eucharistic exposition, but I was impressed at how readily they adored and prayed in the silence.

A personal highlight was finding I could preach on the mission entirely in Spanish, without notes, to all the different age groups. It was something I wasn’t sure I could do before, but a testament to the years of language study I’ve received in seminary. I’m grateful to God for giving me what I will need for future ministry!

We saw how hard life is for the families we served, but the missioners also helped me see that deeper than the material poverty they face is their common sense of alienation. Mother Teresa remarked that “the most terrible poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unloved.” I never understood how that could be until this summer, when even in a different country I saw the same needs for love, community and God that we all experience.

I learned in a new way how the priest is called to extend his care to all in those human needs, imitating God’s fatherhood, which embraces the world. No matter what part of the world we find ourselves in, we can all join Jesus in reaching out to the isolated and downtrodden around us and help reconnect them to the Gospel and the God of love.

For more information on the Missioners of Christ

visit www.missionersofchrist.org. For more information about vocations in the Diocese of Austin visit www.austinvocations.com.