Born into a poor farm family, St. Christopher Magallanes spent his childhood herding sheep across the hills in the state of Jalisco in Mexico. After entering the seminary at the age of 19, he was ordained a diocesan priest in 1899 (in Guadalajara) and for twenty years served the parishioners of his parish in Totatiche. Always wanting to build a better life for his people, he built carpentry shops and established a night school for parishioners. He even helped design and build a hydroelectric power plant to bring electricity to poor villagers. In the 1920s, the government of Mexican president, Plutarco Elias Calles, tried to eliminate the power and influence of the Catholic Church in Mexico by passing many anti-Catholic laws. When it closed the seminary in Guadalajara, Fr. Magallanes set up a clandestine (secret) seminary in private homes. On his way to say Mass at a farm on May 21, 1927, Fr. Magallanes was captured. Before he was executed without a trial, he gave away his few remaining possessions to his executioners, gave them absolution, and prayed to God "that my blood may serve to unite my Mexican brethren." It surely did, as the Cristero War was soon waged as a counter-revolution against the Calles regime and in the long run the Church was strengthened. Christopher Magallanes was canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II in the year 2000. - - - Fr. Jim

In every age, the Church is blessed to experience some reform movement, a movement of energy and of new birth, born of the Spirit.  The American version of Catholic charismatic renewal began at Duquesne University in 1967 when a group of lay alumni prayed together and reported a “powerful movement of the Spirit” unlike anything they had felt before. Today the movement is a dynamic force among Hispanic Catholics, and I was delighted to find an active charismatic presence in both of the churches that I now serve! Beginning from the time of Pentecost and continuing through the Confirmation of each of us, the Holy Spirit continues to bestow gifts and graces upon us while he “unveils” Christ to us (CCC 687). Some even receive the gifts of tongues, of interpretation, and of healing. Spontaneous, charismatic prayer is a beautiful complement to the structured prayer of the liturgy. We experience God’s presence differently in each, but it is surely the same God. It is often said that we should act as if everything depended on us and pray as if everything depended on God (1 Thes.5:16-19). When we lift up our arms in prayer to the Holy Spirit, we are giving everything over to God in a prayerful release of our spirit. What joy can then be ours! - - -  Fr. Jim