2024 Mexico Missions
"That's Our Mission!"
2023 NYC Advent Street Missions
All Legionary seminarians have a mission to bring Christ to everyone they meet. They need to share the joy, happiness, and hope that Jesus brings into the world. This year, for Holy Week, the seminarians went to New York City, Philadelphia, Detroit, and the villages of Mexico, knocking on doors to tell people about Christ. Here are some of their stories; thank you for your prayers and support!
Br. Daniel Castellanos LC
It was a great experience for me to go on a mission trip to Mexico. I was with a group of high school students in a town outside the city of Monterrey. During Holy Week, we visited the people of the town, participated in activities with them, and also celebrated the Liturgy.
People need Christ, and God uses us, his religious, to bring Him to other people. These evangelization missions helped me to serve the Lord who is present in others and to live a little more the apostolic life to which the Lord has called me.
Br. Moises Ventura LC
My time in San Jose for Holy Week Missions were days full of blessings. I was ready to give myself to the people just as God was ready to give me many graces during Holy Week missions. One of the gifts that God gave me was the community of fathers because they made us feel welcome, and they are priests who teach by example. The second gift that God gave me had to do with the missionaries I spent time with because they were full of joy, apostolic zeal, and love for Christ. Being a witness of today’s world during Holy Week helped me understand the reason why Jesus died for us.
Holy Week missions were a time for me to die to myself so that I can be able to let Jesus live in me. As Saint Ambrose once wrote, “We are to understand that this death by crucifixion takes place in this life and that this death is a blessing. So he goes on to urge us to bear the death of Jesus with us in our bodies, for whoever bears the death of Jesus in his body will bear also in his body the life of the Lord Jesus.” People are looking for Christ, and I could see that in the eyes of every person I would greet. I was reminded that my formation and spiritual life are very important for the mission of spreading the Good news to all people that Christ is risen.
Br. Sterling Foley LC
As I traveled to Canada for Holy Week Missions, I did not know what to expect. This was my first time on the Missions, and I would be accompanying a Mission Youth team. Br. Jacob and I were welcomed into the small community of fathers in Ontario which includes Fr. Adam, Fr. Jerek, and Fr. Pierre. We got to experience how the fathers live their religious lives in their locality. We met some of the families, visited our new RC school, and worked to set up for the missions.
Palm Sunday was the sending out mass and we distributed the crosses to all our missionaries. We began officially on Holy Thursday, where I met my team, and we had mass with watching the Chosen and adoration following. I preached the meditation in the morning of Good Friday and we visited several nursing homes to be with the people there. We participated in the Good Friday service at a local parish, and the parishioners were very impacted by our presence there. On Holy Saturday, we were out on the streets of Hamilton, handing out food and encouraging the homeless who were living in tents. Being a light in this dark world was a powerful experience for the youth. We had the Easter Vigil and celebrated afterward that Christ has truly been raised from the dead and is alive! Alleluia!
Br. Omar Forero LC
The Holy Week missions in Philadelphia were incredible. We had moments of bringing Christ to the poor and the people we met on the street, and also for receiving Christ when we were at home sharing as a family. It was a very complete experience. I feel that we had enough time both to go out and evangelize and to pray and contemplate the mysteries of the death and Resurrection of Christ.
The experiences that impacted me the most were when we saw all the hard realities many people go through but no one realizes. But above all, the need and longing that those people have for Christ without them realizing it themselves. I see that the Lord sent me there precisely to be that bridge for Him to reach them.
