Member Log InCesar Gom
ez and I caught up for breakfast not long ago after 6:30 AM Mass at St. Michael the Archangel Church, where Cesar is serving his Pastoral Year. Our spot for breakfast was First Watch on 151st St, just west of Metcalf. I was struck by his amicable, unpretentious nature.
Cesar shared his vocation story. He grew up in a Catholic family in Puruandiro, a city of just over 25,000, in the west central state of Michoacán, Mexico. He described a perfunctory (my word, not his) early approach to his faith. The family went to Mass on Sunday. “It was kind of superficial,” he acknowledged. He is the youngest of four children.
When he was in high school, a good friend who was also a nominal Catholic asked him to go to a religious retreat. Because he didn’t want to disappoint his friend, he agreed. During the retreat, Cesar describes a profound conversion experience in front of the Blessed Sacrament. “Nothing like that had ever happened to me before,” he said. Subsequently, Cesar admits, “daily Mass became a need.” “I started to pray the Rosary daily,” he added, and he realized a distinct call not only to practice a deeper faith, but to become a priest. At age 18, he joined a Franciscan community, Heraldos de la Paz (Heralds of Peace), and soon began the “Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary & 33-Day Preparation,” as outlined by St. Louis-Marie Gringion de Monfort.
Parallel to this, Cesar’s father had come to the United States to work in construction. He had found work in Leavenworth. This is not an uncommon experience among immigrant families: one or the other of the parents come to America for work and send money back to Mexico to support their family. To keep a Green Card, one must live in the U.S. at least six months out of every year.
“It was so funny, because my dad applied for a Green Card for me without telling me,” Cesar said. He indicated that his dad had approached him about coming to America, but he (Cesar) spoke no English, and was happy on the path he was taking. “I was in the religious community, and I was praying about it. It was at the time I was doing the Consecration to Jesus through Mary, and I remember asking Our Lady for a specific sign telling me what to do about coming to America.”
The very next day, the Green Card approval, about which he had no foreknowledge, arrived. This was October 2014.
We acknowledged the reality that one ought never ask Our Lady for something that one does not truly desire, and we both laughed at the immediacy with which prayer is sometimes answered when Our Lady intervenes.
Cesar’s parents, while not discouraging to him about his response to God’s call, were lukewarm to it, at best. Cesar had planned to go to college and study chemistry. His mom encouraged him to do this, “and then be a priest if you want to do that.” Cesar recalled a conversation with his dad about seminary, with his dad suggesting that he (Cesar) could “just find a seminary in the U.S.” “In December (2014) my dad was moved to Leavenworth, KS, for work. One day he went to Wal-Mart and met some Benedictine nuns. They started asking him about his faith. He turned the conversation and told them about his “son who was in the seminary in Mexico.” Cesar said, “They got all excited!”
He recalled being contacted by one of the Benedictines and learning of the need in the Archdiocese for Spanish-speaking priests. “My dad gave them my contact information. They arranged for me to be in communication with the Archdiocesan Vocations Office,” he said. One of the initial conversations Cesar recalls was with Fr. Oswaldo Sandoval, who acted ultimately as translator during Cesar’s eventual acceptance into priestly studies for the Archdiocese. Gomez marvels at God’s ability to use his earthly father to influence his own vocation.
In 2015, Cesar entered the English program at Conception Seminary College for 1 1/2 years prior to his transition to Cardinal Glennon College Seminary in St. Louis for four years of philosophy studies. Currently between his second and third years of Theology, Cesar looks forward to continuing his studies at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary as a Theology III student next year, after which he anticipates being ordained to the transitional diaconate.
His favorite part of seminary life? “The brotherhood, the family that develops,” he said. Though he loves his family, he admits, “I don’t miss my family. The church and my brothers are my family.”
Gomez reflected on his time already spent at St. Michael the Archangel Parish. “Much of my responsibilities involve visiting the sick and homebound,” he reflected, adding, “It is so powerful that God uses me to visit His people. You know, He cannot go to them on His own, and it is such an honor to be able to be his hands and feet.” It is the grace of awareness.
And, by the way, the high school friend with whom Cesar attended that retreat in 2014? It turns out he had a very similar retreat experience as Cesar's — a fact that they never acknowledged to one another until years later. His friend’s religious name is Br. José, and he is with Opus Angelorum, an Augustinian order. Br. José is now in Brazil, and God-willing will be ordained a priest soon.
Let us pray for Cesar and for Br. José!
