Drink Death like Wine

Fr. Alvaro Perez, PES is priest of Pro Ecclesia Sancta - an ecclesial family. The Charism of Pro Ecclesia Sancta is to live and promote holiness through the spirituality of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He was ordained a priest on 2015 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is currently serving as pastor of St. Lawrence in North Highlands in the diocese of Sacramento, California.

“He (the courageous man) must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.” A typical Chestertonian comparison. It has all the elements that make GK Chesterton great: truth, paradox, food and drink, and humor. Chesterton expands on his idea of courage, as he defines it as “a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.” Courage is the desire to live and readiness to die.

I encountered the life and death of Blessed Miguel Pro, SJ, as a young novice. I remember been impressed by both his courageous living and his courageous dying. His short life and heroic ministry can be summarized by a funny anecdote. As he was running away from the police (the Church was persecuted in Mexico at that time); to throw them off the scent: he stopped and explained to a girl standing on the street that he was a Catholic priest and that the police were after him. He asked her to pretend that they were a couple. The police found a couple seemingly doing what couples do: hugging and kissing. By seeing the scene they thought that man could not be Fr. Pro and decided to keep going. Relax... they were pretending to be a couple, they were not actually making out. Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro lived a full life, his creativity was like a gushing river, a truly hilarious man and a man of prayer but when it was time for him to die he truly 'drank' death like a hero. With his eyes facing forward toward the executioners (he asked not to be blindfolded), he extended his arms to die like his Master, and with his last breath, he gave glory to Jesus for whom he was dying and whom he was certain was about to see with his own eyes. “Viva Cristo Rey!” He shouted before the fatal round of bullets struck his chest. He drank death like wine, like a libation, as partaking of the cup of blessing - as a sharing of the blood of Christ.

If there was ever a depiction of courage, this is it. If it were possible to take a still of heroic virtue, this picture says it all. This difficult photograph shows the exact moment when Blessed Miguel Pro, SJ, embraces death, and sacrifices himself for Jesus. Nice story, right? Will you be willing to do the same? Sorry to be so blunt, but the Church gives us the example of the Saints not only for contemplation but for imitation. Maybe we will not face martyrdom or maybe we will but we can certainly strive to live our Catholic faith courageously. Let your life of holiness be as water; so death may come as wine: Long live Christ the King

“I want to be that kind of saints: a saint who eats, sleeps, pranks and performs many miracles ” - Blessed Miguel Pro, SJ.