Ceatolic priest drives 6 hours a day to bring faith in Dominican rep.

In the Dominican Republic, a priest of the Diocese of San Juan de la Maguana, must travel more than six hours on the road every day, to attend to the 31 rural communities of his parish. Fr. Júnior Vásquez says that “it is worth life to leave everything and spend like a candle for God at the service of the most humble. So that everyone achieves the message of salvation. ”

Dominican rural areas are usually popularly known as “Las Lomas.” In these distant communities, explains the Pontifical Foundation helps the Church needs (ACN) “they usually lack basic services” and their particular geography is “complex and few opportunities”.

To get to some, very difficult dirt roads, which are flooded in the rainy season, must be traveled. “My fellow priests and I have to cross mountains, with very difficult and stony roads,” says P. Vásquez. “You also have to cross several streams and rivers to reach these people,” he adds.

In fact, the priest’s trips used to be so physically demanding that, because of the poor state of the roads and the old car that the priest handled, the constant journeys began to represent a serious risk for their health and an economic burden for its mission .

The car “was constantly damaged, which meant a high and unsustainable expense for the parish,” he says. “Over time, its constant use and the bad conditions of the roads caused a tear of ligaments in my foot that ended up causing a fracture,” said Fr. Vásquez.

The injury left him incapacitated for 5 months and, says ACN, had to submit “to diverse and painful surgeries.” Beyond physical suffering, these adversities also presented emotional and spiritual challenges. The priest resent loneliness, although he affirms that in those difficult moments “God and the Virgin were always with me.”

“If I take care of myself and worry about my well -being, I can serve the community better and for longer. I will be healthy and strong to give myself to others. Everything we do is for and for God, ”he reflected.

Thanks to the support of the Pontifical Foundation, now Fr. Vásquez has a vehicle in better conditions to carry out his apostolate. He considers that this “has been a change from heaven to earth” and emphasizes that he can now meet his pastoral tasks “more effectively and achieve places and communities inaccessible before.”

His effort in these areas also focuses on fighting evangelical sects that “attract people with false promises” and the shortage of chapels, or the abandonment of many, which greatly hinders the celebration of the sacraments.

“Seeing hunger and the need that people have to hear of God, and the joy and joy with which they do, is my greatest joy,” says Fr. Vásquez, who also praised the participation of the youngest in Mass, turning its pastoral service days “meeting and joy for the entire community.”

“Not only can we evangelize preaching, but also when we collaborate and support at the economic level and with our prayers: that is when we become missionaries and preachers,” concluded the priest, asking for the support of all the faithful in favor of their most vulnerable brothers .