Feast of Padre Hurtado

August 18 is the Feast Day of Chilean Jesuit, St. Alberto Hurtado, S.J. (1901-1952), who is featured in this article from America magazine by David J.W. Inczauskis, S.J., "Why more U.S. Catholics should know about St. Alberto Hurtado, S.J."

The article suggests that three features of Padre Hurtado's life are significant:  "his vivacious attentiveness to the material needs of the poor, his fervent commitment to justice for workers and his passionate prayer life."

In addition to addressing the immediate needs of the poor by founding Hogar de Cristo (Home of Christ), Padre Hurtado was known for the a spiritual life characterized by "a serious sense of Christ's oneness with the poor."  The phrase ser otro Cristo ("to be another Christ") permeates his writings.  Pope Benedict XVI said of Padre Hurtado: "The objective of his life was to be another Christ. He experienced the pain of others as his own, and this propelled him toward a greater dedication to the poor."

The article continues:  "The priest's writings reveal why the Mass was such a passionate moment in his daily life.  In a reflection titled, 'My Life is an Extended Mass,' he claims that, in addition to offering Jesus' body as a sacrifice to God the Father at the eucharistic table, we also enjoin 'our personal immolations, offering our work and difficulties . . . participating personally in the victimhood of Jesus Christ.' The people whose burdens Father Hurtado carried, the dreams for justice he longed to achieve, the pains of illness by which he died an early death -- all of these experiences found expression when he raised the host and chalice over the altar."

Today, let us remember St. Alberto Hurtado by praying this prayer that he wrote (taken from this website, where the Spanish version may also be found):

Lord, help me to speak the truth in front of the strong
and not say lies to gain the applause of the weak.

If you give me fortune, don’t take happiness away from me.
If you give me strength, don’t take reason away from me.
If you give me success, don’t take humility away from me.
If you give me humility, don’t take dignity away from me.

Help me always see the other side of the medal.
Do not let me blame others of treason
for not thinking like me.
Teach me to love people as myself
and to judge myself as others.

Do not let me fall into pride if I triumph
nor in despair if I fail.
Rather, remind me that failure
is the experience which precedes triumph.

Teach me that forgiving is the grandest for the strong
and that revenge is the primitive sign of the weak.

If you take away my fortune, leave me with hope.
If you take away success, leave me with the strength
to triumph from the defeat.

If I fail people, give me the courage to ask pardon.
If the people fail me, give me the courage to forgive.
Lord, if I forget You, don’t forget me.