The Church is about to begin the Jubilee 2025 “Pilgrims of hope”. The Augustinian Recollect Family has also chosen this motto for the pastoral year 2024-2025. The Augustinian Recollect Alfonso Gallegos, on the way to the altars, is an example of hope.
The Augustinian Recollect Alfonso Gallegos (1931-1991), bishop serving Hispanics in California who is now on his way to the altars, was a prophet of hope during his life. Tomorrow, October 6, will be the anniversary of his sudden death in a traffic accident 33 years ago.
Those who knew him closely often show this characteristic of radiating hope through their joy, optimism and smile:
“He radiated happiness. He was always full of joy, hope and optimism. What I remember most I think was his smile. I think that was something you could not miss, his smile. His attitude amidst external pressures or when things seemed not to be going well was ‘God will provide’. He hoped in the Lord seeing his goodness in creation. Every day was beautiful to him, rain or thunder outside, he would say, ‘Oh what a beautiful day!’”.
His faith in God’s providential care for his creatures was the deep source of this happiness; he lived in hope knowing that God never left anyone aside:
“For me, he was an excessively optimistic person. Perhaps this is why he was a man of God, because he trusted so completely in God and in his saving presence that everything would go well and even if it was negative, God and we would benefit from it.
For him, everything was foreseen in the providence of the Lord, full of goodness towards us. The presence of God in everything was like something innate in him. His time, his thought, his optimism, his harmony with others, his openness towards all, his joy, and even his confrontation with problems and pain were based on this goodness of God towards us.”
Being a parish priest at the San Miguel Parish in Watts, near Los Angeles, he had to deal with poverty, violence and even despair that affected a large part of the population. Among them, Gallegos exuded optimism and hope to such an extent that he generated changes in that community:
“When he came to San Miguel, Watts presented many challenges. It was dangerous and there was rampart criminal activity. There was unemployment and poverty, even worse than the poverty was the lack of hope in people. There was no respect for human life. People were burglarized and assaulted. It was very dangerous. After a while, if you were not a person of faith life did not mean much.
After he arrived things in Watts began to change immediately, because of his optimism and his spirit. He had a different way of looking at life. He infused hope into the community. If you were a drunk, a drug addict, he worked with you. He made you feel you were important and that you were needed.”
In such a context, hope is fundamental for young people. Wherever good Alfonso went, he loved them and encouraged them to improve, being the first to set an example:
“He brought a lot of hope to the younger generation. He tried to remind us that God loved us, that we should pray more, that we should not give up and that we should have faith and be hopeful.”
One of the issues that most impressed many was precisely how he lived hope in the face of a specific fact from which he suffered: his poor eyesight, a serious problem since his childhood that always kept him very close to blindness:
“In spite of his failing eyesight, he continued in his ministry with enthusiasm. He never dwelt on this subject of his vision nor was he one to bring the subject up. He placed his trust in God’s Divine Providence and that is what guided his life. He accepted his near blindness and other lesser difficulties with great serenity. He did not complain when he was called to suffer—seeing whatever came to him as coming from the hand of the Lord. His trust was in the Lord’s mercy.”
Alfonso Gallegos was a prophet of hope. In his presence everyone felt happier, inspired and filled with hope:
“He was like a magnet, you just felt drawn to that person. He made you feel good, inspired, and you felt like you were ready to go out and change the world. He was a very inspirational person. Fr. Al had such a great spirit of calmness and joy that you just felt so happy being in his presence, a feeling of not wanting to depart from him.”.
