We think of Christ on the cross here, the Christ who suffered torment, but also the Christ who rose,” Leary said. “Because of the heavy trauma, many of these girls have spiritually and emotionally died. It is work to enter into the wound of abuse, to allow a man – even a priest – who desires to spiritually help them to enter into that dark place. But these girls are also smart; they know they have to live.”
“When they fully open themselves to healing, this dark place of theirs becomes a place of the empty tomb; where death and evil lose, where the girls begin to crawl out of their caves.”
Several sisters wept and confided to me of their love for Leary. “He has awakened me – he has awakened all the Sisters – to the sacrificial love of a father,” Sr. Marilyn said. Sr. Margie Cheong, the woman who once headed all the Sisters of Mary communities throughout Central and South America, said Leary’s fatherly presence – especially as it relates to his emphasis on healing in front of the Eucharist – has transformed the entire community.
“Even if I asked [Leary] to slow down, I couldn’t do anything to stop him. It is very strange; his work ethic to help the children and the sisters seems a supernatural grace,” she said. “All of us need an hour or two to ourselves to break away, but not him. He keeps going… Many Sisters have told me that his priesthood and his spiritual direction have changed their lives.”
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A dozen or so priests, a bishop, and seminarians have visited Leary over the past few years to assist with the mountain of his spiritual work. “I was wiped out after a few days,” said a priest from Washington, D.C.
Fr. Dan’s work is non-stop; simply, it is a supernatural grace that sustains him. The devil is relentless, and Fr. Dan’s work in these villas is proof that with God’s supernatural grace, a single priest can be an instrument that brings large and relentless measures of love and healing.
All day long he works with kids who’ve been beaten up, and individually, he listens to them all. But here’s the thing; these kids are healing. He’s equipping them with the spiritual tools to live again and be productive members of their villages, colleges, and communities. In some measure, he is helping to rebuild the Catholic Church in Mexico through these children.
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