CALEXICO — The new associate director of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish is no stranger to serving on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Diocese of San Diego assigned Father Pedro Lucia Reyes, who turns 56 on April 3, to Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish last September. Previously, he served at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Tijuana.
He is a member of the Piarist Fathers, an order dedicated to educating youth and those in need.
As associate pastor, he assists at Mass, administers sacraments and helps in Bible study, among other duties, serving the parish’s more than 2,000 families. He also assists at Our Lady of Guadalupe Academy and at Vincent Memorial Catholic High School.
“The people of OLG are very wonderful, and I hope to continue to share Christ with the youth, opening their eyes to the possibilities God has in store for them,” Father Lucia said.
“Our scholastic, religious and faith missions must be strengthened; we, as pastors don’t just do the bare minimum,” he said. “We hope the community participates and supports us as we minister to them in all of their necessities.”
Born in San Luis Acatlán, Guerrero, Mexico, Father Lucia credits his humble home, which set a good example for him in the faith, as fostering his interest in becoming a priest.
“My father was a fieldworker who cultivated the earth, and my mother was a housewife, taking care of us, the children,” he said, noting that there were four children in the family.
He said that his father was a very devout Catholic, always in prayer. “So that planted the little seed in me to follow God.”
He said that he, too, learned to live devoutly.
“Once I became older, I felt the call to a vocation in religious life. God called and … showed me, through my parents, how to follow him, following the good path and a life of prayer.”
In 1992, he moved to Los Angeles, where he lived in a religious community of young men discerning to become Piarist priests. He went to Celaya, in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, in 1998 with another Piarist religious community, made up of men from all over that country and Puerto Rico, where he became a novice at age 28.
“We learned the charisms of the order, the mission of the Piarists and the writings of our founder, St. Joseph Calasanz.”
In 2000, he studied philosophy in Mexicali and theology in Tijuana in 2003. He was sent to minister in a group home in Costa Rica, guiding young men who otherwise would live on the streets.
He returned to Tijuana to continue his studies in 2008. He was ordained at San Pablo Apóstol in Mexicali, on Dec. 5 of that year. His first assignment as a priest was in Mexicali, also in 2008, where he became a primary school teacher.
“For me, that was a very beautiful time of service,” he said. “It is important to be near the youth of all ages, to educate and serve them.”
Father Lucia said he hopes the faithful utilize Lent as a time of grace.
“The Holy Spirit will give us guidance and lead us to Christ, many times in reflective silence, if we let him and do not fear getting closer to God,” he said. “I pray that God renews us in Lent, guides us to Easter, to the moment of his resurrection, and makes us a new creation in the walk with Christ.”
