Pope: May the apostolic zeal of Blessed Fr. Moisés encourage priests

By Alessandro Di Bussolo

In recalling Blessed Fr. Moisés Lira Serafín (1893-1950), founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity of Mary Immaculate, Pope Francis described him as a priest who dedicated his life helping people to progress in faith and love for God. He prayed that his witness and apostolic zeal may "encourage priests to give themselves unreservedly, for the spiritual good of the holy people of God." 

Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, presided over the beatification Mass in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City, on Saturday 14 September. In his homily he recalled the life of the Mexican priest who lived in the first half of the last century, saying he reflected "the image of Christ the Son, meek and humble," and also assisted "the Missionaries of Charity of Mary Immaculate, guiding them on the path of spiritual childhood." He was known as a great spiritual director and confessor.

Imitating Jesus in humility

Referring to the passage from the Gospel of Matthew during the liturgy where Jesus invites the disciples to become like children in order to be "the greatest in the kingdom of heaven," the Cardinal recalled that we must follow "Jesus who was meek and humble of heart." And this, he emphasised, was one of the characteristics of the new Blessed born in 1893 in the Puebla area. In 1934 he founded the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity of Mary Immaculate with the mission of helping people to live as children loved by God. He died in 1950 in Mexico City. 

Confessor and spiritual father

Cardinal Semeraro also recalled Blessed Fr. Moisés' "special charisma for spiritual direction," as a confessor, six to eight hours a day, but also "in accompanying so many people, whom he also guided in their life choices." He recalled how "he instilled peace, confidence in God, security into hearts. He did not bring down, but lifted the spirit, they said of him, and this is a need very much felt in the Church today." 

Our Lady of Guadalupe

The Cardinal entrusted all these intentions to Our Lady of Guadalupe "so loved and venerated" at the shrine there. He recalled the words of Pope Francis on 12 December 2022 at the Mass for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, when he said we live during difficult times marked by war, increasing injustice, famine, poverty, and suffering. But faith and God's love teach us that this is also a propitious time of salvation in which the Lord, through the Virgin Mary invites us to go out to meet our forgotten and discarded brothers and sisters in our consumerist and insensitive world. In all this, Cardinal Semeraro concluded, "the example and intercession of Blessed Moisés" can also help us.

The tomb of Father Moisés Lira Serafin in the Templo Expiatorio Nacional de San Felipe de Jesús, Mexico City

Miracle for the beatification

Fr. Moisés Lira Serafín's intercession is attributed to the miraculous healing of a pregnant woman, Rosa María Ramírez Mendoza, who discovered at 22 weeks that she was suffering from a very serious foetal abnormality. She refused to terminate her pregnancy, as suggested by the doctors, and entrusted her situation in faith to Father Moisés, whose book on his priestly vocation she was reading at the time, by invoking healing from him for nine consecutive days. At a check-up in the sixth month of pregnancy, the doctor, to her amazement, informed her the abnormality had disappeared and the foetus was in good health. On 6 September 2004, Rosa María gave birth to Lissette Sarahí, a perfectly healthy baby girl. Fr Moisés is buried today in the Templo Expiatorio Nacional de San Felipe de Jesús in Mexico City, the place he helped to found and where he served in the 1930s.