Meditations at Sunset

In 2005, having reached the age of 73 and after exercising his priestly ministry for 49 years, Fr. Alfonso Gálvez published a key work in his career with the suggestive title of Meditations at Sunset. It contains nine chapters dedicated to the analysis of certain Gospel passages–The Curing of the Man Born Blind, The Good Shepherd, The Resurrection of Lazarus, The Calling of St. Andrew, The Curing of Bartimaeus the Blind, The Feast Day of Christ the King, The Parable of the Workers sent to the Vineyard, The Calling of St. Matthew and The Rich Young Man–, all preceded by the author ́s introduction, and a prologue written by one of his closest disciples. In said prologue, Fr. Juan Andrés de Jorge García-Reyes explains the objective of this book with pinpoint clarity: “a profound theological meditation on the greatest problems facing the Church today”.

His composed description of the different illnesses which affect the Church of our time, and the causes of each and every one of them, as well as his passionate account of what should or should not have been done in the Church, are the product of a tried soul which has remained forever faithful to the Church. A fidelity which is but the reverse side of of a profound love for Christ and His Bride, the Church. To write such pages, with both serenity and manifest pain, and to remain yet faithful to the Barque of St. Peter throughout all the radical changes which took place in Her before and after the Second Vatican Council, requires unimaginable levels of suffering and a great love for the Church indeed. It is not the complaint of a priest that has decided to reject the current Primate of Peter for the sake of saving Tradition. Neither is it the bitter and desperate wailing of those who believe nothing can be done, and that the best thing to do is to remain inside your own bubble. Most certainly not the complaint of those who claim that the changes have been too slow in coming. Quite the contrary: Here we find the position of an elderly priest who, despite having seen nearly all the external supports of that faith which led him to become Alter Christus crumble and fall, still expresses his wish to live and die in the bosom of the Catholic Church. This he is willing to do, whatever the cost, as he describes in his masterful chapter about St. Matthew ‘s calling (which is subtitled “The Dance of the Damned”).

You will be hard pressed to find something nowadays more lively to read than the thoughts of this elderly priest whose heart is overflowing with both tears and a true love of God and his fellow man. This is particularly true, if we take into account that many of the problems that Fr. Alfonso Gálvez pointed out in 2005, and which were then considered by many to be irrelevant, have come to fruition in our time with stunning precision.