Since 1998, Father Horacio Medina has served the Archdiocese of Newark in the role of Roman Catholic Priest. Compassionate and task-focused, he ministers to the incarcerated at local prisons each month and regularly visits hospitals to bring the word of God to those in pain. Father Horacio Medina also delivers a message of hope to believers each day via the Internet and teaches ancient philosophy, ethics, morality, and Spanish as a second language at the University of Saint Peter’s.
Father Medina earned his bachelor of philosophy and humanities at Seminario San Clemente in San Jose, Costa Rica. He went on to earn several graduate degrees and studied moral theology at the Scuola Alfonsiana in Rome. There, he focused on foundational questions of virtue and vice, how they relate to free will and God’s will, and how they help the faithful formulate daily decisions. In 2023, he completed a diploma in mental health first aid through the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.
Beyond his work as a man of the cloth, Father Medina has long held leadership responsibilities with Maverick Building Services. He presently coordinates personnel assigned to serviced locations across Newark and Essex County in HR management capacities.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
I always get up to pray at 5:00 am in the morning. Then I get ready to go to work, every day from Monday to Friday. I try to be patient with the people or morning crew who have to obey me and who I direct every day.
Sometimes, in the afternoon, I have to teach philosophy, moral theology, and ethics. Other days, Spanish as a second language for foreigners.
I always try to be professional, friendly, kind but, above all, bear witness that Christ lives in me.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I always have to read a spiritual book. As an example: “Our Father,” prayer of the disciple, by Santos Moncion. When I finish reading this, I will start another book with a philosophical, psychological topic, or moral theology. Of course, without forgetting the Bible that directs my life. From all these things, I take many ideas for following my path in life.
What’s one trend that excites you?
I love helping with social justice, especially aimed at the justice of the humble and poor people.
I like to visit the sick in the hospitals and give hope to them and to those in prison, who have no freedom. I have witnessed that God works in a mysterious ways in these kinds of people.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
Discipline, consistency, and work. I like to persevere; start and finish what I set out to do.
I am an extremely orderly and organized person, and that has helped me a lot to be very productive.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Think long and hard before acting to avoid making the mistakes of the past.
See the positive and negative things so you can avoid problems in a specific situation.
Choose the best opportunities that come from God.
Tell us something you believe that almost nobody agrees with you on.
I firmly believe in the Eucharistic heart of Jesus, where the LORD is present with his body, blood, soul, and divinity in the sacred sacrament of the Eucharist.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
Pray the rosary to deepen their faith, meditate on the life of Jesus through Mary’s eyes, seek Mary’s intercession, and pray for intentions like world peace or personal intentions. It is a contemplative prayer that helps calm the mind, strengthen one’s relationship with Jesus, and brings inner peace.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
Pray a lot to grow closer to Jesus. Strengthen faith and virtues. Ask for grace and salvation. Do meditations and breathing exercises.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
Being orderly and organized has helped me a lot in my career.
Listen more and talk less. Accept constructive criticism and discard those that are very negative and wrong about myself or my career.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
Do not trust people too quickly because they may betray me. Sometimes, I think that people have a lot of goodness like I have, and that has been my biggest mistake.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
I went to preach to a prayers group about the fruits of the Holy Spirits. They gave me $100.00 as an offering, which I used it to give and help the orphans of the Carmelite nuns Queen of Heaven. They were able to have a very delicious chicken dinner since they don’t always eat meat.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
Confessions by St. Augustine. He tells the story of when he was a young man and he and his friends, in an act of adolescent mischief, stole some pears. He steals them even though he really did not want them. This book helps us to realize we are sinners, redeemed by God’s grace, and need to be closer to the Lord. Confessions is a book that can change YOUR LIFE.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
Therese movie. A spoiled girl enters a monastery at the unheard-of age of 15. She learns to deal with the joys and rigours of monastic life and discovers a little way to become a saint.
St. Therese of Lisieux, known as Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, was a French Discalced Carmelite. She is widely venerated today and commonly referred to in English as the Little Flower of Jesus.
Key learnings
- A robust and strong faith means a solid and well-established faith.
- Fight for social justice, especially the rights of people who are poor.
- Learn about saints who lived close to God.
- Doing works of mercy means putting into practice the faith we have.