To the Band of Brothers: 
Hail Storm
 

6/30/2026
Fr. Willie, S.J. ’87 | President

There’s a YouTube video that has always impressed me. It’s old footage of a Catholic priest celebrating Mass for a group of soldiers out on the battlefield during World War II. Fully vested, he is using a wooden box as an altar. Suddenly, shells begin to fall around the small congregation. You can see soldiers get up and run. Whether they’re running for cover or rushing to man the guns, they understandably leave the Mass. But the priest stays put. Every time a shell explodes behind him, you see him shudder, but he keeps celebrating the Mass.

There’s an obligation every Catholic priest has to the Mass. No matter what the circumstances, once you start the Mass, you finish the Mass. That chaplain, in the most extreme of circumstances, fulfilled his priestly duties. He never abandoned his post.

The video came to mind as we celebrated Mass yesterday afternoon in the village of La Cuchilla up in the mountains of the Dominican Republic. As the Mass began, we were shelled by a massive thunderstorm that included large pieces of hail. Because the roof of our chapel is made of tin, each raindrop and piece of hail sounded like a bomb that resonated through the cinder block building. But we faithfully chugged along. Every prayer, every word, was drowned out by the noise, but every Belen student followed along as they saw Fr. Hill, S.J., raise his hands and knew exactly which part of the Mass was being prayed. 

While words are powerful, so are the actions involved in celebrating Mass. When the host and chalice were raised over the altar, every student was kneeling in the presence of the Eucharist. No one abandoned their post, but prayed through the motions of the Mass as they saw it played out on the altar. The one moment when the sound of their voices rang louder than the rain was the moment we turned to the small image of the Blessed Mother and sang the Salve Regina.

And when the final blessing was given, the rain came abruptly to a stop. The skies cleared. While the world outside us seemed in total turmoil, the inside of that chapel was in heavenly peace. It was one of the most beautiful Masses I have ever been a part of.

Auspice Maria