Father Marco Guzman was raised in a conservative Catholic home. Although he and his five siblings were never coerced to attend mass, Father Marco heard God's calling at the young age of 12 while visiting his aunt and uncle.

He felt the need to go to mass every day and that's when he met a young priest who became his role model. This priest was very committed, happy, helpful, and a good preacher. Through him, God called him the first time.

However, his yearning for the priesthood proved to be a difficult journey. After finishing secondary school, he came to Montreal to study French. He saw the lack of priests and the need of the church. The call came back. He was about to enter the seminar here but his mother got sick so he had to go back to Mexico.

Upon his return, young Marco studied hotel management and got engaged after a couple of years. He went to the United States to work for a year. He went back to Mexico and when he attended a retreat that changed his life forever. Marco announced he wanted to be a priest and broke up his engagement. Father Marco never looked back and does not regret his decision. "It's the wisest decision I've ever made in my life," he said.

After overcoming many obstacles, he finally entered the priesthood in Saltillo, Mexico which is ten hours northeast of Mexico City. He studied philosophy for three years and theology for four years. Despite having some tough professors, he never renounced his calling. As any other student would, he enjoyed some classes more than others, took three years of Latin and three of Greek. Moreover, he had to take a modern language, so he took English and Italian.

His ordination was bitter-sweet because his father passed away one month before he got ordained. It seemed his trials were just beginning; the following day after his ordination, after celebrating his first mass, he went to the hospital because the doctor told him he needed surgery in his inner right ear. There was a tumor that was going into his brain, and within a week he was operated.

He was working at a parish in Mexico but he was suffering from bad headaches. After seeing many doctors and having some Cat scans and MRIs done, the diagnosis was ominous; a tumor in the bone. He went in on a Saturday, and the doctor told him he’d operate on either Monday or Tuesday because Wednesday would be too late. They discover he had cancer in his brain so he went to Houston, Texas for treatment that included two months of radiation.

After this ordeal, Father Marco went back to Mexico. There, he suffered a stroke; a blood clot he developed as a result of all the cancer treatments. The stroke affected his sight, balance, and speech; therefore, he returned to Houston where he stayed for a year in order to recover. It took about a year of therapy for him to recover his speech and sight. He had seizures and confused words. He takes medicine as he still experiences some minor side effects. Nevertheless, he is doing fine. His recovery was miraculous and he stayed in Houston helping out at a parish. "It was a gift to speak another language, serving the Spanish-speaking community," said Father Marco. A bishop in Houston asked him to stay but his heart was in Montreal. Ever since he visited Montreal for the Summer Olympics in 1976, he fell in love with the city. He confessed that if he ever had to leave his native country, he would live in Montreal.

Resilient Father Marco came to Montreal and interviewed with Bishop Neil Willard who agreed to transfer him Montreal. Unfortunately, the bishop died right after they started the process of sponsorship and his dreams of living in Montreal came to an abrupt halt. There was no other bishop that would sponsor him, so he went back to Mexico.

Father Marco continued working in his diocese and doing prison ministry for nine years. Later, his local bishop sent him to Jackson, Mississippi, where he worked on a mission applying pastoral plan to Spanish-speaking communities. After a year, he went back to Mexico and continued to work in the prison ministry. Furthermore, he started working as a hospital chaplain because his main concern has always been sick people and the elderly. He worked for five years at hospital. He said that working there had been his best time there and given the chance he would do it again.

His journey as a priest got him transferred to another city. In Monclova, Mexico he built up a parish. He then came to Laval for a year. His bishop asked him to go back to Mexico where he stayed from 2008 to 2013. After many personal and professional trials, he finally came to Montreal in 2013. He was going to be an assistant at St. Patrick's Basilica, working with Monsignor Cole. However, a priest at St. Kevin's suffered a stroke, so Father Marco ended up coming to the West Island as a parish priest and administrator. "It was a big change. It came out of the blues," he said. He feels loved by his community. It's been a blessing for him to be here. He added, "It's been a great journey."

Father Marco's dream to come to Montreal came true on June 29, 2013. The day after his arrival, he celebrated mass at St. Kevin's and he does so every day.

When I asked him if being a cancer survivor is a miracle, he replied without hesitating, "Life is a miracle itself, so getting another chance is a miracle. Definitely! But miracles happen through signs, through doctors, nurses, it can also happen through an early detection, having the right treatment, by seeing your mother encouraging me, by every decision made, by knowing you're loved, God was working miracles. I saw God's hands."

I offered that perhaps he was destined to preach the Word of the Lord. "I don't know about that," he laughed, "But what I know is the fact that I've been alive for 20 years now and it has allowed me to share the good news to do my work. Now, if that was my destiny I don't know, but I've been doing so many things as a priest. I live my life because I had this second chance and I try to do it the best way possible."

He added that as a cancer survivor, everything looks different, even the colors look brighter.

His message to the readers; "My message would be that priests are normal people, we came from regular families, we've lived normal lives, we're just part of a family, our duty or role is no more important than that of others. Just different roles. I would do it all over again. It's a great gift I've received from God and I'm very happy. I think we all have been called by God to be happy to live this life to the fullest. Please do not waste time. This is one opportunity we have to express our love, to express our forgiveness or to ask for forgiveness. This is one chance we have to live this life as we know it. Eternal life is a different story. But this life is one and time will never come back. We can change our attitude to live the present but we cannot re-live our past. The past is gone, that's it. Life is meant to be enjoyed."

Father Marco practices gratitude and he's grateful to everybody, especially to God. He lives his life as a priest but he's a human after all.