You've probably heard the expression: "You know not the day or the hour" that your time will come.
We only hope that when it does come, we are ready and have acquitted ourselves well in the eyes of God.
There was a horrible story over the weekend out of Ecuador that certainly touches on that thought.
Father Patricio Sánchez Molinari, of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in southern Guayaquil, Ecuador, was saying Mass and was at the altar when the giant cross behind him fell off the wall, hitting him and killing him. It was caught live on camera because the church was live-streaming the Mass. It had to be awful for the people in the church, as well as anyone watching on the live stream. You could hear women screaming as two of them raced to his side to help him.
The Archdiocese of Guayaquil confirmed his death in a Facebook statement, identifying him as the parish priest of Perpetuo Socorro Church in its Central Vicariate.
"Our dear Fr. Patricio Alfredo Sánchez Molinari … has departed to the Father’s House to enjoy His presence and His glory," the archdiocese wrote in Spanish.
"Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen," the statement concluded in Latin.
The live stream video that captured the heavy crucifix falling off the wall and onto him was awful. It's being spread over social media. I'm not going to post it; you can see it here.
But I think maybe it's better to concentrate on taking Fr. Patricio's last words to heart.
His last words in his homily, perhaps appropriately, were on the fleeting nature of life. Molinari was reflecting on the words of Jesus when he told the congregation that they should not waste their lives on their phones or life's distractions, but instead give that time, that space, to God before other things. You can see how impassioned he is about what he's trying to convey.
#ATENCION | Su última reflexión quedará inmortalizada en el corazón de quienes escucharon sus palabras. El sacerdote Patricio Sánchez, quien falleció luego de que una cruz le cayera encima durante una misa, dejó un profundo mensaje sobre la vida, la fe y el tiempo que dedicamos a Dios. Los detalles ➡️ https://t.co/F4WXTraAll
— CENTRO Digital (@radiocentroec) October 18, 2026
“One day, all of us here will also die, and sometimes the time we’ve spent on things doesn’t have as much meaning as the time we spend with God,” he said.
“The quality time we give to God, to our brothers and sisters, to our husbands, wives, children, and family— that time is the best spent,” Molinari added.
The priest went on to ask God to bless his congregation as he began another prayer — when the giant crucifix behind him suddenly fell off the wall and landed on him.
It isn't clear why the crucifix fell off the wall; the church and the authorities are obviously going to be looking into that.
But it's as he said — all of us are going to die, although we may not know when, and we only have limited time here.
His words are wise advice, and not just in the sense of helping us get ourselves in order to be prepared for judgment, but for making the most out of the time that we have here on Earth and improving how we deal with those around us. There is so much that we can be distracted by that can interfere with making us the better people we would like to be. It's a simple message, but one that we often miss when we are taken up by all those things. It's easy with all the social media and the other shiny things around us that he mentioned. And we can get so busy, we fail to reflect on the things that we should be reflecting on.
Only each of us — and God — knows what is in our souls and the work we need to do. His point was, spend that time on things that matter — God, our families, and those we love — not the things that are worthless and steal our time. "Dios debe estar primero," he said. "God must be first."
That's a good message to be delivering when you are called.
