"I was a person with a low opinion of priests," says Jimmy, "but Father Nicanor taught me that forgiveness is very important in life: if my God forgives me, why can't I forgive others?"
Fr. Nicanor is a priest, originally from La Graciosa, the eighth Canary Island. Ordained in 2015, he is now the parish priest in Arrecife (the capital of Lanzarote).
The doors of his church are always open. People knock, call, and he listens, hears, hears confessions, prays. "I’m on his list," a parishioner says.
That list grows longer every day. A mother who comes to him heartbroken over her son’s lung cancer, an unemployed man with whom he frequently crosses paths, who, one day, finally gathers the courage to approach him, "and that’s how he brought me closer to the Church, because I only knew about it from religion classes, weddings… and now I’m getting to know it more deeply: Father Nicanor has an amazing vocation and always helps those in need."
“This is how I would like to live and die, as the parish priest of the most insignificant neighbourhoods,” he says.
He’s young, cheerful, approachable, attentive to "his people," to his neighbours; he walks, cycles, stops, talks, asks, regardless of age: young, old, sick... "Being a priest in everyday life is one of Saint Josemaría’s great teachings: sanctifying oneself in the present life, in ordinary life, and seeking God’s novelty in daily events, here in the neighbourhood, to help in any way I can."
Fr. Nicanor often dons his "white coat" and visits the sick at the Doctor José Molina Orosa Hospital (Arrecife). He attends to and visits the sick, all of them, including those in palliative care. One of the doctors, Agustín, has a special affection for him: "We’re friends because we’ve known each other for a very long time. I was the doctor in La Graciosa, probably before he was born, and he’s about the same age as my children." Fr. Nicanor administers the sacraments, including the Anointing of the Sick. He says, "For God, nothing is lost."
And no one. He knows this from personal experience, Jimmy says with conviction, "Every time I’ve strayed from God, my life has gone badly, always, and every time I’m close to Him, He never abandons me; I may abandon Him, but God never abandons me, and neither does Father Nicanor."
Fr. Nicanor loves being a priest, a parish priest. He explains that what draws people closer or pushes them away is humanity. He wants to be a priest 24 hours a day, and for that, the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross helps him live his vocation more fully.
For all this, he is convinced that the vocation to the priesthood is a great vocation: "This is how I would like to live and die, as the parish priest of the most insignificant neighbourhoods."