To recognize Hispanic leaders who’ve championed the Bible, Multi-Language Ministries—an outreach of American Bible Society—hosted a celebration dinner April 24 at its New York City headquarters.

Mariano Rivera, legendary New York Yankees closer and five-time World Series champion, was honored, along with Pablo Perez and The Most

Reverend Octavio Cisneros—three Hispanic men who are making a difference in the world through their heart for the Bible and God’s people.

The evening was punctuated by emotional speeches from each of the men, who described their encounters with the God of the Bible.

Rivera grew up poor in Panama. Born into a two-room home with no plumbing or electricity, Rivera didn’t know much about the Bible. He dropped out of high school and hung around the wrong crowd.

Despite his father’s correction, Rivera said, “I did what I wanted to do.” The baseball star was headed down the wrong path—until he had a talk with his cousin, a young man well acquainted with the Bible.

“I thank God for my cousin because he introduced me to the Lord,” Rivera said at the dinner. “I started going to church and reading the Bible for the first time. I loved talking to my cousin about the Bible. The stories were fascinating to me.”

Rivera’s love for the Bible only deepened when he met his then-girlfriend, Clara, who is now his wife. A woman of faith, Clara “talked to me about the gospel,” Rivera said. “She and the Lord are the reason I stand before you today.”

Putting their faith into action, the couple started The Mariano Rivera Foundation, an organization that helps underserved children in Panama and the United States.

Understanding What Mercy Is

Pablo Perez, another honoree, has a heart for the poor. This Roman Catholic activist founded the John Paul II Training Center in Gainesville, Ga., an outreach that has offered medical care, a food and clothing bank, as well as job training classes.

The start of this center had its roots years before when Perez was 13. Born in the Dominican Republic, Perez was the son of a doctor and a professor. An avid tennis player, Perez would see beggars in the street as his parents drove him to practice.

“I’d look outside and see people begging for food, and I’d ask myself, ‘Why are they begging for food, and I’m on my way to tennis practice?’ I made a vow to God that if he gave me the chance, I would help the poor.”

But after coming to the United States, Perez walked away from God completely, until a pastor talked to him about Peter denying Christ three times.

Perez saw himself in the disciple. “Like Peter, I had abandoned him.” In a spiritual encounter, Perez says he looked into Jesus’ eyes, who “saw someone who was ashamed and disappointed and felt condemned. But Jesus’ eyes were tender. They seemed to say, ‘I know. I still love you.’

“From that day on, I understood what mercy was, and that day changed my life.”

Home: In My Father’s House

Another honoree, The Most Reverend Octavio Cisneros, had a life-changing experience, similar to that of Perez.

The auxiliary bishop was born in a province of Cuba and came to the United States as an orphan through the Peter Pan program, a Catholic humanitarian effort that brought 14,000 unaccompanied minors to the United States from Cuba.

“I remember the first day I came here,” said the auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y. “I left Cuba, I was homesick, lonely and wanted to go back. That first Sunday, I was taken to church. I couldn’t understand the words, but I could understand prayer.

“When the praying of the Our Father came about [during Mass], I was filled with joy. I could say, ‘Our Father who art in heaven.’ For the first time, I was in my father’s house. And I was at home.”

Discussing the Bible, the auxiliary bishop said, “The Word of God is joy. We share the joy of being anointed by his Word. That joy is imperishable. It can’t be taken away. It is a joy that is missionary—the Word that brings us out of ourselves and to others.”

All three Hispanic men of the Bible are living witnesses that God’s love and mercy are ever-present in today’s world.