For the past three months, the Rev. Daniel Kubala has seen a spiritual hunger unlike any he has every encountered.

The pastor at St. Thomas the Apostle Church near South Miami has just returned from Cienfuegos, a Cuban coastal fishing village, where he ministered to members of Our Lady of the Angels.

He encountered food shortages, a dire need of medicine, power outages that sometimes forced him to celebrate Mass in the dark -- even a lack of toilet paper. But the rewards were huge, he said: ``The hunger for God is great.''

Kubala may be the first priest from the Archdiocese of Miami to act as a visiting pastor at a Cuban church since Fidel Castro took power in 1959, said Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Wenski.

``We have been receiving Cuban priests for years so it's, perhaps, not the beginning of an exchange program, but it's the first time the exchange has happened in the other direction,'' Wenski said. ``Hopefully, the pope's visit helped pave the way.''

Kubala has been to Cuba eight other times on short humanitarian aid trips.

``This was really different,'' he said. ``I was not a tourist. I was living with the people and working with them and being with them every day.

``I saw the struggle people had daily. They certainly had food but I don't think they had enough food. It's a difficult life. It was difficult to see people suffer.''

But he was moved by the strength of their belief. The religious awakening that surrounded Pope John Paul II's historic January visit has not faded, Kubala said.

``Ever so slowly, it's growing. These are people of great faith. For us, it's easy to pick ourselves up on Sunday morning and go to church. It's amazing how difficult it is for them. Transportation is a real problem. They make tremendous sacrifices to be there.''

Kubala sacrificed, too. He went from a wealthy, South Miami area church with a botanical garden, waterfalls, a school and family center -- to the 1951 church of Our Lady of the Angels.

There was no glass in the windows. No air conditioning or fan. ``Even if we had a fan there would not be enough electricity to run it,'' Kubala said.

More than once, he celebrated Mass in darkness -- during a government electrical shutdown.

He lost 20 pounds.

``It wasn't the type of place where he could help himself. Everything was rationed,'' Wenski said.

Despite his fears that some of Miami's exile community won't understand, Kubala has the full support from the predominantly Cuban-American parish at St. Thomas, he said.

Some of the 581 children at the school sent gifts to the kids in Cienfuegos. ``Yo-yos, little cars, pens and pencil sets. Things we take for granted here,'' Kubala said.

It wasn't easy getting there. First, Kubala had to get permission from the Archdiocese of Miami and the bishop at Cienfuegos. Then he waited months to get permission from the U.S. and Cuban governments.

Our Lady of the Angels was the ``perfect parish'' because he had an immediate impact there, he said: ``They only had one Mass a year, on feast day. I had Mass every day.''

Sunday attendance grew from filling the first few pews to spilling out onto the streets, he said.

Kubala also made house calls, blessing more than 100 homes. ``And I could not bless all the homes of people who wanted to be blessed,'' he said.

He also baptized 12 babies, heard hundreds of confessions, held two funerals, and went to the ordinations of two priests and the rededications of two churches.

He officiated at other nearby churches, too. In the Cienfuegos diocese, there are 14 priests for 22 parishes, Kubala said.

He was not censored by the Cuban government, he said.

``I'm sure I was being watched, but I wasn't intimidated,'' Kubala said. ``I felt very comfortable going into the homes.''

He freely walked the streets and talked to whomever he pleased. ``It was not at all stifled,'' he said Thursday. ``But at the same time, you have to be realistic. I would have liked to take a few processions into the street but I couldn't.''

The Cuban government doesn't give procession permits to small churches, he said.

Kubala said he wants to go back.

The congregation will welcome him, said Carlos Manuel Pulido Collazo, director of Caritas charities in the Cienfuegos diocese.

``He knew how to win the hearts of his parishioners because of his humility, his generosity, his way of reaching everyone,'' Pulido said. ``He was a great example to the Cuban community and to the United States; someone who was able to adapt because he was spreading the Christian message.''

That's the idea behind the visiting priests concept, Wenski said. And many others want to go, including the Rev. Jose Espino, the Cuban-born pastor of Northeast Dade's Holy Family Church who spent September at a Cuban church and wants to return for at least three years.

``We would like to keep building bridges between the churches here and there,'' Wenski said. ``We have close to a million people from Cuba or of Cuban descent here, and if there's going to be any bridge between the church in the United States and the church in Cuba, Miami is the best option.

``We are close -- not only geographically but culturally, spiritually and in a lot of other ways,'' he said.