Friday, February 15, 2013

The Pope, Lent, and Mission

Hello again, from hot and humid Comayagua! Hope all of you in the north eastern part of the States are fairing alright with all that snow!

Well, we were all shocked to find out about the Pope´s resignation on Monday. My first reaction was sadness. Benedict is my Pope! I lived in Rome with him for a year, attending all the events of the Church with him, witnessing him stand in the heat of the sun for more than 3 hours during Palm Sunday Mass, cheering for him in Spain during World Youth Day, even climbed scaffolding to see him on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Some of the other students of the Emmanuel School of Mission and I even got to sing happy birthday to him (remember that guys?!)! It´s so strange that he won´t be our Papa anymore.

And yet, getting to watch him in Rome, reading his writings, and seeing the type of man he is, I´m sure that this decision comes from God. Pope Benedict is a man of deep prayer and humility, a person who seeks out God´s will, no matter how difficult it will be, and no matter how many people will oppose him for following it. Knowing this then, we can rest at peace, knowing that this decision is from the Holy Spirit, and that God will provide the guidance and wisdom for choosing a knew Pastor for our Holy Roman Catholic Church. How exciting! Who knows where our next Pope could be from? United States???.........we shall see! Let us pray for Pope Benedict and his decision, and for our next Pope. God knows he´ll need it!

And somehow or other, so soon after Christmas, we find ourselves in Lent!! How that exactly happened, I´m not completely sure…but here we are! After thinking a lot about what I can do and what I can give up this Lent to come closer to God, something kept returning to my mind over and over again – if it doesn’t help you to love, then it´s not worth it. I know someone who tried to live on bread and water for all 40 days of Lent. They succeeded, but they also succeeded in being quite impatient and aggressive with others, due to the constant rumbling of their belly! So we can reflect on that thought this Lent: is this helping me to be a more loving person? If it´s not, let´s toss it out and search for something to give up that gets in our way of loving!

Just one more quick reflection on mission in general. I had to read Pope John Paul II´s encyclical Redemptoris Missio in order to prepare myself for this mission. I´ve been reflecting lately on the following passages:
           
¨The mission demands holy missionaries. Let us remember the missionary enthusiasm of the first Christian communities. Despite difficulties, the Gospel quickly reached the ends of the earth. And this was the religion of a man who died on a cross! Underlying it all was the holiness of the first Christians……The missionary is a witness to the experience of God, and of the inner joy that comes from faith. In a world tormented and oppressed by so many problems, a world tempted to pessimism, the one who proclaims the Good News must be a person who has found true hope in Christ.¨


Well, JPII is definitely calling me out here! Thanks a lot buddy……No but seriously, it really makes me think – what does my life say to others? Does my life say, even without words, that I love God? Does it speak of that ¨inner joy that comes from faith¨? As we are all called to be missionaries, we can all reflect on this question. What does our life say? Does it express our deepest beliefs about life and love? If not, what can we do concretely in our every day life to make that happen more and more?

Sorry for giving out homework this week! But it´s Lent, right! I´ve gotta punish you somehow!! Kidding, kidding! We´ve already established, Lent is about love!

I hope you have marvelous week! You are all in my prayers. Peace of Christ!
Eric




Friday, February 1, 2013

Retreat at the Beach

Hola!

Well, much has happened in the past week since I last wrote!

All of the missionaries and some of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal piled in to a 15 passenger van and headed north to the city of La Ceiba, on the coast. This was my first trip to the beach, so obviously I was super excited! But our purpose there didn´t really include relaxing out on the sand…we were there to put on a retreat for 170 young people.

The name of this type of retreat is Pan de Vida, or Bread of Life. The purpose is to give young people a real experience of Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist. Often as Catholics, we grow up hearing again and again that Jesus is present in the Blessed Sacrament, but it never really means anything…we go up to receive that ¨piece of bread¨ each Sunday at Mass. During Pan de Vida, we try to help young people experience for themselves that this is no mere ¨piece of bread,¨ but that it is Jesus among us! So yes, there are talks and activities and such, but our goal isn’t to intellectually convince anyone of the truth of this Church teaching. It´s to help people to meet Jesus, alive today. So we have adoration of the Blessed Sacrament during the whole retreat! Jesus in the Eucharist is directly in the middle of the young people during all the talks, songs, dancing, activities, sharing groups, etc.

At one point, there is a vigil where all the young people sit in a huge circle, and a priest takes the Eucharist in the monstrance and lowers it over the head of each and every young person at the retreat. For me, this was the most powerful part of the weekend. It was amazing – at the beginning, many of the young people were a bit ¨too cool for school,¨ not participating in the music or activities. But during this vigil, there was such a prayerful and peaceful presence, and I definitely saw many tears shed (even from the ¨tough¨ younger guys!). Almost every single person went to the sacrament of Confession as well, which was beautiful to see.

One girl in particular, I noticed at the very beginning of the retreat, had her arms folded and a big frown on her face while we were singing some songs. By the end, she was beaming, laughing, taking part in everything. I know that God did a lot in people´s hearts during this retreat!

During the weekend, the guy missionaries all stayed in the house of the Bishop. It was really cool to eat breakfast with him, sitting there just in his undershirt and jeans. Bishops are people too, right!

After it was all over, we spent a beautiful few hours on the beach relaxing. Woo hooo!! I forgot to bring my swim trunks, but that wasn’t gonna stop me! I went in with my jeans on, and still was in paradise!

The past few days, we have been working hard to prepare things for kids going back to school. Here in Honduras, they are just starting up the beginning of their school year (they are just ending their ¨summer¨ break). School is free, but everyone has to buy a uniform, backpack, and school supplies. There are many people who cannot afford to do this, and because of this sometimes kids can´t go to school! So we help to support about 40 kids so that they can go to school. I got to go on a huge shopping spree, buying shoes, shirts, skirts, socks, etc. Thank you so much to everyone who gave me money while I was home during Christmas break! This money has gone to support these kids and their education.

Yesterday, all the kids came to pick up there brand new things. They were so excited – modeling their new shoes and shirts and skirts. It´s amazing how excited a kid can be over an eraser or some colored pencils!

On a bit of a more somber note…please pray for Honduras. The murder and crime rates are greatly on the increase. In the past few weeks, 2 mayors and one vice mayor have been killed, along with a lot of other people. It´s an election year, and here if you´re in politics, that means you have dangerous enemies. But don´t worry, I´m not going to die! I ran for mayor here, but, I lost…so I´m all good! ;)

Live in peace!
Eric