BACK in HONDURAS

Last Tuesday, March 12, I arrived back in Honduras after three weeks in the US. I saw many friends and family members, though there were many I missed. It was a good visit, especially in terms of spreading the word about Honduras and the dioceses of Santa Rosa de Copán. I gave 21 talks or presentations in 22 days!

After a day of rest, I began to get back into contact with the areas of my ministry. Yet I don’t feel as if I have been away. The three weeks, though very important, are almost a dream – a very good one, in fact. But I feel at home.

In fact the week before I came back I began to feel homesick. As I sat at the Ash Wednesday service at a church in the Twin Cities, I really wished I were home, in Honduras, worshiping with communities here.

There are some things that I savored on the trip, including a meeting in the Twin Cities with former students who are now professionals or grad students that I wished could have lasted all night, but we had stop at 11 pm to travel an hour to where I would stay. I do miss those type of intense conversations, but Honduras is now, in a real sense, my home.

It helps that I got my carné, the card that says I am an official foreign resident on Honduras. But the people, the connections, and the hospitality that have made this a home for me.

And so I think of the passage I just read from Dorothy Day’s From Union Square to Rome:

Gratitude brought me into the Church and that gratitude grows, and the first word my heart will utter when I face God is "Thanks."

Gratitude brought me to Honduras and so I can say "Gracias a Dios!"