Emmanuel

Greetings of the peace of Christ from Honduras;
despite our coup and poverty Christ lives among us!

This week has been fairly quiet, since the Caritas office is closed until January 11.

But I have managed to get to the Comedor de Niños, the lunch program for kids, twice this week. There were not many kids Monday and Tuesday, partly because it’s been cold and rainy here since Saturday. This is normal weather for this time of the year but we were spoiled by several weeks of warm, sunny days and cool nights. However, that wreaked some havoc on people in the countryside who depend on the October through December rains for their crops. In some parts of the country there has been so little rain that they are calling it a drought.

Today, it was sunny and warmer. So I took time out to make cinnamon buns. I will be going to Gracias, Lempira – a 90 minute bus ride from here – to spend Christmas eve and Christmas morning with Sisters Nancy and Brenda, two Dubuque Franciscan sisters who are serving in the parish of Gracias. It is a blessing to have good friends and mutual support.

The next week will be adventure. The bishop, Monseñor Luis Alfonso Santos, invited me to go with him for several days as he visits parishes in the southern parts of the departments of Lempira and Intibucá for confirmations and an ordination. These are very poor regions of the diocese inhabited, for the most part, by indigenous people, mostly Lenca. It will be good to see another part of the diocese, meet the people, and have time to talk with the bishop.

If during these days the coming of the Lord sets our hearts on fire and if we respond by our commitment and solidarity to the gift of love which God gives us in his Son, we will become the fireflies who will gradually transform the threatening darkness into a human, peaceful, and luminous night.

Gustavo Gutierrez, Sharing the Word through the Liturgical Year, 27

-----------

The icon was written by Yaroslava Surmach Mills, a gift she sent me several years ago.