Migrants - and Corpus Christi

On Monday, June 13, the feast of Saint Anthony, I went to one village for the Mass of their patron, Saint Anthony. Our pastor had four more Masses that day and another priest who is temporarily living in the parish to care for his ill mother had several Masses. There are six rural communities and a church in Dulce Nombre dedicated to San Antonio.

A custom here is to have Mass intentions mentioned at the beginning of Mass. They usually include those who have died, the sick, those celebrating birthdays, and more. They also include praying for migrants. At this Mass, there were more than twenty-three people who had migrated and were living mostly in the US. They also asked for prayers for migrants who were on the road, seeking to get to the US – they included on man and a couple and their child.

Yesterday I noted a young man I know who lived for a while in Plan Grande who had just arrived in the US and was with a sister there. 

Migration hits home. It is more significant than I had thought.

Recently I came across a report by the World Justice Project on a 2021 poll of Hondurans on migration.

“More Hondurans would prefer to move permanently to another country than respondents from regional peer countries. Forty-nine percent of respondents would prefer to move permanently to another country and 18% of respondents reported having plans to move internationally in the next 12 months.”

The report also noted that

“Seventeen percent of Hondurans have attempted to migrate to the United States. Most (63%) respondents who reported having attempted to migrate to the United States did not end up entering the country. Of those, 42% of respondents were unable to enter because they were sent back by law enforcement, 20% changed their mind, and 14% reported that the journey was too difficult. Of the 37% of respondents who were successfully able to enter the United States, 43% were deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and another 17% left due to family or social reasons.”

I also just read in another report, that in contrast to 17,809 Hondurans deported from the US in 2021, in the first four months of 2022, 32,517 were deported.

Because this is so important and impacts the lives of those who remain or who have returned or been deported, our pastor asked me to write short reflections for Corpus Christs processions.

The custom here is to have Eucharistic processions for Corpus Christi in many places, at times led by the communion ministers. The pastor or another priest will have Mass at several of these places and I will have a Celebration of the Word with Communion in at least one place.

Corpus Christi procession in Delicias Concepción, 17 June

Before the Mass or Celebration the people will go in procession with the Eucharist and stop at five altars to pray. 

I shared the reflections I had prepared at a meeting of the communion ministers last Saturday, warning them that they were very pointed. I told them that if anyone complained, tell them that I wrote them. But one of the women affirmed that the reflections reflected the reality.

There are five themes, corresponding to the five altars where the Corpus Christi processions will stop and pray. 

• Jesus: the Word became Flesh; the Word became Bread; the Word became poor. 
• The vulnerability of Jesus and the vulnerability of migrants 
• The presence of Christ in the Eucharist and among the migrants 
• Jesus affected in those suffering from migration 
• Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the Eucharist. 

You can find my reflections here in Spanish. 

Here are translations of a few excerpts. 

2. Vulnerability 

In their vulnerability, many, looking for something better, migrate, leaving behind their homes. The lack of work and of opportunities, poverty and, at times, violence push them to seek a way out.
The migrants are also vulnerable on their journey. Many endure hunger. Some suffer violence, extortion, kidnappings. Some are abandoned and others are objects of human trafficking.
At times, their dreams are converted into nightmares, deceived by the false promises of the coyotes [those who arrange transport for a hefty fee].
When they get to other countries, some are still vulnerable. Some feel alone, separated from their families. Others fear being jailed or deported. Some are exploited by their employers. Without legal recourse, others suffer violence, assaults, and thefts. God is with them in their vulnerability, in their sufferings.
Jesus, God made human, wants to accompany us in our vulnerability. 

3. Those affected by migration 

Jesus is always with those who suffer.
Migration affects not only those who migrate but also their families and the communities they leave behind. Migration leaves behind broken families - children who scarcely know their fathers, mothers without the assistance of their spouses.
How can we give migrant families the aid they need, especially moral and spiritual support? 

Migration has left some communities with few men or adolescents.

Families find themselves in debt to pay the coyotes and kidnappers. And so some seek to find money by means that are scarcely legal; therefore we find the increase of the sale of drugs and prostitution. 

5. Mary 

Mary is a woman who has seen the suffering of her son and has compassion for all whose who suffer. She can witness the suffering of women and girls who are abandoned, abused, raped, trafficked for prostitution.
She fled with Joseph and her son to escape the violence of King Herod, much like women today who flee violence.
Mary beholds the suffering of women who migrate, facing the dangers of the journey, the threats of violence, trafficking and rape, the days without food for themselves and their children.
Mary is also present with the women left behind, alone, by the migration of their spouses and children.

Mary, at the foot of the cross, shows us how to respond to those who suffer; her presence shows us the compassion of God.