Mission and more

October is the month of the missions.

Many think of missionaries as those who go to a foreign land, eat exotic food, suffer without water and electricity, and are always smiling.

NO!

But here in our parish there is a different sense of mission. In the spirit of the Latin American bishops’ meeting in 2007 in Aparecida, Brazil, we are all called to be disciples-missionaries. If this sounds familiar, this is also a theme of Pope Francis which he knew very well as one of the major writers of the Aparecida document.

But our parish has a special way of doing mission work. This year, as we did last year, the parish sent out about 45 people in twos (or threes) to villages throughout the parish, from Sunday October 8 to Sunday October 15. They went without money, without cell-phone, not to preach but, by visiting people in their homes and listening to them, to help them discover the God of mercy in their lives, their families, their communities.

The missionaries were sent out at the end of Mass on October 8. Two new missionaries received a cross to wear but all of the missionaries received a cross which fits in the palm of the hand. But the cross was to be given to a sick person or another person in need. The crosses were given so that the sick, the elderly, the homebound would have a reminder that Christ is there with them in their suffering.

 They were also given a rosary. A parish in San Antonio had donated rosaries to AMIGA which has sent medical brigades to this area several times (and are here right now.) The directors gave them to me and we gave them to the missionaries so that they could give them to someone who wanted to pray the rosary but did not have one; it didn’t matter if they were ill or well, old or young. It was to be given to encourage them to pray.

Most communities sent someone to bring them to their assigned villages. One group was waiting on the church steps but no one arrived. Another group, accompanied by someone from the village, was there, but they had no ride. So I gave them a ride. Two missionaries and their guide got off the truck at one point to walk to the village. I took the others to San Marcos Pavas, one of the most remote villages in the parish. We were able to get in because the landslide had been partially removed. However, I left my car on the other side of the landslide.

During the week I went to two places to preside at a Holy Hour and Benediction. Thursday I led them here in Plan Grande. Friday I was going to another remote village but, after calling someone from their at the suggestion of Padre German, I decided not to go, since the road was washed out in one place due to a ground fault. The experience of the Holy Hours was very good for me. I left time for all of us to place the sick, the departed, and all our needs before Christ in the Eucharist.

Saturday I went to a meeting of one of the zones, most of all to help them plan for Confirmation in a village there in less than two weeks.

Sunday, we had the closing Mass of Thanksgiving with the returning missionaries.

Monday, I spent at least five hours in church in Dulce Nombre.

Confirmations are scheduled for October 25 and 26. The more than 250 to be confirmed (as well as their sponsors need to go to confession before confirmation day. Padre German has had some confessions in the aldeas but most of those to be confirmed and some sponsors came to Dulce Nombre on Monday for confession. Padre German asked me to arrange a morning of prayer and more while he heard confession. So we had a penitential rite with prayers, readings, and music, which had been planned by several young catechists, followed by Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament for about an hour, followed by the Rosary led by one of the local sisters, Oblates of the Divine Love. Thanks be to God three priests arrived to hear more than 300 confessions – during more than three hours. Then we concluded with a Mass.

What a sign of Gods’ love and mercy.

After Mass, I rushed off to Concepción, Copán, about ten minutes away. AMIGAS was attending patients there and they needed translation help. I helped for a few hours and then headed home.

Tuesday I helped translating for the brigade which saw people in nearby Candelaria, Concepción. 

After leaving a few doctors went to the home of a bed-bound woman about 32 years old who lives here in Plan Grande. The doctors examined her and will see what can be done. During the visit the mother mentioned that they had not had a blood test for several years, mostly for lack of the thirty or so dollars needed. I told her about the parish’s Solidarity Fund and we’ll see what we can do. I also shared Communion with the woman – praying for continuing healing of body and soul.

Next week we have confirmations and we’re trying to get ready for that. In addition, I’ll be leaving for the US right after confirmations -  a time to visit our sister parish in Ames, Iowa, as well as to take a short retreat at a Trappist monastery.

Parish mission - continuing

We closed the parish mission this Sunday morning at the 10:00 am Mass. The seventy-four parishioners who had spent a week in different locations in the parish returned for a short evaluation with Padre German.

Most had a very good experience and were well-received by their hosts in the 54 different sites in the parish. Many managed to visit almost all the houses where they went.

In one area, the missionaries reported that they had visited not only the Catholics but more than 50 houses of evangelicals, including the houses of three evangelical pastors.

In several cases they helped the people reorganize themselves into base communities or welcomed people back to the Catholic Church.

Some people were surprised – and happy – to find Catholic missionaries at their doors. They are all too accustomed to have evangelicals or Jehovah Witnesses knocking.

After the discussion we headed off to Mass. They entered with a hymn of thanksgiving.

The Mass was simple - but with a nice spirit.

After Mass, a group in Dulce Nombre had prepared a lunch for all of them.

This is just the beginning of an effort in the parish. Padre German is proposing sending the same missionaries out from Palm Sunday to Wednesday of Holy Week, as well as having another mission week next October.

This is heartening, a real effort to follow Pope Francis’ invitation to be a church that goes outside its walls. As he wrote in Joy of the Gospel, ¶ 20:

In our day Jesus’ command to “go and make disciples” echoes in the changing scenarios and ever new challenges to the Church’s mission of evangelization, and all of us are called to take part in this new missionary “going forth”. Each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out, but all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the “peripheries” in need of the light of the Gospel.

What a joy to be part of this.

Dulce Nombre Parish Mission

Today the parish of Dulce Nombre sent forth 74 parishioners for a week of mission, covering 53 towns, villages, and hamlets in the parish.

Entering the church in procession before Mass

The parishioners, most of whom participated in two training sessions of a day and a half each, went forth in twos and threes. Some have one mission site; others will visit two or three villages.

They left their cell phones at home and went without money, depending on the hospitality in the places where they will mission. If this sounds like something out of the Gospels, it is! If this sounds like Pope Francis asking for a church that goes out from the church building, it is!

The seventy four missionaries will, with guides in the villages, visit every household, listening and praying. This is not so much an evangelistic crusade as a mission of showing the mercy of God by their visits. After greeting people in their homes and listening to them, they will pray and share a scripture with them. I prepared a list of a few scriptures related to sitautions they might encounter.

As part of the mission,we are urging them to have special concern for the sick and the elderly. If they see serious needs, they will work with the people in the village to see what can be done. We have the hope that they can promote a work of mercy during their visit.

Padre German is making himself available when there are groups of the elderly or ill who want to be anointed or receive the sacrament of reconciliation. If there are elderly or sick who only want to receive Communion, I will go out and bring them Communion.

The missionaries will also promote other meetings and celebrations while in the villages. I expect they will meet with some base communities and youth groups as well as lead a few Celebrations of the Word, Holy Hours, or praying the Rosary. We are urging each place they visit to end with a celebratory get-together.

The Mass this morning was long since each missionary was giving a Cross and individually blessed by Padre German. Beginning about 10:45, we sent the last missionaries out about 1:15!

They will be in mission until next Sunday when we will have a Mass to end the Mission.

I was impressed especially by the large number of young men and women who are going on mission. Yes, there are many who have been involved in the church for more than a decade, but there are enthusiastic young people among them.

I pray that this is, for all of them, an experience of renewing their faith by sharing their faith and living with others. I also pray that it will help deepen the faith of many in the parish who are disheartened or who have not been practicing their faith.

I do have to admit that I was skeptical that this could happen, but God works miracles. Seventy-four people leaving their homes, their family, even their cell phones, dependent on the hospitality of strangers. What a beautiful way to live the faith.

As we were preparing for the mission, I heard Padre German speak of his experiences of mission, including spending forty days in one place where they served flor de izote every day. He spoke of the difficulties he had experienced and of the joy that accompanied these missions that were times of conversion and faith for him.

As I listened, I felt that I had not done this, but then I remembered my experience in the parish of Suchitoto, El Salvador, in 1992. I volunteered with the Salvadoran priest and five US women religious – two of whom are now here in Honduras.

They sent me to the furthest part of the parish – a four hour walk from Suchitoto. I visited and worked with several communities, but I stayed most of the time with the Clavel family, usually for several days each week. The family had recently returned from exile in Honduras, due to the civil war. The father, Esteban (God rest his soul), who had been a catechist and had fled El Salvador because of threats, had made a house out of a cattle stable. They had eight children, from 2 to about 18, living in the house, but they took me in. To avoid displacing a child from his cot, I brought a hammock for sleeping.

It was a great experience, even if there was not water in the community (until late in my stay), even if there was no real latrine, even if there was no electricity, even if this was before cell-phones and there were not fixed phones for miles, even if we had to go to the nearby river to bathe, even if the meals were mostly tortillas and salty beans.

Yet every morning I awoke with a deep sense of gratitude. “Gracias a Dios” were often the first words in my heart.

May the missionaries be safe – but even more may they experience the love and mercy of God and share it. And may they find joy in mission.