Feast of the
Assumption
Readings:
Sisters and Brothers in Christ: It
is our profound privilege to greet you on this Feast of the Assumption
of Mary, Patron of Guatemala City, on behalf of the Sister Parish
delegation
from St. Joan of Arc in the United States.We
bring you greetings from Fr. George Wertin our Pastor, Fr. Jim Cassidy
our Associate Pastor, the staff and the entire parish who pray for you
constantly.
I would like to introduce Katharine Málaga
who will translate these remarks into Spanish.I
am Ross Starkson, her husband.
Our delegation has been in Guatemala since August
6th and has visited several places in your country.We
have spent time sharing stories with you in your homes and have enjoyed
studying scripture together, planning the future of our hermanamiento
[sister parish relationship] together, playing together (including a
wonderful
game of basketball), praying together and marching in the Peace March
together.
We have felt your love in so many ways.We
have experienced the warmth of your hospitality.We
have seen the way your have responded with love and understanding when
we have made the inevitable gringo blunders.We
have been overcome by gratitude with the way you have responded with
care
and concern when you perceived some threat to our safety.We
feel we have made life-long friends, better – we have become family.
We have also shared your pain and the pain of
other
places in Guatemala.We have listened
to the stories of loss and violence and cried.We
have knelt in the Peace Park in Santiago, Atitlán without words
to express the depth of our feelings.We
have seen where Padre Alfonso was killed.We
have listened to stories of injustice and felt anger and frustration.
We have stood in awe at the beauty of the land:
We have seen
the strength of people who strive for justice and peace, and have seen
the signs of hope that the Kingdom of God is among us.One
sign of hope is the women’s cooperative at UPAVIM in La Esperanza.This
sign of hope is close to the heart of another Sister Parish
relationship,
also in Minnesota.We have seen
the signs of hope in the work of COVERCO to investigate whether
corporations
comply with labor laws.We have
visited San Pedro La Laguna and have seen the result of the work of
CONAM
to educate girls.We have listened
to the Alliance Against Impunity in Guatemala City, an association of
many
organizations that insists on transparency in public affairs.We
had the honor of participating in the Peace March in Guatemala City on
Friday, August 13th that was so fulfilling to us.We
have learned so much from you!
We long for the Kingdom together while we rejoice,
together, in the signs of the Kingdom around us.We
hold dreams in our hearts that, like children, wait to be born into the
light of reality - dreams of justice, equality, freedom from hunger and
poverty.We all hold these dreams
in our hearts like a mother carries her child soon to be born.
I believe that when we share our dreams, and work
together to make them real, our visit together becomes more than a
visit,
it becomes a Visitation - like Mary and Elizabeth.Haven’t
we felt our hearts and our dreams, our children, leap for joy like the
child in Elizabeth’s womb?Haven’t
we felt an excitement that, together, we can be so much more than we
are
separately?Our dreams get stronger
and bolder in the warmth of our being together.
Dare we believe and rejoice, like Mary, that our
dreams
will be born into the light of day?She
expressed her dream in the Magnificat.Dare
we believe, with her, that violence will be overcome by peace?Dare
we believe that hunger will cease to be?Can
we believe that poverty will also disappear?Dare
we hope that the plans of the powerful will come to nothing?Is
it possible that justice will, in fact, come?
How can we dare believe these things?The
Dragon is waiting to devour the Child of our dreams as soon as it is
born.It
has tread heavily on everything - the people, the land – everything.It
has swept many stars from the sky – we have knelt at their graves.How
can we dare to believe?
But that is the promise Mary believes in.That
is the promise God has given us in Jesus.We
can see beyond the Dragon because we have each other.
I can dare to believe in our dreams because, with
Mary, we share a common dream – the coming of the Kingdom.I
can believe because you give me hope.I
see Jesus here in this place.Now.We
have felt the Child of our dreams leap for joy because we have seen
you.You
have felt the Child of your dreams leap for joy as well.Together
we can proclaim, with Mary, that the Child of Justice will
come,
and indeed, is here, now, in this place, in and with us.
The time has come – HERE – NOW –
to
begin the labor that will give birth to our dreams.The
Dragon cannot prevail.The Child
WILL be born and God will protect and nourish it.
God bless you and Thank you!