"It Is Grace Merely to Have the Chance to Serve"

This is the essence of the spiritual path of devotional service. One enters into the helping act not only because there is a need to be met. Service gradually becomes an offering, first to those we are with, but eventually to that greater truth or source of being in which we are all joined in love. Helping becomes an act of reverence, worship, gratitude. It is grace merely to have the chance to serve.

-       Ram Dass and Paul Gorman, How Can I Help?

“It is grace merely to have the chance to serve.” Mission Mexico has been experiencing that grace for many years, and as 2016 draws to a close, a lot of “special graces” seemed to come together.

This is Monica, who has never owned a pair of shoes...hopefully that will change in 2017

I visited Flora the other day in her village of Agua Tordillo. After living forty-one years seeing only “shadows” (in Flora’s words) or only “silhouettes” (in the doctor’s words), Flora can now see clearly, thanks to the MAS Clinic and Mission Mexico. What most impacted me about visiting with Flora (besides the evident joy she now experiences) was the new “cleanliness” in her life. Her clothes were clean; her house was clean; her kids were clean; the yard around her house was clean. Flora is a new woman!

To call Flora "radiant" now that she can see is no exaggeration

I visited with Braulio, who also received medical care at the MAS Clinic thanks to Mission Mexico. The liveliness in Braulio’s eyes and the energy he displays witness to the fact that this malnourished child is well on the road to recovery. He has left his village only once in his life, but he says he wants to leave again. When I asked him why, he responded with one word: “Chicken.” So I guess he enjoyed his one and only visit to a restaurant.

Braulio is one happy camper after receiving medical care

I visited a junior high school in the isolated village of Calpanapa Viejo (two hours on pavement, four hours on dirt road). They don’t have official “teachers,” but two high school graduates (Marcos and Jorge) are helping them learn. When I asked the twenty-six students if there was anything they needed, almost all responded, “Notebooks.” Hopefully Mission Mexico will be able to fulfill that wish for them early in 2017.

The junior high students and their two "teachers" in their "classroom" in Calpanapa Viejo

I visited the Champagnat High School of the Mountain, where 249 indigenous students from impoverished families in more than 35 villages where there is no high school are presently studying. The motto of the school, directed by the Marist Brothers, is “To Live Is to Serve.” The most common word one hears in the mouth of these students is “dream”: they all have the dream of educating themselves to be of service to their families and their communities. Mission Mexico helped to build the school in 2004, and it continues to support the maintenance of the school.

This year's group of students and teachers at the Champagnat High School of the Mountain: thank you, Mission Mexico

And on Sunday, the people of Tlapa were pleased that Edgar Peralta Silva came from Mexico City to share in the Sunday Eucharist with his friends at the local cathedral. Twenty-three-year-old Edgar suffered a bad fall in late April, and he is still paralyzed from the waist down. Doctors at the National Rehabilitation Institute have scheduled surgery on his spinal column for December 15. Mission Mexico wishes Edgar all the best in this delicate operation. Edgar says that he is "anxious but not scared."

Edgar at the Cathedral of Tlapa; surgery is scheduled for December 15 (hint: prayers)

I could go on and on about the “helping acts” that Mission Mexico is involved in here in the mountains of Mexico, but I hope that these examples are enough to let the reader know that Mission Mexico is making a difference in very many lives. I write this on Friday, December 9; in the Diocese of Calgary a collection will be taking place in churches this coming weekend for Mission Mexico. I know that times are challenging in Alberta, but I hope that people will be generous and that they can identify with the words included at the beginning of this note: Service gradually becomes an offering, first to those we are with, but eventually to that greater truth or source of being in which we are all joined in love. Helping becomes an act of reverence, worship, gratitude. It is grace merely to have the chance to serve. Thank you for your solidarity.

Thousands of people from hundreds of villages in the mountains will be doing a relay run this
 weekend with a torch lit at the Shrine of Guadalupe in Mexico City (I will be one of those thousands)

Beauty Given Back...to Flora

Deliver it, early now, long before death,

         give beauty back, beauty, beauty, beauty, 

                   back to God, beauty’s self and beauty’s giver.

-       Gerard Manley Hopkins, The Golden Echo

Flora will now be able to enjoy her early-morning sunrises

“Give beauty back…long before death.” I thought of that line as I drove Flora back to her village of Agua Tordillo. For forty-one years Flora had not seen beauty. From the time she was born, all she had seen were shadows; she had never even seen the mountains that surrounded her all of her life.

Flora being led to the operating room in the MAS Clinic

But on November 10 Flora had an operation in the MAS Clinic in Tlapa. A group of specialists from Mexico City comes to the MAS Clinic each November for four days of eye operations, and this year Mission Mexico arranged that Flora be one of the recipients of these operations. The doctors say that the operation was a great success.

Flora with her husband, Regino, and with Dr. Jorge Castro, founder of MAS

Afterwards, during the five-hour drive back to her village, Flora was full of questions. “Is that a mountain?” she asked about a big hill. “Are the mountains always this beautiful?” “Is the sky always this beautiful?” As we rounded a curve and Agua Tordillo came into sight, she asked “Is that my village?” Hearing that it was, she added, “It is even more beautiful than I had imagined.” No wonder I thought of Hopkin’s lines about beauty.

Flora and Regino at home with four of their six children

I confess that we almost didn’t make it to Tlapa for the operation. The night before leaving Agua Tordillo, it rained all night, and sections of the road became pure mud. It was a battle on at least two occasions, even with four-wheel drive, to make it uphill. But a lot of spinning (and several attempts) eventually got us through.

I think the tires give an idea of how parts of the road were in the early morning

On Saturday I will bring Flora back to Tlapa for a follow-up consultation. I am hopeful that a neighboring family will allow their son Braulio to come for a checkup. Now that Braulio’s family can see that medical care can make a difference, maybe they will be willing to let Braulio leave the village for the first time in his life. It is evident from Braulio’s eyes that he has some kind of illness.

I am hopeful that Braulio can have some medical tests in Tlapa

This beautiful gift of sight was a wonderful follow up to the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead just a week earlier. I was privileged to accompany villagers in their homes and in their cemeteries. I placed candles and flowers for my deceased parents in several places, but it was the night ceremony in Tototepec that was special for me. Since I was a visitor with no personal tomb, I was instructed to leave my candles and flowers below the huge cross in the middle of the cemetery.

The cross in the center of the cemetery in Tototepec

Thanks to all the supporters of Mission Mexico who helped Flora recover her sight and who help so many others in their struggle to transform lives here in the mountains. This coming year of 2017 will undoubtedly be a challenging one (not least because of the new government in the USA), and Mission Mexico will continue to do what it can to partner with the impoverished indigenous peoples in their efforts for life, dignity, and justice. God bless you for being in solidarity with these efforts.

A friend sent to me a photo taken as I placed flowers and candles for my deceased parents

Missioning —A Two-Way Street

From the perspective of [LaCugna’s] relational ontology, mission is just as much a conversion of ourselves as it is an outreach to others. It is not the bringing of an imperial and comprehensive truth to people devoid of truth, but rather a turning-toward-another, being-for and receiving-from another in which truth is manifest precisely in this encounter and mutual transformation. Mission, in this sense, can reach the “other” only to the degree that it also changes the missionary.

-       From an article called “Catherine Mowry LaCugna’s Contribution to Trinitarian Theology,” by Elizabeth T. Groppe, in Theological Studies, no. 63 (2002)

A family from Tlapa gave me some clothes and toys to bring to Agua Tordillo. I daresay
 that this was one of the happiest days of his life for Braulio.

It could have been worse. I had left Tlapa at 4:30 in the morning to drive to Agua Tordillo, to tell two women (Flora and Rosalia) that I had made an appointment for them with an ophthalmologist for October 25. Flora probably has cataracts; sparks from an open fire on her dirt floor burnt Rosalia’s eyes five years ago. This will be their first visit to a medical clinic. Yes, a telephone would have been better than a four-hour drive, but there are no telephones in Agua Tordillo. I arrived a little before 9 AM, spent all morning there, and left at about 1 PM to return to Tlapa.

Flora and her son Cris Angel. Flora can see nothing in the bright light outside.

I was really tired, and I noticed that my eyes were closing on their own (which isn't a great thing to happen on these mountain roads), so I looked for a shady spot on the side of the road to sleep for thirty minutes. Eventually I came across such a spot; I parked the truck, turned off the motor, and promptly fell asleep.

Rosalia and her son Manuel. Sparks burned Rosalia's eyes five years ago,
and her eyes have been  painful for her ever since.

An hour later (4 PM), I awoke and started the truck to continue my journey. That is, I tried to start the truck…but it just wouldn’t start. It was evident that the motor wasn’t getting gasoline. The clouds overhead were very dark, so I knew it was going to rain soon. I figured that it was going to be a long night sleeping in the truck on the side of the road.

The families in Agua Tordillo gave me this bright yellow bag as a gift. I love it...

Then the most amazing thing happened. Don Dagoberto, the bishop of Tlapa, passed by on his way home from a pastoral visit to Teocuitlapa. His driver, Pascual, recognized my truck and pulled over to see if I needed help. Yes, I did—so they towed me for about thirty minutes to Ayotoxtla, where there was a mechanic’s shop. I left the truck there and continued to Tlapa with Pascual and the bishop.

Don Jose—one of the kindest and wisest men I know in the mountains.

The mechanic, Victor, told me that he had in his shop a gas pump for the truck and that the truck would be ready “by Monday or Tuesday.” There is no telephone there either. I have commitments on Wednesday, so I guess that I will gamble and go to Ayotoxtla tomorrow (Tuesday) via public transport (that is, on the back of a truck, for about three hours). Hopefully I will find the Mission Mexico truck ready to go. But it won’t be a huge surprise if Victor hasn’t even started repairs. Such is life in the mountains of Mexico.

Flowers and candles—a vital part of prayer for the people in Agua Tordillo

On Friday I will drive again for four hours to Agua Tordillo, stay there overnight (I can choose: sleep on someone's dirt floor or sleep in the truck), and leave at 4 AM for Tlapa…with Flora, Rosalia, and Odilon (Rosalia’s husband). Neither Flora nor Rosalia has ever travelled to Tlapa, so I have a supply of small plastic bags ready for vomit. Hopefully we will be in Tlapa at 8 or 8:30: we will go to the MAS Medical Clinic for the appointment with the ophthalmologist. In the afternoon, we will have lunch and then return to Agua Tordillo. If I have the energy, I will return to Tlapa that night; if not, I will return on Sunday morning.

Odilon (in blue) translating from Spanish to Mephaa (the native language) for Father Vicente

On the one hand, it seems like a lot of time and energy spent for just two persons—especially since this may be the first of several visits, if the ophthalmologist suggests an operation or something similar. But on the other hand, this health care may change the lives of Flora and Rosalia—and that in turn will impact their families and their community. The villagers are already appreciative that Mission Mexico is trying to make a difference, and even this small sign of solidarity nourishes hope for all.

Going for water—a daily task

Thanks to all in Canada who support Mission Mexico. Every day life is being transformed in small and in big ways for many impoverished people. The gratitude of the people here is tangible—and it makes being here with them the greatest blessing that I can even imagine. As LaCugna suggests in the opening quote, “it changes the missionary.” Things don’t always work out, but accompanying the people in the bad times as well as the good times is what true friendship is all about. 

Being received in Agua Tordillo with necklaces of flowers—just one tangible sign of gratitude

"I Will Move Mountains To Be With You"

The shirt reads "I will move mountains to be with you."
The drawing asks, "Where are they?"

It is hard to believe that it is going to be two years on September 26 that 43 students from the teachers’ college in Ayotzinapa were disappeared—and it’s even harder to believe that the families of the young men are no closer to knowing what happened than they were two years ago. The logo on the shirt of one of the fathers expresses the determination of the family members: “I will move mountains to be with you.”

A march in Tlapa by family members, friends, and supporters of the 43 disappeared students

The families attempt every avenue (including marches, as in the photo above, and Masses, as in the photo below) so that the government will investigate every possibility to determine exactly what happened that night of September 26, 2014, but it has been like running into a brick wall. Just this past week the government’s lead investigator, who is accused of planting false evidence so that everyone would think that the 43 were burned at a remote garbage dump in Cocula (a theory debunked by a committee of international experts), was named a member of the federal government’s National Security Council. That is not exactly an encouraging sign for the families and those who support them.

The 22nd anniversary of the Tlachiinollan Human Rights Center began with a Mass in Tlapa
for the disappeared students from Ayotzinapa and their families

One of the organizations that has most supported the families of the Ayotzinapa students has been the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center of the Mountain. Tlachinollan recently celebrated its twenty-second anniversary. The founding director, Abel Barrera (theologian and anthropologist), is one of the most respected spokespersons for the causes of the indigenous peoples in the mountains, and he and Tlachinollan have received several international awards. Mission Mexico is honored to partner with Tlachinollan in some of its projects.

Abel Barrera with Father Juan: Abel with Bidulfo, one of Tlachinollan's lawyers;
Abel with Arturo (singer and poet and activist, from Cuernavaca) and Mike

September is also the month in which the Champagnat High School of the Mountain, located in the village of Potoichan, opened its doors again for another academic year. An extension to the dormitory for women meant that eighteen more young women could study there this year; the total number of students is presently 258. The school is specifically designed for indigenous students who come from impoverished families in villages where there is no high school. Mission Mexico helped to build this school, and it continues to support the school in different ways.

News students at the high school; Mike with Marist Brother Salvador, who has worked at the school
 since it opened in 2004; Yarabi and Nohemi check out the new dormitory

The rainy season continues, and the roads seem to get worse and worse. There are days when no travel is possible, due to landslides or roads simply being washed away. And there are other days that the mud makes downhill and uphill travel rather difficult. But such is “normal” life here in the mountains.

Photos taken on September 14...the road to Zitlaltepec and San Marcos

For example, on Wednesday I went to San Marcos to bring Juana to Tlapa so that the doctors could check her burnt foot. The doctors are pleased with the healing process, although they did remove yesterday the bones on a couple of her toes. On Sunday I will bring Juana back to her village. The five photos above show parts of the road that I traveled on Tuesday. I am hoping that the roads will be no worse on Sunday. The Mission Mexico truck comes in handy for medical situations like this one.

Juana at home; one sees her mother and father and brother and little cousins 

And last weekend I went to Mexico City to visit Edgar, the young man who fell down a ravine on April 29 while bringing school supplies to children in the impoverished indigenous village of Aguaxoco. Four and a half months later, Edgar has more freedom with his upper-body movements, but he still has no sensation below the waist, and he still can't sit up at a 90-degree angle. Mission Mexico helps with some costs and assists some of Edgar’s poor friends from the mountains so that they can visit him (and encourage him) in Mexico City. Today happens to be his 23^rd birthday. Happy Birthday, Edgar.

Edgar on September 11; the CAT scan from September 4 shows
how serious his injury is

Another priest arrived this week to join the pastoral team in Xochitepec. Father Hector (nicknamed Tato) has joined Fathers Juan and Vicente in accompanying the mephaa indigenous people in the 28 villages of that isolated area of the mountains. Mission Mexico supports this pastoral team in its efforts to work with the people for a life with greater dignity and justice.

Father Juan, Father Tato, Father Vicente—from a congregation called
Missionaries of the Holy spirit (MSpS)

And the violence continues. Another fine young man (and friend), Francisco, was recently murdered. Francisco’s sister and her husband and their two children are among my closest friends here. What can one say at times like this? Just “being there” is probably more important than any words that can be expressed.

Francisco, the friendliest and kindest person one might hope to meet—recently murdered

So life goes on. Tomorrow I will visit a sewing cooperative operated by a group of students studying accounting here in Tlapa. The students come from different villages and wanted to support the poorer families in their villages. So Mission Mexico helped them to buy a couple of sewing machines and some initial materials, and they are now busy producing school uniforms, dresses, shirts, etc. Maybe I will have photos from that cooperative in my next blog. Thank you, everyone who supports Mission Mexico. Enjoy the rest of this month of September.

An early-morning sunrise in the mountains

Back to School in the Mountains

Education cannot be neutral. It is either positive or negative; either it enriches or it impoverishes; either it enables a person to grow or it lessens, even corrupts him. The mission of schools is to develop a sense of truth, of what is good and beautiful...If something is true, it is good and beautiful; if it is beautiful; it is good and true; if it is good, it is true and it is beautiful. And together, these elements enable us to grow and help us to love life, even when we are not well, even in the midst of many problems. True education enables us to love life and opens us to the fullness of life.

                        -- Pope Francis—May 10, 2014

This is one of the most challenging times of year here, trying to assist families as they arrange educational opportunities for their daughters and sons. In the villages families often lack official documentation and often have no idea about the requirements in different schools and universities. It is amazing the amount of sacrifice that so many young people are willing to endure just to be able to continue their education.

Just a few of the many young people supported by Mission Mexico so that they can study

Mission Mexico has a scholarship/bursary program to assist some students who have exhibited leadership skills as well as an evident desire to be involved in transforming the reality of their impoverished villages. As Abad phrased it recently in a note he wrote, Cada quien con una carrera diferente pero por un mismo propósito: Ser para Servir. That translates into: “Each one with a different career but for the same goal: To Be to Serve.”

A view of the Champagnat High School of the Mountains, a place where students
are encouraged "To Be to Serve."

Of course, the rainy season doesn’t make it any easier to travel from the villages to the cities where there are universities. Just last week I tried to get to a village called Plan de Gatica, but I had to give up; there were at least six places where the road had either been washed out by the torrential rains or where there were huge mudslides blocking the road. And I had to take a different route back to Tlapa because of a huge mudslide that blocked the road between Xochitepec and Aguatordillo.

Recent photos along the mountain roads

I was fortunate enough to be able to get to the village of San Marcos without any serious problems. Juana, who suffers from epilepsy, had passed out in her house, and her foot fell into some burning coals in the middle of the floor. The doctors in Tlapa did what they could and wanted her to go to Mexico City, but her elderly parents insisted on bringing her back home to her village.

Hopefully Juana's family is cleaning her burn regularly, as instructed by the doctors

Before I left San Marcos to return to Tlapa, Doña Simona, Juana’s mother, insisted that I accept a gift for helping them return to their village. So I now have in my room here a wonderful servieta embroidered by Doña Simona.

Doña Simona offering me a servieta as thanks for bringing her daughter home to her village

Last week was also a sad one for me because a very good friend of mine who worked as a taxi driver in Tlapa was savagely murdered. I first met Ricardo Diaz more than twenty years ago, and he always had a ready smile for all. He joked about accompanying me to Canada once the visa requirement is lifted for Mexicans (something supposedly scheduled for December of this year), but, alas, such will not happen now.

Ricardo, thanks for so many great memories

So the days fly by, and I always seem to have something to do. I was going to write this blog last night, but at about seven o’clock four students showed up at my door and said that they didn’t have all of the papers that they needed to start school today. So I drove them to their village to get the missing documents; we got back to Tlapa at 11:30 PM. Tired but content that these students can continue their education…

Mike in San Marcos Xochitepec; the smaller stone represents St. Mark of the Rain

The rain will continue for a few more months. Here in the mountains it is Saint Mark who is associated with the rains. So far Saint Mark has been doing a good job. Hopefully he will continue to be happy for a more more months…

This photo of Father Juan Molina, MSpS,, was taken by Beatriz Alessio;
Juan is one of my best friends, and I love the photo...this is the real Juan...

Thanks to all who support Mission Mexico and help to make a difference in the lives of these beautiful, noble people. Enjoy the last few weeks of August. God bless.

"There Is an Emergency Happening All the Time"

The mountain mist covers a world of darkness and light, sadness and joy

When a disaster strikes, the emotional centers of our brain flare up: we think— emergency! We forget there is an emergency happening all the time, because we’ve grown accustomed to everyday emergencies like disease and poverty and oppression.

-       MacAskill, William. Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Make a Difference (p. 60). Penguin Publishing Group

The journey to a new future is not an easy one

Life goes on in the mountains here in Mexico. There are emergencies happening all the time, but there are lots of signs of hope too. The peasant farmers are presently quite happy with the rainy season that began in June. The question always is, though: Will it last? The rainy season is supposed to continue to the month of October, but dry spells have not been uncommon in recent years.

I love driving in the rain...and music from the Trinitarian Sisters of Mary, in Tijuana, is nice too

July is the month when school vacations begin, and I have been invited to many school graduation ceremonies. In a region that has about 700 villages, I couldn’t accept all of the invitations. The graduation ceremony at the Champagnat High School of the Mountain, in the village of Potoichán, was a special occasion. Eighty students graduated this year. A lot of tears flowed, but the pride of the parents was evident. Mission Mexico partners with the Marist Brothers of Mexico in helping to offer quality education to indigenous students from impoverished villages where no high school exists.

Marist Brother Salvador Gonzalez (Cepillo) has been at the Champagnat High School
of the Mountain since its founding in 2004 and is loved by all

Abel Barrera, the director of the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center of the Mountain (another partner of Mission Mexico), was guest speaker at the closing ceremony of the CIESA High School in Tlapa. He encouraged the students to be grateful for the sacrifice of their parents, to be proud to be from the mountain of Guerrero, and to strive throughout their lives to help create a society in which all people can live with dignity, justice, and hope. In a way, he asked the students (using the words of the initial quote in this blog) to not grow accustomed to the “everyday emergencies” of disease and poverty and oppression that are so prevalent here.

Abel Barrera with Ita Meztli; Ita graduated with a 9.8 average

It is always nice to see families actually celebrating an achievement of a family member. So many sacrifices are involved in educating children. There is an intense struggle going on in the whole country of Mexico right now regarding an “educational reform” that was passed as law in 2013 but has yet to be implemented. One Mexican intellectual, Adolfo Gilly, suggests that implementing the “educational reform” would be “selling the soul of the nation to Big Money” (La Jornada newspaper, June 22, 2016).

Two proud mothers at the kindergarten graduation in Xochitepec

Mission Mexico will continue to accompany these impoverished families as they struggle in so many different ways to create life in a situation of so many challenges. Thanks go out to all of the Canadians who support this valiant effort by these noble people. Your solidarity is making a difference in lives here.

Mike and some friends in Tlacoapa

PS: A blast from the past...The other day I was in the village of Xalatzala. In the summer of 1980 a group of high school students came with me to Mexico to visit Father Lawrence Moran, CSB. We stayed in the village of Tototepec, and one of our summer tasks was to paint the interior of the church in Xalatzala. Luis Flores (now living in Calgary) installed the first electrical lights in the church. The people in Xalatzala still remember their first experience with Canadians back then.

The church in Xalatzala as it appears today

PPS: Several people have asked me how my friend Edgar Peralta Silva is doing since his tragic fall on the mountainside almost two months ago (described in my blog on May 11, 2016). Edgar is staying at a brother's house in Mexico City and is still receiving therapy. He can sit up in bed now, but he still has no feeling below his waist. Hope never dies.

Edgar in his brother's house in Mexico City