Educational Bursaries in "México Profundo" in 2020

In 1987, a Mexican ethnologist and anthropologist named Guillermo Bonfil Batalla published a book called "Mexico Profundo: Reclaiming a Civilization." "México Profundo" could be translated as "Deep Mexico," "Profound Mexico"—perhaps even "Real Mexico." For the author, what unifies and distinguishes "México Profundo" from the rest of Mexican society "is that they are bearers of ways of understanding the world and of organizing human life that have their origins in Mesoamerican civilization and that have been forged here in Mexico through a long and complicated historical process."

Many of the bursary recipients are graduates of the Marist-run Champagnat High
School of the Mountain, a school constructed and maintained in partnership with MMEX

Such are the indigenous peoples in the Mountain of Guerrero. Such are the peoples with whom Mission Mexico partners in their efforts for justice, dignity, peace, life. Those who do not identify with "Mexico Profundo" are, in the opinion of the author, part of "Imaginary Mexico"—a Mexico that does not exist but whose ultimate project is to uphold the dominant civilizational program geared towards what we might call "Western" values and goals. 

Sharing clothes in the Mountain before the cold season begins in December

As the indigenous peoples here in the 700 villages of the Mountain from the Na'savi, Nahuatl, and Me'phaa cultures strive to survive and dream of flourishing in Mexico today, the challenges are many. Mission Mexico's solidarity with the peoples involves especially two areas: health and education.

Hopefully my friend Braulio will grow strong and continue his education someday...

I often wish that Guillermo Bonfil Batalla had not died in 1991. I would love to talk with him about the solidarity projects sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of Calgary and ask him about what he might consider its pros and cons. I daresay that it is impossible to have a "perfect" relationship when the rich or privileged or better-off interact with the poor and marginalized and forgotten—but I daresay that it is possible to have a relationship that is based on respect, listening, reflection together, joint decision making, and working together. And this is the "culture" that Mission Mexico tries to promote in its interactions with the peoples here. And Mexican "partners" here that collaborate with Mission Mexico, every bit as informed and astute as Guillermo Bonfil Batalla, continually accompany us in our journeys of solidarity.

The lack of electricity doesn't mean that supper can't be an enjoyable experience.

I recently sent to the Mission Mexico committee in Calgary a list of project proposals for 2020. This committee is composed of volunteers from Calgary who, out of the goodness of their heart, work to raise funds for Mission Mexico and to coordinate the use of these funds so that they are put to the best use here in the mountains. I actually felt bad when I assembled the different requests for bursaries that different young people had submitted to study a university career and forwarded these to the Mission Mexico committee.

Elizabeth fell and fractured her spinal column in June, but someday she hopes
to be able to continue studying.

Last year, in 2018, there were 27 students who wished to renew for another year their Mission Mexico bursary, and there were 13 new requests for a Mission Mexico bursary. This year, in November of 2019, there are 39 bursary renewals, and there are 36 new requests for a bursary. In other words, the numbers jump from 40 bursaries in 2019 to 75 bursaries requested for 2020.

This is the home of José, one of the present bursary recipients.

I have visited, spoken with, and know these young people. The need is real. Without outside support, the dream of a university education and a professional career will be just that: a dream. 

My 91-year-old friend Reyna, deaf-mute all her life, died last week. 

I share these thoughts with you, the reader, because, unless the donations to Mission Mexico increase in the very near future, it will be impossible for Mission Mexico to award 75 bursaries. At the moment, only God knows what will happen. But please, if you can assist in helping these young people achieve their goal, please consider a donation for Mission Mexico. Thank you.

Maria receives a MMEX bursary; her parents died; when I last visited Maria,
her grandmother prepared me breakfast on this, her "kitchen stove."

If you enter Facebook and go to MissionMexicoRC, you can see videos of a couple of bursary recipients and see photos of the reality of the mountains of Mexico. God bless.

Seven of these children walk three kilometers to school and three kilometers
back home each day. They appreciate the sucker from MMEX.

Mission Mexico and Human Flourishing

The Bible is about human flourishing…I suggest that while “human flourishing” is certainly not the only metaphor to describe the message of the Bible, it is a way of describing God’s work that needs to be restored to a place of stature and that provides insights into the whole message of the Bible.

-       Jonathan T. Pennington, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary (2017)

Peter McWhir visited from Calgary and quickly became a member of the family here in Pozolapa

I can’t get this thought out of my head. The Bible is about human flourishing. Mission Mexico is about human flourishing. The Bible vision is in process. The Mission Mexico vision is in process. The Bible speaks to who we are as people and who we can and should become. Mission Mexico tries to offer people in the mountains of Mexico an opportunity to become whom they wish to become and people in the Diocese of Calgary an opportunity to become whom they wish to become.

These students, seen here with Brother Cepillo (Salvador), are learning to play guitar
at the Champagnat High School of the Mountain

Here in the mountains of Mexico, the task of human flourishing is a most challenging one. The realities of village life (little paid work, low salaries if there is work, low prices for local crops, difficult access to educational opportunities, little access to health care, high costs of transportation, discrimination against the indigenous peoples, etc.) make the simple task of survival a difficult one for many. But the Bible’s message is one of hope, and Mission Mexico does what it can to nourish that hope.

This youth group from the Cathedral in Tlapa works for human flourishing for all

Mission Mexico supports a number of “projects” year round, such as the Champagnat High School of the Mountain, or the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center of the Mountain, or the La Estacion Day Care Center, or the Xalpitzahuac Health Project, or the dozens of scholarships assisting students in different universities. Thousands of people benefit regularly from this solidarity. But every week seems to offer different opportunities to serve the people in this quest for human flourishing.

Father Ruben Torres is a priest and anthropologist and works tirelessly for human flourishing

For example, the hope is that in this month of May (and if not, surely in June) the rainy season will begin. The soil here in the mountains is not very rich, and for years the government has offered fertilizers to the impoverished peasant farmers. But there has always been a lot of corruption and mismanagement with this program. A new federal government that took power in Mexico in December of 2018 is trying to assure that the fertilizer reaches the needy farmers, but many of the farmers are not aware of the changes in the “rules of the game,” and they often lack the documentation necessary to prove just how much fertilizer they need or proof that they really do have a piece of land that they wish to plant. So I have been driving all over the mountains recently trying to “help out” in as many cases as I can.

With the rainy season starting soon, there will be days that I won't be able to get to where i want to go

It’s the same thing with education at this time of year. Most schools and universities begin offering registration and/or “entrance exams” in May or June for the new school year that will begin in August. Graduating high school students are especially challenged because the university or teachers college or technical school where they hope to study is often located in a city to which the student has never traveled. So I have tried to be as “helpful” as I can in many of these cases. If anything, it will be education, I daresay, that most nourishes the hope of “human flourishing” in the impoverished indigenous villages.

Marist Brother Wicho (Jose Luis) is the director of the Champagnat High School
of the Mountain, where the message of "human flourishing for all" is exemplified

And there are the “usual” daily crises that impact the lives of so many families: unexpected illnesses; unexpected deaths; unexpected emergencies. For example, in recent weeks I have taken a thirteen-year-old girl three times to a psychologist for therapy after a violent sexual assault by several men. The girl was so traumatized that she couldn’t even speak for a week after the incident; she just sat on the dirt floor of her house crying. The sessions with a gentle female psychologist who speaks her language is helping the girl immensely.

Preparing corn (pozole) for visitors to a village festival; the local religious leader,
Tomás, is blessing the corn

And sometimes there are “occurrences” that work out favorably for this “human flourishing.” A few weeks ago, a hardware store went out of business, and Mission Mexico was able to buy at cost price a large supply of materials for “Alex’s Welding Shop” at the Champagnat High School of the Mountain. “Alex´s Welding Shop” offers training to students in welding, plumbing, and electricity, and is named after Alex Graf, a young man from Medicine Hat who died in a traffic accident in 2014; his family and friends sent a donation to begin this project, and they continue to support each year.

Marist Brother Checo (Sergio) is in charge of Alex's Welding Shop

All of these attempts to assist the poor in their situations of need are possible because of the generosity of people in the Diocese of Calgary who support Mission Mexico. I mentioned in the first paragraph that I see Mission Mexico as an opportunity for people in the Diocese of Calgary to become whom they wish to become. I am thinking of the desire of people to be good human beings, to share with those in need, to witness to the message of Jesus that we are all sisters and brothers. For parents, I would hope that it is an opportunity to educate their children that we can journey together in this struggle for human flourishing. I thank all of you for your solidarity with this cause. God bless.

The chapel at the local Diocesan Seminary of Tlapa has three flags flying in front: Mexico, the Vatican,
and Canada. Why Canada? Because of the incredible solidarity for the Mountain from people
in the Diocese of Calgary, Alberta, Canada

To See Christ in Everything and In Everyone

What if Christ is a name for the transcendent within of every “thing” in the universe? What if Christ is a name for the immense spaciousness of all true Love?... As G. K. Chesterton once wrote, Your religion is not the church you belong to, but the cosmos you live inside of….A mature Christian sees Christ in everything and everyone else….We see him so we can see like him, and with the same infinite compassion.

- Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ: How A Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, And Believe (2019)

Maria Agustina, one of my most "Christ-like" friends here in the mountains of Mexico

I first walked in the mountains of Mexico forty years ago, in 1979. I was a young, naive high school teacher from Canada, unconsciously blind to so many factors that allow the world to function as it does. I daresay that I now see life, creation, religion, politics, economics, God differently. I am grateful for this learning experience…and I recognize that I will depart from this world still not knowing all of the answers. But the noble indigenous peoples of the mountains have shared the richness of their spirituality and their relationship to life—and I pray that I be a worthy friend with them on their journey to truth, goodness, and beauty.

Yadira and her mom, Estela, are grateful and content with Yadira's new wheelchair

Saint Oscar Romero, the archbishop murdered in El Salvador in 1980, once stated that “there are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried.” Bishops meeting at the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s began their document Gaudium et Spes with these words: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men [sic] of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.”

Don Lencho recently lost his house in a fire—but the struggle to rebuild is underway

I have been blessed to have been allowed during almost four decades to be physically present with many poor and afflicted, and to be allowed to share in their joys and hopes, their griefs and anxieties. Father Richard Rohr, the Franciscan priest quoted at the beginning of this blog, writes in that same book, The Universal Christ, that “only presence can know presence. And our real presence can know Real Presence.” Besides being stupid, I would have to be blind to not  discern (weakly, I admit, and with many failings) Christ in the people and in the cosmos that surround me here in the mountains of Mexico.

Ester and Mario welcomed me to their kindergarten in Naranjo with flowers; there were perhaps 4 or 5 pairs
of sandals worn by the 38 kindergarten students and the 80 elementary school students—but smiles abounded

All of this is humbling. And especially humbling is the thought of all of the good people in the Diocese of Calgary who support Mission Mexico in so many different ways. I have the blessing of presence, of seeing smiles, of receiving hugs, of observing hope being nourished…and all because of the generosity of donors in the Diocese of Calgary who trust that the loonies and toonies and dollar bills given in Canada are being used to make a real difference in the lives of the poor indigenous peoples here. Sometimes when I think of this sharing between “north” and “south,” I think of a quote by Denis Goulet, one of the main founders of “development ethics”: Yes, there is a link between meaningless lives on one continent and meaningless deaths on another. I pray that this solidarity with impoverished peoples in another part of the world helps to give meaning to the lives of the people and families in the Diocese of Calgary.

Saturnina, Monica, and Priscila were walking to the next village
on this day; Priscila had left her baby boy with her mother 

Thank you to all those who who support Mission Mexico. Be assured of the gratitude and the prayers of the beneficiaries of your solidarity and generosity. May God bless you on your own journey to Real Life.

Some students at the Champagnat High School of the Mountain share a birthday cake
with the school principal, Brother Wicho