On July 1, 2020, the Governor General of Canada announced that Father Fred Monk, founder of Mission Mexico, was being awarded the Meritorious Service Medal (Civilian) for his labours on behalf of the indigenous, impoverished peoples in the mountains of the State of Guerrero, Mexico.
One of the reasons that Mission Mexico is able to provide assistance that truly transforms lives in the marginalized region of the Mountain of Guerrero is that we have incredible "partners" who accompany the people in their struggles for justice and life with dignity. One of those partners is the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center of the Mountain. When they heard that Father Fred Monk (founder of Mission Mexico) received the Meritorious Service Medal in Canada, the Tlachinollan team asked me to forward to him the following words of congratulations (I promise that the message is worth reading, to understand the world here and to understand the "quality" of our partners here):
Father Fred:
In the most difficult moments that Moses had to confront with the people of Israel,
he climbed the Mountain to strengthen his spirit and
to receive the tablets of the law of God.
One of the best teachings that Jesus left us
was the Sermon on the Mount:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, because the reign of heaven is theirs.”
A reign that has not arrived fully yet,
but that we continue building from the peripheries of the world.
Father Fred,
in your first visit to the Mountain of Guerrero,
you discovered the suffering faces of the children of the “people of the rain.”
You encountered simple, silent women
who live daily with a worldly suffering.
You were aghast at the subhuman conditions of their humble homes
where they eat and sleep on dirt floors.
You contemplated the furrows of hunger,
and you savoured the joy of eating corn with the common people.
You entered into the community-centered heart
of a sacred land.
Because the earth is a mother
who feeds her children
with the fruit of their labours.
On the crests of the mountain summits
the elderly wise women and men of these communities
read in the heavens the signs of the times.
They know if there will be abundance or if there will be drought
during the course of the year,
sickness or health among the families,
war or peace among the villages.
They pray that the sacred powers
calm their fury
so that the rain, the wind, and
the clouds be a divine blessing
that will cause the community’s corn fields to flourish.
The best gift from God
is to be a witness to this fellowship
that is practiced in the Mountain.
In the midst of the extreme poverty,
there lives a spirit of solidarity,
the fiesta that unifies families
around their patron saint
or around their mother,
the Virgin of Guadalupe.
The women and the men of the Mountain
understand life as a freely-given gift from God,
to whom they are to be always grateful.
For that reason, prayer
isn’t really prayer for them
if they don’t also present
an offering,
a candle,
and flowers.
With this simplicity and this mysticism,
the people of the Mountain
have evangelized us.
They have taught us how to really practice
the teachings of Jesus
in the midst of so many adversities,
both economic and technological.
Father Fred,
thank you for sharing your faith and your love
among the very least of the least
in this land forgotten by governments.
You continue being present among us here
through this life-giving project
that you so wisely baptized as
Mission Mexico.
You have allowed so many boys and girls
to be able to go on to higher education.
You have helped women and men in so many families
to receive training in different trades and professions.
Many people today, because of your assistance,
enjoy decent health.
They were able to have access
to lab tests, to medicines,
and on occasion, to be able
to bury a loved one with dignity.
We simply want to say to you,
as the team of Tlachinollan,
that you have been always with us in our labours
during our years of accompanying these peoples.
You have always been attentive to the neediest of the needy:
to battered and abused women,
to malnourished children,
to families in mourning
for the death of their father
in the fields of large agribusinesses.
Father Fred,
blessed is that moment when you, like Moses,
came to the Mountain;
and like Jesus, you have put into practice,
during your priestly ministry,
the gospel beatitudes.
You have been a prophet as well in your own land.
That is how we understand this recognition that you have received
from the Governor General of Canada,
the Meritorious Service Medal.
For those of us who know you,
We are filled with pride for you and we congratulate you.
Because we know that in your heart there resides
an infinite love for the sons and daughters
of this beloved plot of land:
the Mountain of Guerrero.
Receive our affection and our admiration.
Abel Barrera and the Tlachinollan team
July 1, 2020
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