The Cry of the Earth, the Cry of the Poor

 

It is almost impossible here in the mountains of Mexico in mid-June of 2023 to not think of Pope Francis’ challenge in his encyclical letter “Laudato Si´” “to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” (49). Two months ago, in mid-April, I took the above photo in a ceremony on the top of a mountain praying to God for a good rainy season. Now, today, in mid-June, the temperature is 38 degrees Celsius, and the soil is still parched and dry. The rainy season has not yet arrived. The indigenous peasant farmers have not been able to begin planting their basic crops of beans and corn. It’s the kind of situation that the prophet Jeremiah might refer to as the groaning of creation and the groaning of the poor.

And Mission Mexico continues to respond as Jesus would to these cries. Sometimes the situations seem so dire that the temptation to give in to a sense of powerlessness and despair is very present. But at the same time, Mission Mexico has been making such a difference in people’s lives so often that the words of Jesus that “I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10) give a real sense of hope to the marginalized and forgotten of these mountain villages.

Mission Mexico does the best it can to respond to daily challenges and to transform the lives of individuals, families, and villages. The focus of our presence here is especially health and education. We support a number of projects in these two areas, and we partner with other groups and agencies who are dedicated to the same goals.

For example, Mission Mexico offers a number of bursaries for native students who want to study in order to make a difference in the lives of others. Esther, the young woman in the photo above, is from a village called Yerba Santa, and she speaks a language called Me´phaa. She lives with her mother and little sister, and, with support from Mission Mexico, she is studying to be a primary school teacher. She will surely make a difference in the lives of many students in the future.

Edgar, the young man in the wheelchair in this photo above, will graduate this year with a degree in Psychology. Mission Mexico supports his studies. He speaks a language (besides Spanish) called Tu’un savi. He was 22 years old when he fell down a cliff and broke his spinal cord. His goal is to work with people with physical disabilities. In Tlapa right now, a regional center is being built by Teleton to respond to the needs of children with disabilities. The national coordinators of this project wanted to dialogue with Edgar this day; they have 22 centers in the country, but this new one set to open in January of 2024 will be the first in the middle of an indigenous region. Edgar (and several other Mission Mexico contacts and friends) is helping them to respond to the needs of the indigenous peoples in the best possible ways.

So the days and months go by, and the needs seem endless, and new challenges arise every day. Mission Mexico tries to respond as best as possible to as many of these needs as we can. Having spent more than half of my life here in Mexico, I have been blessed to see so many good things happen with so many good people.

Thank you, people from the Diocese of Calgary, for supporting this project. We could always do more if we had the resources, but God knows that we try to do as best we can. Blessings for all.