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Spiritual Journeys
A "South of the Border" Exposure
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by Jo Rod
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It was November 1989. This was the month that the Berlin Wall came down.
This was the month that several Catholic priests were assassinated in El
Salvador. This was the month that Bob and I and our daughter, Kathleen,
along with 36 other Bread for the World members, spent two weeks in
Cuernevaca, Mexico.
Every morning we studied the Bible together with emphasis placed on what
Jesus and the prophets preached about the injustices suffered by the poor.
We were invited into the homes of families with dirt floors, no water, no
electricity, located in the center of the town with walls around it so that
the poor could not be seen ….a "gated community". Poverty on this scale is
not known in our country.
We heard the personal stories of men and women who had suffered loss of
jobs, jailings and beatings for trying to start labor unions in factories
owned by U.S. companies. A mother from El Salvador spoke to us about the
tortures suffered by her and her daughter at the hands of the military
during civil war there. Her story was so powerful that we were unable to
speak for the rest of that day. On a Sunday morning we attended a Catholic
Mass in a building just half finished, with the sky overhead.
The priest preached mightily against the U.S. which was supporting the
military in Central America and accused our CIA of being partly responsible
for the murder of the priests the day before, which later proved to be true.
However, during the passing of the peace, the whole congregation came to all
of us with embraces and love.
That afternoon we fearfully attended an anti-U.S. rally in the city square
at the urging of our leaders. During the ravings of the speakers, an elderly
woman walked up to me (perhaps sensing my discomfort), spoke something in
Spanish, and then hugged me tightly and left. Truly I felt the forgiving
love of Jesus Christ from the poor of Mexico on that day.
Our time in Cuernevaca totally changed my way of thinking about why people
are poor and hungry all over the world. I continue my personal search into
what Christ would have me do as a citizen of the richest nation in the
history of the world. |
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