Elias Lemus was born in Mexico about 30 years ago. The small town where he spent his early childhood had few people and even fewer resources. He remembers the stories his mother shared about when she was young and how the town at that time had no electricity nor running water.
In a young boy who he saw at a historical site called Iximche, our first stop on our day-long trip to the city of Huehuetenango, Elias caught a reflection of a different life for himself. He glimpsed a life in which he had never moved to the United States. One where he never studied art education. A life in which, instead of being a teacher at Omaha South High School and a parishioner of St. Leo parish, he was still living in a small, rural town in Mexico.
All the people we meet in our lives reflect back to us images and ideas, messages and signs, but this experience of encounter seems to be more heightened in the context of mission. Being in a new place, among a new people, immersed in a new culture, those reflections of God shine more brightly as we are more aware of new experiences. Our second day in Guatemala was filled with this newness.
The newness of the historical setting of Iximche had us step into a past that remains present to the people of Guatemala. Iximche is a mix of tourists—most domestic but some foreign—with school children on field trips and people on a faith-filled pilgrimage to honor their ancestors. Rather than look at the site through the eyes of the tourists, we attempted to view the site as those who came to Iximche to connect to the sacredness of the place. We removed our shoes, and we let the ground that had been trod by footsteps for hundreds of years reflect the richness of history back to us.
After a stop for lunch, we made our way through clouds and fog on rainy roads to the center of the Diocese of Huehuetenango—the city that gives the diocese its name. Our first activity there was mass with the Bishop of Huehuetenango, Cardinal Alvaro Ramazzini. On the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the cardinal encouraged us to let the true meaning of love, reflected by Jesus’s Sacred Heart, guide us on our mission. He prayed that this love, a love that seeks the good of the other rather than our own satisfaction, might be the guide for the encounters we will have and the work we will do in La Libertad.
Following mass, we shared dinner with our Guatemalan hosts and members of the Disciples of the Good Shepherd, a group of women religious who have worked with Ixim for many years. One of the young women in formation to become a consecrated sister spoke to us about how the Ixim missionaries she has met over the years have been a reflection of the face of Christ to her. She shared how our commitment to challenge ourselves to follow Christ to a new place has encouraged her commitment to follow her vocation to consecrated life and service to the people of Huehuetenango.
On Saturday, we will hear more stories about the people of Huehuetenango and learn more about the lives of the Disciples of the Good Shepherd to prepare ourselves for the work we will participate in during the coming week. If we listen closely and stay attentive, we are sure to catch more glimpses of God’s presence and His Word as we continue our encounter with our Guatemalan sisters and brothers.
