March 21

Welcome to Pimientillas!

                This past week we went to Pimientillas. I stayed with Beatrice, her two daughters Mayra and Diane; who each have two daughters, and Beatrice’s three younger sons William, 15, Olsen, 13, and Darwin, 11. The first night Peter and I went to wash our dishes and there’s always the polite insistence of “no honestly it’s the least we can do.” So this time Beatrice’s flat refusal was at first comical,

                “No you can’t” we kept on insisting, “no there’s literally no water in the house.” It was a combination of a broken pipe and then being on a water rotation. So normally going to get water from the well spicket of an unknown community in the night of a forest town might seem scary. When Peter and I did it together it became exciting and when we opened the church gate and several families came to fill water with us the second night it was community.

                My favorite house visits this week were to the single mothers. It turned out several of the mothers we visited had daughters much younger than me with daughters of their own. We laughed hard sharing in our youth. We wanted them to feel how much God loves His daughters. I couldn’t stop telling them what a blessing every child is in this world; encouraging them to embrace their new responsibility.

                In the house where I stayed while watching soap operas with William, 15, I asked him where his female friends live. He laughs and points in all directions “Todo el mundo” (everywhere). I laughed with him, but then honestly and mostly begging him I asked, “Well you want to wait a few years before starting a family, don’t you?” Laughing, yet still understanding William says “Sí hombre.” These words had significance because of the context of spending every morning and night hanging out with him and gaining his confidence.

                Jesus’ miracles were not a Katy Perry half time show of spectacular displays and gestures. Rather of a “continuous, silent transcending of the limits of human possibility.” (Romano Guordini. The Figure of Jesus Christ) Like being with someone who feels simply good and holy until the limits of human possibilities break and the Son of Man is quietly revealing a miracle. A water shortage turning into a community event. A kids program with five kids the first day to half the school pounding on the door the third. A Fathers’ Day event at the school where the Missioners of Christ were invited; whose songs of worship and dramas of God contrasted the kids drama’s referencing sex, drugs, alcohol and domestic abuse. A father of the delegado who in the moment didn’t have advice to give, but  in the clausura said to always move forward, not backwards trying to fix the past. Or the mother of the same church delegado to Pimientillas, who prays with her two grown sons every night and has prayed with her family for thirty five years; she testified to always have faith, because God is always good.

                This is how Jesus proved Himself to the Apostles and to me today. He proposes. I then imagine an idea of what that means, and then He silently surpasses my expectations. I don’t always understand that moment I’m living, but I can recognize that it is much more and more different than I could have imagined and that that Son of David is much more than a man. 

                The Centurian who had just crucified Jesus looks up at Him. Compelled by truth and despite what he just did, cried out, “Truly this was the Son of God.” (Mk 15:39)