n some villages of Abruzzi, Italy, where I was born, up to not too long ago, when the rains would be late in coming and the people were afraid to be left without water, the women were obliged to climb to the shrines up in the mountains carrying large stones on their shoulders.
It was up to women, fragile but bearers of life, to save the people. And to commune with God they had to leave home, their men and children, and their animals, and go far. They had to climb toward the high places, adding to the fatigue of the journey the cruel burden of the stones gathered along bed-=streams. Because it is suffering that gives growth. And every new life – every gift and every conquest – is fruit of great pains, long journeys and bitter tears.
In this issue we will meet two such women who claim this identity and vocation as Christian women amidst their adopted people, suffering from the violent malice of men or from an unbelievable disaster wrought by nature itself.
- They had just celebrated Christmas. And then, only 24 hours later, the people of Southeast Asia found themselves facing Good Friday. Death and devastation came in the wake of an awesome earthquake and tsunami. Tens of thousands were killed; children were left orphans and parents childless, countless the wounded and bewildered; whole villages were washed away; many the homeless.
The world responded immediately. The Church, too, of course – holding out the hope of Jesus Christ and His Resurrection. Sr. Angela Bertelli, a Xaverian Missionary in Thailand, chose to be there, offering her solidarity and compassion to those in need of a motherly shoulder to cry on and find some hope and consolation.
- Two gunmen shot and killed US Catholic missionary Dorothy Stang at a tent settlement of landless peasants (the settlement is called Esperança, ‘Hope”), on Saturday, February 12 2005, in the Amazon rain forest, 320 miles from the town of Anapu, in northern Brazil’s state of Parà. Sr. Dorothy had spent three decades backing small farmers in land battles and faced frequent death threats.
Known as the angel of the Trans-Amazonian to supporters, she received nine shots, of which three fatal and symbolic. One bullet hit her brain, another her heart and the third her womb. The assassins wanted to eliminate the thinking, the feeling and the power of giving birth of this small, simple, humble and elderly woman. She was 74 years old. Her brain, her heart and her womb were a threat to the model of economic development implanted in the Amazon.
There is something mysterious about the journey which missionaries undertake to seek the gift of salvation for their adopted people. There is something incomprehensible in the way they carry heavy burdens on their shoulders to be worthy to communicate with God. But it
is also true that from their exodus, from this longing and suffering to go far and high, things have been born new and wonderful.
Theirs is not a revolutions wanted by this or that ideology. Their work and presence are an act of faith contained in the Gospel and founded on love. They are true followers of the Master who, apparently, did not change much in his won social world. He only chose twelve humble fishermen; taught them that what saves man is not the law, not human justice, wisdom or power, but love. It is this love which has led him to the Cross and has brought forth new creatures freed from sin, capable of forgiving, of serving the poor, the sick and the afflicted, capable of giving of themselves without end. And it is this which changes the world. Slowly, but irreversibly. Not through structures, but from within. A bishop would tell his missionaries: “Be gentle with people, because you announce not just any God, but a God who loves his people.”
There is something mysterious about the journey which missionaries undertake to seek the gift of salvation for their adopted people. There is something incomprehensible in the way they carry heavy burdens on their shoulders to be worthy to communicate with God. But it is also true that from their exodus, from this longing and suffering to go far and high, things have been born new and wonderful.
Following the footprints of the missionaries who hoisted their tents from one continent to the other, seeing them help alleviate suffering, serving life and giving hope to start life anew, children playing and newlyweds laughing, one understands that God has not forgotten his people. Misery and injustice, poverty and violence are all tragedy difficult to accept.
But we needn’t understand to care, nor find meaning in suffering to denounce injustice. Having the hurt ones in mind and finding ways to help them are what matters. Then, suffering has been fruitful. Salvation does come from the poor. Men and women, come from the East and the West, have met on the same public square and each one has brought to the other his/her small gift. Many hearts have been changed. The day now seems more beautiful. In the preface of the Mass for Martyrs we pray: “You choose the weak and make them strong in bearing witness to you, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.”
New Life, Hope, and Resurrection. No matter the Good Friday circumstances experienced by many a people – natural disasters, war and violence, the trials and sufferings of the poor and of life in general – the local church, and missionaries in a unique way, provide concrete help and offer loving witness to the compassion and to the sustaining hope we find in Jesus Christ and His Resurrection.
Not all can fathom this, and look around with wonder and astonishment. And it is for this that God chooses from the midst of the people prophets and commends them to speaks. Then everyone’s eyes are filled with wonder because the prophet has said: “The things of old have passed away; behold, new things have come to be. Can’t you see it…”
(From Xaverian Mission Newsletter)