I will open up rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the broad valleys; I will turn the desert into a marshland and the dry ground into springs of water. I will plant in the desert the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive. I will set in the wasteland the cypress, together with the plane tree, and the pine, that all may see, and know, observe and understand that the hand of the Lord has done this. Is 41: 17-20.
Isaia describes the sacred nature of rivers, trees, and mountains, objects of encounter with the divine. All trees foster life but even more the tree of the cross planted on the barren hill of Golgotha to proclaim the liberation of all peoples. Nikos Katzantzakis described the tree of Easter glory upon descending Mount Athos and calling upon a tree to speak to him of God and the tree blossomed.
The lady coach of the intergraded soccer team at the chapel at the bottom of a ravine in our area asked me to bless the site of a young man’s suicide. The icy wind made the utterly barren house even colder. Tacked together with discarded material, it provided minimum shelter. The outside kitchen used a mounded mud cavity for a stove. When his wife and children abandoned him, the poor lad could no longer withstand the misery. But the garden was full of trees with hundreds of saplings in small cans that he would give away to neighbors and anyone else.
Shortly after a friend called to anoint El Paisa, a tall, strangely, gentle soul who attended our Sunday Mass attired in a worn poncho. I barely made it to his hut hanging onto a collapsing barbed wire fence. I found him lying on the floor beneath urine soaked coverings that emitted a barely tolerable stench awaiting the “pelona” (grim ripper.) In the darkness, I found it hard to find his head while pronouncing the prayers of consolation of the last rites. An ambulance arrived to take him to the hospital, but he refused. The next morning , he mercifully went to his reward. The poor have no burial but rather are thrown into the “pozo comun” the dump for human remains. We celebrated his life and resurrection at Mass the following Sunday. Years ago I attended El Negro who lived by our chapel at the site of the old municipal dump who similarly lied on the ground floor of his shack. The neighbors had graciously sent him food that they placed beside him, but the dogs were eating his food. I offered to take him to a rest home but he refused. He had lost an arm working at the dump which was fitted with a crude hook which he dug into the ground where he wanted to pass his final time with his dogs. Isaia promises, “Yes, in joy you shall depart, in peace you shall be brought back; mountains and hills shall break out in song before you, and all the trees of the countryside shall clap their hands. In place of the thornbush, the cypress will grow, instead of nettles, the myrtle. This shall be to the Lord’s renown, an everlasting imperishable sign.” 55:12-13 Easter offers the same tree of life to the poor.
Milestones and News: Charles Astrue died. Three years ago at our last gathering in San Francisco when only 98 and still walking without support, upon leaving with a twinkle in his eyes Charles told everyone upon leaving that he was going to take his wife Miriam out for an ice cream cone. Bright, friendly cheerful, with a love of Latino culture, he was a genuine gentleman full of kindness and compassion.
Cristobol Marquez celebrates his 100th birthday on April 1st, a truly honest remarkable person of great virtue, promoter of justice and community service in La Purissima, Gto.
An Easter fiesta for all of our children on the Sunday following Easter,(those who have families want to be with them on Easter day) the first time for a community event since the pandemic reshaped our lives. We will sing including sign with the words, dance including those in wheel chairs, eat, and rejoice in the splendor of April’s glory.
The finishing of a 9.30 meter retaining wall, 2.10 meters high, and a scaled width from .90m to .30m , to .20m formed in solid concrete ( a dump truck and a half of sand and gravel) mixed almost all by hand for a new residence for those of other capabilities. We have spread out by hand almost thirty dump truck loads of dirt to level off the property. With your help I purchased 2 mobile classrooms which we will convert according to the international code for the handicapped.
Another apartment at the house for men for a 22 year old with hydrocephalus and autism, severely retarded who is accompanied by his mother. They had to put the father with Alzheimer’s in a home. We are currently working on a shared bathroom with almost all of the plumbing installed.
We have a fifteen year old boy who has come to the therapy center for years that the adoptive mother wants to turn over to the state agency for social welfare which has no place for challenged youngsters. We are searching for a solution. But we run up against the limits of our own competence.
The non profit corporation Apoyando la Juventud is ready to begin functioning after years of planning. De Colores will provide the seed money to get them going providing scholarships for university study and community work projects
Also for some time, we have been trying to promote exo skeleton support systems to enable paralytics to walk. We might or might not be on track to develop a workable system that will be affordable for our people both in Mexi co and Peru. Technological developments should be graded on their ability to change the lives of the many, not only for the privileged.
In 1935, the French minister Laval approached Stalin with the intention of stopping the persecution of Catholics. Stalin famously answered, “how many divisions of tanks has the pope?” Stalin has departed and Putin reigns. We join Pope Francis in prayer, our only armament, with all people of good will to stop the war, humankind’s ancient slave maker.v
