Father Javier Hernandez' visit and homily

Padre Javier visited our parish from Guatemala this weekend.  We welcomed him and his two parishioners, Zulma and Libio, with the joy that comes from greeting friends.  Here is the homily that Fr. Javier shared with us:

Good evening! (Good morning!)  My name is Javier Hernandez.  I am happy to visit your parish.  I am a Claretian missionary, and my parish is San Antonio de Padua in Semaje Guatemala.  My parish has about ten thousand parishioners.  They are mostly Mayan Indian.  I myself am from Costa Rica.  I am blessed to be serving indigenous Mayans.  I am also blessed to be with you today.  I want to say thank you for your generosity, to tell you about my parish, and to share with you the good news of Jesus Christ.

Today’s gospel reading is from Mark. (Mark 10:17-30) The ideas of journey and of following Jesus are basic themes in the gospel of Mark.  Jesus' words in this reading were said as Jesus was "setting out on a journey." Most of Jesus' words were spoken as Jesus was traveling or about to travel.  Likewise, all of us are traveling on a journey in our lives on this earth.  Jesus came to earth in order to walk with us on our journey. Jesus offers true life to those who agree to walk with Him.  Not only life in our earthly sojourn, but eternal life.  

Today’s reading says that we cannot walk with Jesus merely by keeping the commands of the Old Testament.   The Old Testament commands are mostly negative:  Do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal. . .    Today Jesus says we must also act positively in order to be with Him, in order to be a true Christian.  That means, we must do good to others, not just avoid evil.

The rich young man was a good man because he did no evil.  But he was not a good disciple of Jesus because he did not act in a positive way to do good to others.  Jesus’ invited him to correct this – to sell his possessions, give them to the poor, and follow Him.  The rich young man’s face fell.  He went away sad, because  he had many possessions.

When Jesus speaks to the rich young man He speaks to each of us. Each of us is that "rich young man" in so many ways.  I grew up in middle class Costa Rica.  You live in a wealthy Chicago suburb.  We are all much richer materially than the Mayans in central Guatemala.

Jesus invites us to share our material wealth and all of our "resources" with the poor so we can be richer in a different way.  What he offers is life.  Life means the joy that comes from having friends and companions, the compadres we make when we use our resources to help one another.  These blessings are the only "riches" that matter.  

Even so, Jesus’ invitation is hard to accept, for many of us have financial difficulties or fear them, and we tend to look for security in material wealth.  The gospel reading shows that the situation was no different in Jesus’ time.  Jesus’ disciples were “astonished” at Jesus words, and asked, “Then, who can be saved?”  We ask the same question today.     

It is true that living a Christian life is not easy.  But Jesus promises that our material and self-sacrifices will be rewarded with the life that flows from the loving relationships that are created when we care for and give to those who need us.  And, by the way, the needy include all of us one way or another.  We are all are in need of loving and caring and forgiving.  Our universal church exists in order that we can share these riches with one another, all of which are facets of the love that originates in the sacred heart of Jesus Christ.  This is truly good news!

On the other hand, our secular culture offers a fake “truth.”  It is the temptation to see happiness as pleasure -- the pleasure of consuming and of using things.  This is an “ego” culture.  In it the human person is so often lost from view.  Jesus asks us to reject this temptation.  He asks us not to consume but to give, to give to the poor in order to help create a more just and fraternal society, in which just relationships are restored among peoples.  The good news is that our self-sacrifice will bring us the blessings and joy of friendship, which are worth more than all the pleasures material riches can provide.  

This gospel reading is very appropriate for my visit.  I come to thank your parish for helping bring life and health to our parish.  Life and health that comes from regular medical care, and basics, like water. 

Your parish and school helped us to almost complete a medical clinic in the mountains in our parish.  The clinic is being built in Semachaca, a center for 36 nearby villages.  The clinic enables us to give regular medical care for the first time to several thousand villagers.  Thank you for sharing with us, so that our people can live a better and healthier life.

You are also helping a community in our parish – Tierra y Libertad, or “Land and Liberty.”  This community left Guatemala during our civil war in the 80’s and returned five years ago to my parish.  They discovered that from April to June there is little water in the village.  Your parish is helping us solve that problem.  Thank you!

We have 83 villages in our parish and over 10,000 parishioners.  50 villages I must walk to.  I spend half the nights every month in travel to our villages.  I have brought two parishioners with me – Libio Cante and Zulma Chew.  Please stand up if you will.  Libio helps with programs to improve agriculture and protection of land.  Zulma works in health care.  She operates rural pharmacies and helps train medical personnel like midwives and providers of first aid.  Libio and Zulma also want to thank you for working with our parish.

I won’t take up any more of your time.  I invite you to continue the warm relationship we have started between our parishes.  Come visit us in Guatemala!  We enjoyed your visit last March. I understand another visit is planned for next March.  I promise that if you visit you will be inspired by working with the Mayan people, as I have been.

Jesus promises us true life if we follow His way, a way of charity and friendship.  To use words in Spanish, “La caridad de Christo nos une!”, which means, "the charity of Christ unites us!"  It is from within the spirit of this caritas of Jesus Christ that I address you today.

Thank you and God Bless you!