Missionary Life: 2016

"When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, YOU DID IT TO ME.' Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand,

'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food,

I was thirsty and you gave me drink,

I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

I was naked and you clothed me,

I was sick and you visited me,

I was in prison and you came to me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren,

YOU DID IT TO ME.'"

Matthew 25:31-40

This mission trip to Mexico City was my fourth foreign mission trip with FOCUS and I can honestly say that it was the best mission trip experience I have had yet! It was very different from my experiences of being in a remote village and doing some type of construction or painting project for the people of that area. In fact, in Mexico City, you could almost say that we did nothing. We did not build a church or houses - we left no physical mark of our presence in Mexico City.

We made a much deeper impact than any physical work that we could have done or have paid to get done. We facilitated a culture of encounter. What does this mean? We created an environment in which we encountered Christ in the women and let them encounter Christ in us. I've always heard that Christ is present in the 'poorest of the poor.' This became a reality for me in Mexico City at the women's shelter we served at. A mission trip isn't really about doing something or building something. It is about loving the souls we encounter and let them love us - facilitating the culture of encounter. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it says, "God calls ALL MEN scattered and divided by sin into the UNITY of His family, the Church." This and the Scripture passage above describes my experience in Mexico City.

Our group consisted of 5 FOCUS missionaries and 17 college students from Baylor University, Benedictine College, James Madison University, Arizona State, Texas State, and Missouri State. We were graciously hosted by the Concepcionista Sisters (a religious order in Mexico City) and worked each day at an elderly women's shelter.

A rough schedule of a typical for us in Mexico City:

7:00am - Wake up

7:30am - Mass

8:00am - Breakfast

9:00am - Bus to women's shelter

9:30am - 2:00pm - Work at women's shelter

2:30pm - Bus to Concepcionistas

3:00pm - 4:30pm - Break/Siesta

5:00pm - Walk to Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

5:30pm - 7:00pm - Prayer in front of the Tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe

7:30pm - 8:30pm - Talk given by FOCUS missionaries

9:00pm - Dinner

10:00pm - Share Highs, Lows, and God moments

11:00pm - Bed time

Baylor Students - Jake, Alejandro, Cristina, Josh, Me, Ella, Andi

Benedictine Students - Kathryn, Anna, Me, Krista

Old Basilica on the left and new Basilica on the right

Street Tacos!

To see the Tilma, you had to ride on conveyer belts back and forth.

This prevented a pile up of people viewing it.

A cultural experience riding boats through the canals of Mexico City

Andi just said yes to Discipleship!

Who is Our Lady of Guadalupe and what is the Tilma?

Below is the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I intentionally did not shorten it because it is totally worth the time to read the whole thing, especially if you are not familiar with it. Enjoy!

The opening of the New World brought with it both fortune-seekers and religious preachers desiring to convert the native populations to the Christian faith. One of the converts was a poor Aztec indian named Juan Diego. On one of his trips to the chapel, Juan was walking through the Tepayac hill country in central Mexico. Near Tepayac Hill he encountered a beautiful woman surrounded by a ball of light as bright as the sun. Speaking in his native tongue, the beautiful lady identified herself:

"My dear little son, I love you. I desire you to know who I am. I am the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who gives life and maintains its existence. He created all things. He is in all places. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth. I desire a church in this place where your people may experience my compassion. All those who sincerely ask my help in their work and in their sorrows will know my Mother's Heart in this place. Here I will see their tears; I will console them and they will be at peace. So run now to Tenochtitlan and tell the Bishop all that you have seen and heard."

Juan, age 57, and who had never been to Tenochtitlan, nonetheless immediately responded to Mary's request. He went to the palace of the Bishop-elect Fray Juan de Zumarraga and requested to meet immediatly with the bishop. The bishop's servants, who were suspicious of the rural peasant, kept him waiting for hours. The bishop-elect told Juan that he would consider the request of the Lady and told him he could visit him again if he so desired. Juan was disappointed by the bishop's response and felt himself unworthy to persuade someone as important as a bishop. He returned to the hill where he had first met Mary and found her there waiting for him. Imploring her to send someone else, she responded:

"My little son, there are many I could send. But you are the one I have chosen."

She then told him to return the next day to the bishop and repeat the request. On Sunday, after again waiting for hours, Juan met with the bishop who, on re-hearing his story, asked him to ask the Lady to provide a sign as a proof of who she was. Juan dutifully returned to the hill and told Mary, who
was again waiting for him there, of the bishop's request. Mary responded:

"My little son, am I not your Mother? Do not fear. The Bishop shall have his sign. Come back to this place tomorrow. Only peace, my little son."

Unfortunately, Juan was not able to return to the hill the next day. His uncle had become mortally ill and Juan stayed with him to care for him. After two days, with his uncle near death, Juan left his side
to find a priest. Juan had to pass Tepayac Hill to get to the priest. As he was passing, he found Mary
waiting for him. She spoke:

"Do not be distressed, my littlest son. Am I not here with you who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Your uncle will not die at this time. There is no reason for you to engage a priest, for his health is restored at this moment. He is quite well. Go to the top of the hill and cut the flowers that are growing there. Bring them then to me."

While it was freezing on the hillside, Juan obeyed Mary's instructions and went to the top of the hill where he found a full bloom of Castilian roses. Removing his tilma, a poncho-like cape made of cactus fiber, he cut the roses and carried them back to Mary. She rearranged the roses and told him:

"My little son, this is the sign I am sending to the Bishop. Tell him that with this sign I request his greatest efforts to complete the church I desire in this place. Show these flowers to no one else but the Bishop. You are my trusted ambassador. This time the Bishop will believe all you tell him."

At the palace, Juan once again came before the bishop and several of his advisors. He told the bishop his story and opened the tilma letting the flowers fall out. But it wasn't the beautiful roses that caused the bishop and his advisors to fall to their knees; for there, on the tilma, was a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary precisely as Juan had described her. The next day, after showing the Tilma at the Cathedral, Juan took the bishop to the spot where he first met Mary. He then returned to his village where he met his uncle who was completely cured. His uncle told him he had met a young woman,
surrounded by a soft light, who told him that she had just sent his nephew to Tenochtitlan with a
picture of herself. She told his uncle:

"Call me and call my image Santa Maria de Guadalupe".

It's believed that the word Guadalupe was actually a Spanish mis-translation of the local Aztec dialect. The word that Mary probably used was Coatlallope which means "one who treads on snakes"! Within six years of this apparition, six million Aztecs had converted to Catholicism. The tilma shows Mary as the God-bearer - she is pregnant with her Divine Son. Since the time the tilma was first impressed with a picture of the Mother of God, it has been subject to a variety of environmental hazards including smoke from fires and candles, water from floods and torrential downpours and, in 1921, a bomb which was planted by anti-clerical forces on an altar under it. There was also a cast-iron cross next to the tilma and when the bomb exploded, the cross was twisted out of shape, the marble altar rail was heavily damaged and the tilma was...untouched! Indeed, no one was injured in the Church despite the damage that occurred to a large part of the altar structure.

In 1977, the tilma was examined using infrared photography and digital enhancement techniques. Unlike any painting, the tilma shows no sketching or any sign of outline drawn to permit an artist to produce a painting. Further, the very method used to create the image is still unknown. The image is
inexplicable in its longevity and method of production. It can be seen today in a large cathedral built to house up to ten thousand worshipers. It is, by far, the most popular religious pilgrimage site in the Western Hemisphere.

This excerpt was taken from Catholic.org