Returning to the sources of a missionary vocation that responds to historical urgency.

On June 17, 2023, Sr. Marielos, Sr. Verónica and Sr. Mara from the Province of North Latin America, were sent on mission to a town called San Raymundo de Peñafort, in Gautemala.

We thank Don Juan Manuel Larios, parish priest of the Parish of San Raymundo de Peñafort, for having allowed our missionary presence in his pastoral territory. We made ourselves available to him according to the most urgent needs, and his priority was the villages, in order to make the Kingdom of God present, in the midst of the poorest, forgotten, sick and remote.

We went through all the villages, doing as the first envoys… eating what they offered us, sleeping as best we could and walking along sidewalks and ravines without getting tired knowing that we were accompanied and preceded by God and by Santa Nazaria Ignacia.

Some pastoral agents went with us so as not to generate mistrust with the people. And with a deeply grateful heart to each of the families that opened their doors for us and allowed us to spend time with them, it really was as if God had prepared each meeting because they immediately opened their hearts to us, sharing their faith, their sorrows and their joys. We reminded each one that they are very loved by God and that despite so many difficulties he does not leave us and is with his people.

We had the opportunity to leave Santa Nazaria in each home visited. And as is normal for a missionary, our task was evangelizing, with children, adolescents, young people, adults and the elderly.

We try to have an ear and a heart very attentive to their shared stories, recognizing in each person a sacred temple of God, we can say that Jesus showed us his open sores, in the abandoned elderly, in the sick, in women who suffer abuse, in young people who do not have a strong reason for joy in living and in orphans.

This experience allowed us to return to love first, that which prompted us to get ready for the proclamation of the Gospel, where it is recognized that it is worth consecrating oneself for love of the Church and the proclamation of the Kingdom from the trenches of history, seeking the Greater Glory. of God. Where that restlessness of Jesus is born again: pray to the owner of the harvest, to send more workers to his harvest… because the harvest is abundant and the workers are few…

We are very grateful for what God is doing with the Congregation. On August 27, the Archbishop of Iowa, Don Thomas Zinkula, will preside over the thanksgiving Eucharist for the mission carried out in this parish and the image of Santa Nazaria will be enthroned in the parish of San Raymundo de Peñafort, where Santa Nazaria remains as a mother, teacher and friend so that she can continue to intercede for this town.

Her daughters have to continue walking with other missionary horizons, this time towards the diocese of Iowa in the USA, to respond to another historical urgency in the pastoral accompaniment of our Spanish-speaking migrant brothers.

Dear family of the Total Work, let us not forget that: “The harvest is abundant and the workers are few.”

  For Christ, the Church and the brothers, forward always forward.

H. Mara Mejía Chacón MCI