JUST WORD
I. Jesus Is Condemned To Death.
Father Stan Rother was condemned to death in absentia.
His crime was helping the poor, looking for the disappeared, feeding the widows and "orphaned" children of Santiago Atitlan. The widows were widows to violence. Most of the violence came from the government of Guatemala. Men were condemned to death in absentia because they worked in cooperatives, taught religion, went to meetings, and translated the bible, worked in their fields. The Guatemalan government was supported by the U.S. government.
II. Jesus Bears His Cross.
There are thousands of crosses to be born in the mountains of Guatemala.
There is the cross of walking miles to work in your fields, of walking a mile to get water, of knowing medicine exists to cure your child but you cannot afford it, of knowing education exists for your children but you need your children to work in the field, of seeing plenty on television but knowing it is beyond your grasp.
III. Jesus Falls The First Time.
There are many ways to fall and to fail if you live in a place with limited resources.
The government is far away and seems irresponsive. You may work hard but you may never really have any security. You may try your best but somehow you sense the economics, the health system, the police, or the educational system really does not work for you and your family. You try to be hopeful but it is difficult.
IV. Jesus Meets His Mother.
You meet your mother in every woman you see.
You realize she has sacrificed, worked hard, given everything for you and others. You know her hopes are modest. Health, food, a decent life for her family. She realizes life is hard; forces beyond her seek to take her children from her. She has seen what happens to children who leave the home and village; how they adopt other ways, forget their language and customs, become dedicated to money and acquisition of things. You know your mother suffers as she sees her culture, way of life, values disintegrate. She would like to turn the clock back before the televisions, phones, pickup trucks, drugs, and discos came to her village and neighborhood.
V. Jesus is helped by Simon.
Simon was a passerby, Simon was pressed into service, and Simon was attracted to the crowd, to the person in need, to the outcast, to the condemned.
Why does one become a missionary? Why does one try to learn two other languages, another culture, another religion, another way of life, another way of being family, another way of being church? What does one gain by helping a stranger, by being pressed into service in a different language, culture, political system, church system, in what amounts in the end to a different world? That is the question. It is a good question. I am not sure how to begin to answer it.
VI. Veronica Wipes The Face Of Jesus.
What does Veronia do by wiping his face? She responds to his need. She recognizes his suffering; she accompanies him in his struggle. He is still condemned, he is still suffering.
Veronica does not change the outcome. She does change his face a little. She does change herself a lot. She defies convention, the law, she touches open wounds and becomes impure, and she cannot go near the temple now. She is not only a woman; she is also a woman who needs "purification". She risks ridicule, being condemned, her reputation, and her life. She has chosen to walk with the disadvantaged, to be identified with their pain, their condemnation, their ostracization. She asks us to ask ourselves.
"Where are we?" "Do we care?" "Can we help?"
VII. Jesus Falls A Second Time.
Living in a strange place among strange people, being a stranger helps one understand how it feels to be a stranger.
One never looks at immigrants in quite the same way. One learns what one does when one falls down, when one fails. One either stays down or gets up again. My father was an immigrant. Visiting his home, visiting other countries did not teach me what it was to be an immigrant. Being an immigrant did. I had difficulties with the language. I fell often. I learned to laugh and to get back up again. I think my father taught me that.
VIII. Jesus Speaks To The Women.
Jesus has gotten in trouble for speaking to the women before.
Now he has nothing to lose. The women are sad, they are weeping. Jesus asks them to take a lesson for themselves for their families, not to be concerned about him. The lessons of our military and economic power are learned the hard way by our neighbors. The U.S. navy bombed Guatemala City in 1954. The Bay of Pigs invaders trained in Guatemala about 100 miles from where I lived. The U.S. has taught many people many things. We have perhaps missed the most important lessons ourselves.
IX. Jesus Falls A Third Time.
One never gets used to falling or failing.
One perhaps sees the fall coming or learns to get up faster or learns to cushion the fall more effectively. Living in a foreign country is all about falling. Being a priest has everything to do with knowing failure. Being a missionary is knowing failure and falling in new, different, unimaginable ways. What do you tell a mother whose husband, son and uncle were killed in a truck accident? What do you say to a family that will not allow their child to have medical treatment? What do you do when you know your country provides the weapons, ammunition and support for an army that massacres its citizens?
X. Jesus Is Stripped Of His Garments.
Jesus taught his disciples about the dignity of others.
Jesus was taught by his Mother, the Samaritan woman, the Samaritan traveler about the dignity of others. Jesus must not only be executed by the military; he must be die naked. Living in a foreign country, being a stranger is to be stripped of all security, of all that is familiar, of all that is comforting and consoling. It would be a comfort if your home country were famous for protecting human rights, working for the dignity of all, fiercely protecting the freedom of others. We do not understand why others hate us, distrust us, and wish to strip us of our security and dignity. There are reasons for the hatred. They are complex, confusing but very identifiable.
XI. Jesus Is Nailed To The Cross.
We are nailed to crosses and we nail others to crosses. My cross may be of my own making. "Pre-emptive strikes", "regime changes", "axis of evil" are not new to the U.S. We have changed regimes, struck pre-emptively, decided who was in the axis of evil in Guatemala among other places in this world. Our memories of war and pain, death and destruction are short. We do not want to remember Hiroshima or Nagasaki, mining the harbors of Nicaragua, ousting Noriega, invading Mexico, spending our blood and treasure in Vietnam. Our military force can be as cruel and efficient and uncaring as that of the roman soldiers who executed Jesus.
XII. Jesus Dies On The Cross.
People's lives do depend on us.
People die because of us. This is a hard truth. This is a responsibility I would like to forget, to never visit, to not be reminded of. I can make a difference, can be helpful, can contribute to the quality of the life of others. Jesus died for many reasons and for many causes. His death has meaning if it gives us life, gives our lives purpose, helps us to help others. Jesus could not have died in vain, could he? The proof Jesus did not die in vain is not in our rhetoric or words but in how we live, how we let others live, how we give life to others.
XIII. Jesus Is Taken From The Cross.
Jesus suffering did end; Jesus was taken from the cross.
The cross is empty so it can become our cross. The cross is not for Jesus, the cross is for us. We are for the cross when our sufferings, fallings and failings, nailings are given over to the Father for others. We share in the cross of Jesus; we can share in the sufferings of others. This is a question of faith, of internalizing what we experience, of internalizing what we are taught. We can learn courage, dignity, sacrifice in the suffering of others and in our own suffering.
XIV. Jesus Is Laid In The Tomb.
It is over for Jesus apparently.
I once had a funeral mass for eleven people. The oldest was fifty five. The youngest was eleven. They were killed at what was to have been a peaceful protest at the local army base. They were, I am fairly certain, killed by American ammunition, fired from American weapons, by people trained in part by the U.S. military. I thought it was over for our town. I thought we could never be free. I was wrong. Just as it was not over for Jesus after he was put in the tomb, so it was not over for our town. In fact, the army left our town within a few weeks. This was an outcome I could not have dreamed happening.
XV. The Resurrection.
The official Stations stop at fourteen.
The revised Stations conclude with the resurrection. Resurrection is not automatic, not easy, not the same as resuscitation. Resurrection is transformation, new life, and new beginnings. Resurrection is what suffering, the cross, going to the tomb are all about. Resurrection is why we get up when we fall down, why we do more than fail, why suffering and death and time in the tomb have meaning. Resurrection is what makes going to the tomb worth the trip.
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