Today marks a new beginning. I now have joined the SHARE Interfaith Root Causes Pilgrimage. For the next week we will be traveling to various parts of Honduras to listen carefully and accompany people as they describe their lives and their hopes.
We are not hear to seek solutions. That would be arrogant on our part. We are here to be in solidarity with the people who are struggling to survive, to protect their community, their environment.
As with any new beginning, I find myself wanting to pull back, to withdraw, to wish for the familiar and the comfortable. But another part of me wants to explore, to discover new things, new ways of being, to be transformed.
I know the comfort-seeking part will gradually recede as I overcome the initial resistance. But it's strange how I can so yearn for the familiar and find a dozen reasons for not opening up to what is new.
I am glad we are not here to seek solutions. Even if we did find solutions they would not work because they did not come from the people themselves. As we accompany them, we will be of more value than if we tried to impose our views.
And so the adventure begins.
We are not hear to seek solutions. That would be arrogant on our part. We are here to be in solidarity with the people who are struggling to survive, to protect their community, their environment.
As with any new beginning, I find myself wanting to pull back, to withdraw, to wish for the familiar and the comfortable. But another part of me wants to explore, to discover new things, new ways of being, to be transformed.
I know the comfort-seeking part will gradually recede as I overcome the initial resistance. But it's strange how I can so yearn for the familiar and find a dozen reasons for not opening up to what is new.
I am glad we are not here to seek solutions. Even if we did find solutions they would not work because they did not come from the people themselves. As we accompany them, we will be of more value than if we tried to impose our views.
And so the adventure begins.
 Photo by Marc Coplan |  Father Ismael Moreno, SJ, affectionately known as Padre Melo, welcomes the delegation participants to Honduras. Photo by Marc Coplan |
RSS Feed