Day 3 2 VI 24 Balanyá Guatemala

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It never fails to take my breath away.  Whether sharing a meal with the Dine at Good Shepherd Mission, Ft. Defiance, Arizona, celebrating Eucharist along the El Paso/Juarez border, or sharing the peace with the faithful at St. Andrews in Ramallah, the Holy One left me speechless once again.  We spent the majority of the day at Iglesia Santa Cruz in Balanyá.  Our Mayan siblings have a deep and resolute faith despite the challenges of climate change, hard labor in the fields, and often being forgotten by others. 


The region around Balanyá is the most important agricultural area in Guatemala.  The indigenous Mayan population largely work the fields. They are experiencing drought, and the crops desperately need rain.  Climate change is affecting their rainy season, which was supposed to start in May, but they have not seen any rain. For years, this congregation had worshiped in a parishioner’s house or the rented rectory, and St. David’s Church in Radnor provided funds to purchase land on the edge of town.  In 2014 and 2016, St. David’s parishioners worked with the congregation to build a beautiful church building.



I am humbled and reminded of how much work I must do to match the faith of those in Navajoland, immigrants, and Christians in Palestine and Balanya.   Their faith is not dependent on what goes right but rather is a constant deepening built not of sand but a foundation built on solid rock.  



At the beginning of the service, we said special prayers facing East, West, North, and South.  It reminded me of my Mesoamerican Indigenous great-grandmother saying the same prayer to each sacred direction.  Tears welled in my eyes as my soul was once again touched in the presence of a holy people.  We have much to learn, and we will continue the journey together.  I could only reflect that God knows them deeply, and they know God profoundly.  Thank you for blessing me with your presence. 


Cardinal Álvaro Leonel Ramazzini Roman Catholic Archbishop of Guatemala stopped by after services of Corpus Christi to greet us. 

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