Hello,
I arrived in Mindo a week ago, and things have been moving along as I get settled in again.
I’m in a quasi retreat mode, so each day is part on my own and in part with others. I hope to wrap up this phase by the end of this month. I’m just these days finishing getting myself set up in my room, and at the same time taking steps in the retreat. And in the meantime, I notice various ways God confirms me in my call to be here
“Now behold, I am with you, and I will keep you wherever you go. And I will bring you to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised to you.”
I take time for reflection, and today I was out for several hours in the morning visiting a favorite isolated place. Along the path is the signage for the Invisible Monastery, and the bridge in the picture you see here is the entranceway to it. I’ve never visited it, but it symbolizes my spiritual life and retreat time.
I’m staying at the same hostel/hotel I was staying at before here in Mindo, and the same family is managing the hotel. Isidro and Karina have a three-year-old Liam and an almost 1-yr-old Zoe. Yesterday, I joined with Kari in her cab for a an hour trip to visit a health checkup for Zoe, so I could look in the same town for a cheap table to use as a desk in my room. I did get the desk, but Zoe took a serious turn for the worse while in her appointment with the natural-remedy specialist, and they had no idea how to respond. Fortunately, the cab driver and his wife - who had also come along and were waiting for the end of the appointment to return as well - are almost family for Isidro and Kari. So, after about an hour there, Isidro came on his own, and we all went around the corner with Zoe to a small private hospital. Unfortunately, things didn’t get better, and the baby was having convulsions. An ambulance was supposedly called to bring Zoe to a larger hospital in Santo Domingo, about 1.5 hours away. I thought they should try to get an ambulance to Quito, where there is a children’s hospital, Baca Ortiz. Well, an hour passed, and there was a lot of going back and forth on the ambulance (a long story), and finally, after 3.5 hours and having to get the local ambulance manager on site, an ambulance came and took the family to Santo Domingo. Overnight, things hadn’t improved, so today later in the day, another ambulance was arranged to take her all the way to Quito, another 2hr-45min trip.
Yesterday was the feast of the Divino Niño, a popular devotion here in Ecuador, which was brought through Colombia by Italian missionaries. In any case, I asked the parish priest to offer the Mass last night for Zoe and her health.
Yesterday was also my sister’s birthday. She would have been 57 years old if she were still here. She suffered severe brain damage in her birth, and lived her life fully dependent and under constant care, especially from my mother. I’ve asked for her intercession, if God wills it.
Please keep Zoe and her family in your prayers, for health and recovery if God wills it, but above all the grace for everyone to have faith in God and find hope in this process that we don’t know how will turn out. It’s a painful and uncertain process that every one of us is called to walk in this life, but through the confusion and pain we can find deeper purpose and understanding of what we exist for, what this life is really about. May God grant each of us this grace in our turns, as we support each other in our own turns.
Put the Light back in Our Eyes
I think everyone has that person in their neighborhood that was really good in sports. The one that you think is someday going to go pro. This time back in Boston I caught up for the first time in years with one of my best friends from grammar school, Rob. He was also the best athlete we had in our town. He was the one that I thought would go pro someday.
One of the last times we were catching up, I told him that I was looking for a few used baseball gloves and a ball to bring to Ecuador. Baseball in Ecuador? It doesn't exist there, you might say. You would be right. But, there are some Venezuelans in the place I was going to be returning to. One of them, Samuel, is a barber who I went to a few times, and we found out we both love baseball. Life is very tough for Venezuelans. Imagine your father being a doctor who earns 10 dollars a month. Yes, a month. Imagine having a continuous corrupt dictatorship where your economy has completely fallen out from reality. And imagine migrating all across neighboring countries looking for a livelihood.
After chatting for a while with Samuel, a friend told me that he used to be so outgoing and friendly when he first arrived a year earlier, but now he kept to himself. The light had gone out from his eyes, she said. So, the last time back in Boston, I thought, I will try to get a few baseball gloves and a ball, so Samuel and the Venezuelans can at least play catch. That's what I was talking about with my friend Rob, when he said he happened to be going to a used sporting goods store that very day. Well, he ended up picking up a few gloves and balls, and I somehow got them to fit into my suitcase for my travel back to Ecuador.
The other day, after 6 months away, I walked by Samuel's shop for the first time and told him, "I have a gift for you." I opened a bag and took out two gloves and a ball (there's a lefty glove too, just in case), and Samuel and I both became like kids again. We went out into the street and played catch for 20 minutes (almost causing some damage in the process.) I had to stop before I pulled a 52-year-old muscle. He couldn't thank me enough, and said he was like a little kid at Christmas again, and couldn’t stop talking. He had ideas of getting a bat from a friend and getting out to a field to play. The gloves are out there and the Venezuelans get out to play catch every day.
When I watch YouTube videos, I like to watch some old Larry Bird plays. Larry Bird played for the Boston Celtics back in the eighties, and he was just the best. Because not only was he tall and tough, he was the best shooter, the best rebounder - and the best passer. He made everyone else around him better. He was once asked what motivated him to be thinking so much about giving up the basketball to that others could have it. He said, "If the other guys score, you start seeing a gleam in their eyes."
In John's Gospel, Jesus says he is the good shepherd who lays down his life. But that's for a very important reason: so that the sheep might have life and have it more abundantly. That's the motivation.
Jesus knows just the sweet spot that will bring us back to life again. And he's willing to pay the price and give up whatever it takes to get it.
It's what will make us free like a child again.
And put the light back in our eyes.
“Yet just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
And do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
Giving seed to the one who sows
and bread to the one who eats,
So shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
It shall not return to me empty,
but shall do what pleases me,
achieving the end for which I sent it.
Yes, in joy you shall go forth,
in peace you shall be brought home;
Mountains and hills shall break out in song before you,
all trees of the field shall clap their hands.
In place of the thornbush, the cypress shall grow,
instead of nettles, the myrtle.
This shall be to the LORD’s renown,
as an everlasting sign that shall not fail.”
In my retreat, I’m reviewing again my path, including where I was last year at this time, and gathering together again reflections on the path. Please keep me in prayer, and I will you as well.
I’ll write again when the time comes.
-Jerome