Why I keep going back!
John Sloan
I have now been to Guatemala with the S.O.S. mission team three times, each time as a member of the Family Spirituality Activity. I have a deeper appreciation of my faith because of the in depth faith sharing presentations with the Maya people of Guatemala who attend our Family Spirituality classes.
In Family Spirituality, we meet with adults (anywhere from 20 to 100) during the week that S.O.S. is in Guatemala. We meet from about 8:30 am to about 4:00 pm. During two mission trips last year, I participated in the presentation of The Ten Commandments (our relationship with God and our fellow man) and The Papacy (our relationship with the Church and the unity of Faith we share in one church with one voice). It was during the July visit last year that a remarkable thing happened. Fourteen Maya couples expressed their desire to receive the Sacrament of Matrimony and requested that Fr. Tom Ponzini, who travels with each S.O.S. team, bestow the Sacrament of Marriage upon them when the S.O.S. mission team returned in March, 2004. This request was of great significance because the Maya way to enter into marriage is through the Maya tradition of forming a contract not through receiving the Sacrament of Marriage. This request revealed seeds of a deeper understanding of their faith taking root-perhaps the fruit of our sharing the faith during the consistent S.O.S. visits over the past six years.
Upon returning this March our Family Spirituality class focused on Marriage as a Sacrament,(the most intimate of our human relationships, one that mirrors Christ's unconditional love for His Church and us). On the last day of class, an outdoor Mass was held during which Fr. Tom Ponzini and Fr. Diego Agapito, their pastor, conferred the Sacrament of Matrimony on the fourteen couples who had been prepared during the year by their local catechists. The event became a community celebration with over 500 attending.
It was through preparing the teaching materials for the classes and through the sharing with the Maya, that I gained a clearer understanding of marriage. I learned that marriage is a covenant not just a contract. In a contract, individuals enter into an agreement for their common benefit. A contract can be broken when the individuals agree to disagree. A covenant is different. God made a covenant with Abraham, one that continues, never to be broken. Even when the Israelites disobeyed God, God did not abandon them. We may disobey God, but God never abandons us because a covenant never can be broken. What I learned in Guatemala is that sacramental marriage is a covenant not a contract. In a contract, the bride and groom would agree to be man and wife for better, for richer, for good health, in good times! In a covenant, the bride and groom agree to be man and wife for better OR WORSE, for richer OR POORER, in good health OR POOR HEALTH; in good times and BAD times; - they agree to be there for one another NO MATTER WHAT. I witnessed this in Guatemala: This last trip 14 couples who had established households together (their contract) received the Sacrament of Matrimony (their covenant). From what I saw, theses couples knew that it was for both better and worse, they knew it was probably more in poverty than wealth, and they knew that it was probably more in sickness than in health, they knew it was probably more in bad times than in good. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our young people could spend as much time planning to live for a lifetime in a covenant relationship as they do in planning for the ceremony that is just for one day? For me the Maya are a visible sign of what is important: commitment, fidelity and family.
Why do I keep going back? It is spiritually refreshing. In going back, I can truly get back to what is important - my relationship with God and all those created in His image. I continue to marvel at the insight the Maya have given me, an insight that allows me to see my faith more clearly, not cluttered with the distractions that have become a part of our daily lives here in Houston. I hope that my presence has touched the faith life of the Maya as much as theirs has touched mine. Will I go back? Yes, and I invite you to journey with me.