Voices From The Desert Speak Of Longing

By FATHER FRANCISCO ESTRADA , Special To The Bulletin

Published: December 11, 2003

During Advent time, the word of God has a special prophetic meaning. We know that during the time of the prophets, the people were not faithful to the covenants that they had made with God and the problems they faced were the consequences of their infidelity. The words of the prophets illuminated their reality and reminded them that they would find the answers to their problems when they renewed their relationships with God.

Let us listen to these prophets. Let us allow them to speak to us, to our Church. And let us reflect on their message.

When we open the first page of the word of God on the first Sunday of Advent, we realize that we are being invited to spend this special time looking toward the future. Jeremiah describes the future as a time full of hope. “The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah... In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure” (Jer 33:14).

At that time, Israel was losing confidence in God and finding it hard to wait in hope for the fulfillment of the promises made to them. The consequence was that they began to be afraid that it was not a blessing to be the people of God.

I came to Atlanta about two years ago because God called me as He called Abraham, to leave my homeland and work here in Georgia.

I have met many people since I arrived from Mexico, especially other Mexicans, and they have told me about how they came to be here. Their stories have shown me how different our situations are.

I came here by plane with papers. Actually I flew from El Paso, Texas, to San Bernadino, Calif., first, to visit my sister. The plane flew over the Arizona desert, and I could see how beautiful it is.

The majority of people who come here from Mexico cross that desert too, but they do not remember it as a beautiful place. They remember walking across it at night, exposed to the heat and the animals, without water. The reality is that many people die in that beautiful, wild place.

I am free to go wherever I want to go since I came here, without being afraid of the police, because I have a driver’s license and papers. Many other Hispanics here are afraid of the police because they can be sent back to their countries, or they can even go to prison if they are stopped and do not have immigration papers.

Since the immigration phenomena reached our diocese, things are no longer the same. In a few years, the number of people in our parishes has increased very quickly, which has been a great blessing. At the same time this situation has generated different reactions—and we need to say it, some negative reactions. We are like Israel, in danger of losing our identity as God’s people, our identity as Church, as people united by Christ. We are confused because of the population growth and uncertain about the future.

If we allow uncertainty and confusion to grow in us, the fruit will be fear.

The Conferences of the Bishops of the United States and Mexico gave us a historic, joint pastoral statement: “Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope.” The title “Together on the Journey of Hope” is such a great, strong statement. Its words define our reality, our beautiful reality, so well. We will encounter many challenges and many difficulties on our journey. When we face them together with hope, our Church is embellished by the many different cultures we come from, and hope leads us.

The prophet Baruch invites us: “Up Jerusalem! Stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One rejoicing that they are remembered by God.”

How great is the Church’s heart, that it has the capacity to see those who were far away gathered by the word of God. Our bishops allowed the words of the pope to speak for them, “In the Church, no one is a stranger and the Church is not a stranger to anyone or any place. And so then, the Church has to embrace every person whatever race, culture, language, and country or nation he comes from with joy, charity and hopefulness. Come receiving with special care those who are in situations of poverty, discrimination, marginalization or exclusion.” This is truly a blessing of God. We can say without a doubt that the Holy Spirit is upon our Church.

On the second Sunday of Advent, Luke tells us, “The word of God was spoken to John son of Zachariah in the desert.” I like this expression, “the word of God was spoken in the desert.” The desert has a very special meaning in the history of salvation. I think for us, even if we are far away from it, the desert has a very special meaning for our diocese. How many of our brothers or sisters passed through it, looking for a better life? How many have died in it?

John the Baptist was a very humble man, a poor man. He ate whatever bugs and plants he could find in the desert. Those who have crossed the desert know what it is like to be hungry enough to catch and eat grasshoppers. They have described experiences to me that are so dramatic that I would never have imagined a person could live through them.

As my English has improved, I have been able to understand that many Americans also have lived through times when they were lost and desperate and afraid that their hearts and minds and spirits would dry up and blow away.

I think that this is what our bishops are referring to when they say, “The Church in our two countries has to face the challenge to see through the foreigner present among us the face of Christ crucified and risen.”

This means that we Hispanics have to recognize our own prejudices, realize we are being challenged to look into the faces of all the other people we see every day, and recognize that others too know what it is like to suffer, to work hard for a better life for themselves and their families.

Mary is the greatest example of how we can live spiritually and actively in Advent. After the Son of God was incarnated in her, after having had the deepest relationship with God any human being has ever had, she set out “proceeding in haste into the hill country to a town of Judah.” We can find here what the spiritual masters of the Church call contemplation and action in the Christian life. The encounter between Mary and Elizabeth is a great image of how with the presence of the Holy Spirit, we can recognize the presence of God in others, we can see in the presence of others many blessings and finally how we can rejoice in the presence of Christ who is coming through our brothers and sisters.

“The season of Advent has a twofold character. It is a time of preparation for Christmas when the first coming of God’s son to men is recalled. It is also a season when minds are directed by this memorial to Christ’s second coming at the end of time. It is thus a time of joyful and spiritual expectation” (from “General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar”).

Advent is also a time of penance, and penance brings conversion. That is why we need to ask as a Church: What implications does Advent have in our own situations? How can we be transformed as a diocese?

During Advent, as we travel together on this journey of life, we pray “Maranathá” (Come Lord Jesus).

Let us ask the Holy Spirit for the grace to listen to the many voices through which God speaks to us every day, but especially in this time of Advent.

“The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come,” (Rev 22:17).

Father Francisco Estrada is a parochial vicar at St. Michael Church in Gainesville. He moved to Atlanta from Mexico in 2001.