Mercy for all... except the piñatas. We hate the piñatas.

Happy birthday to our Maria Juanita (MJ).   She turns five today!  No Mexican birthday is complete without a mermaid piñata.

MJ and Erika (daughter of another missionary family) and the piñata.

MJ with new fabric for a flowy skirt.

A new cute pet plant!

Sparkly canopy for a princess bunk-bed.  (Sorry boys it is going in your room.)

Now a story of seeing God answering a prayer.

Early this past week I was in the pews of the parish during a Spanish prayer meeting being run by some of the other missionaries.  I found myself praying and asking God what can I offer?  What can I give Him and to His people?   I felt God say, look up Mark 8:6.   "He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd."   (From the feeding of the multitudes.)

I don't need to have much to offer.  I just have to give the little I can and let God do the rest.

Okay God that was pretty direct.   Can you do it again?   Matthew 13:8 came to mind, so I looked it up too.   "But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold." (From the parable of the sower.)   God is the one that blesses our work.  In fact it isn't even our work, it is God's.   We are just His instruments.   We are called to be faithful, not successful.   Success and the fruit is determined by God, not us.

Hedionda is about a 30 minute drive from General Cepeda.

On Wednesday we went to La Hedionda. (And yes, for those that know Spanish, it does mean "the stink.")  Hedionda was an ejido that we visited during some of the short-term trips and we feel in love with the people and the faith.   It did not take much for the chapel to fill when there were prayer services.   And in the Mexico, it is rare to see men in chapels or at church.   It tends to be women and children.   But here, men of all ages, teenagers through grandfathers show up!

The people of Hedionda praying over a missionary about to share a testimony.

Hedionda is actually two locations, an ejido, known as Hedionda Chica, and a private hacienda (farm) known as Hedionda Grande.   Of course Chica is the bigger or the two.   Go figure.   And yes that does mean that their names would be translated "little stink" and "big stink."  Both have chapels.   We had been going to the chapel at the ejido, and driving people from the hacienda to join us.  The people of hacienda had invited us to their chapel too.   So we decided to mix it up.

The point to the left is Hedionda Chica, the ejido, and Hedionda Grande, the hacienda, is the point labelled "unnamed road."

In preparing for the prayer service Wednesday evening, I felt the nudge to preach on the Gospel reading for the day, Matthew 18:15-20.

Jesus said to his disciples:
"If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen,
take one or two others along with you,
so that every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church.
If he refuses to listen even to the Church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
Amen, I say to you,
whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them."

When praying on the passage what struck me was the line, "treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector."   It has always sounded to me that Jesus is saying, if it reaches this point, wash your hands of them.   Forget about them and write them off.   But wait, this is Matthew's Gospel.   Matthew was a tax collector.   And how did Jesus treat him?   He pursued Matthew.   He broke bread with Matthew and sat at table with him.   In fact Jesus caused a little bit of a scandal to the point that others started questioning the disciples when Jesus called Matthew to follow him. "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners, " (Matthew 9:11).   And Jesus responds, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' I did not come to call the righteous but sinners," Matthew 9:12-13).   Jesus' mercy and ministry knows no bounds.   He seeks out the lost and broken, offering mercy to all.   As Christians, we are all called to do the same and to follow Jesus' example.   This isn't just a suggestion, but it is something that we profess and pray.  "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."

In fact Matthew 18:15-20 is sandwiched smack between two parables of God's mercy.   Before, in Matthew 18:10-14, is the parable of lost sheep and the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to find the one.   Then in Matthew 18:21-35 is the parable of the unforgiving servant, where a servant is forgiven a huge debt due to his master, but is unwilling to forgive another servant who owes him only a little.

We are called to show mercy!   God desires to show mercy to even those who seem the most lost and most corrupt.   Tax collectors were considered scum and traitors to the people of Israel.   And yet who does Jesus seek out?   Who in our families, our communities, our churches, work places, etc. have we written off?   Of whom have we washed our hands?   Who are the people that we see in our towns, walking on the streets, that we just assume never see again and cast judgment?   I don't know if I can let Christ's love and His sacrifice on the Cross be in vain.  We are all called to be missionaries!   We are called to bring God's mercy to all!

I then felt led to lead those in gathered in prayer.   To pray for the grace to show God's mercy, for a out pouring of the Holy Spirit.   For those who have never experienced God's love, that they would have that encounter.   And for those who have, that they would discover God's love for them anew.   The whole church was on its knees.  Praise you Jesus!   We then prayed the Lord's Prayer, with hands reached across the aisles and gave the sign of peace to everyone else present.

Afterwards, we learned from some of the gentlemen just how much the Lord was working and the appropriateness of the theme for the evening.  For the past several years their have tensions and injuries between the two Hediondas over land and water.  The people of the hacienda have been pressured and hurt by the people of the ejido for not selling their land and water.   Their property has been in the family for the past four or five generations.   Their children have been bullied in school and they have been cast out.   There is need for mercy and forgiveness on both sides.   The fact that people from both chapels came, that all were all their knees in prayer, that hands were grasped during the Our Father, just makes everything so much more incredible.   Thank you Holy Spirit for working!

On Thursday, we had Fr. Humberto, the pastor of the parish, over for breakfast with our community.   During the discussion, we asked permission to make the Hediondas our ranchos that we will visit weekly.   We told him that we wanted to alternate between the two chapels week to week and that we have been impressed by the faith of the people.   He said yes!   God is so good!   He takes the little we have to offer and makes something beautiful!

Maria takes her piñata-ing very seriously.   No mercy for the mermaid.