Third Tuesday of Advent
Today we encourage readers to prayerfully consider their identities, resources, and gifts as they discern how to diminish suffering in the world. Call To Action recognizes the complex ethical and political dynamics that emerge when Christians from the U.S. travel to the Global South for service work. We promote member voices from different perspectives, inviting conversation on these issues.
Reflection:
Thus says the LORD: a remnant will be left in your midst – the Anawim – the humble, lowly, poor, marginalized, and outcast.
Our parish has been traveling to Tijuana, Mexico for the past 15 years to help a few families per year with better living conditions. The trip isn’t just about poverty in Mexico, or even just about poverty. It’s about loving our neighbors as ourselves. We realize that we can’t solve poverty throughout the world or help everyone, but we can do something, and do it well. We can do small things with great love. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. When we do our work well and offer it to God, through the labor of our hands and minds, we build up God’s creation.
Yaritza lost her leg and now wears a prosthetic leg; she was challenged by needing to carry water from the outside faucet into the moldy and leaky house with uneven dirt floors. Bertha is a single mom of 4 children with a can-do spirit as evidenced by digging a septic tank herself and wiring her house for electricity; she had an outdoor kitchen under a plastic tarp and was struggling to find the money for her children to attend school. Griselda left home one day with her mom and four children to visit family in Sinaloa; when they returned, they found that others had removed the entire house – furniture, walls, windows, doors, plumbing, and so forth – so now they have no home. These are just a few of the families our parish has helped over the years.
Visiting one of the potential families to be selected for a new home. Source: BASICS Tijuana Ministry
Families like these are the modern day Anawim. They are vulnerable and may not be able to protect themselves; many of their homes don’t have locking doors. They are oppressed and others may try to take advantage of them. They have experienced poverty and have experienced the failure of our economic and legal systems. They depend on God and have a strong faith that God will provide.
And, as the Psalmist says, the Lord is close to and hears the cry of the poor, just, and brokenhearted. Thus, the Lord hears the cry of the Anawim like the repentant, tax collectors, and prostitutes of Jesus’s day. The question is, do we? Do we hear their cry? Do we see their faces? Do we recognize their dignity?
Whenever we need something, God sends someone else to give it to us. God heard the cry of those families in Tijuana and sent us to help so that we could give away our time, energy, and talent to build these families new homes with locking doors, to build friendships between families so there is a support network when we leave, and to build skills so that families can find employment through selling items at a local market. And when we first went, we thought we were the only ones who would be providing help. But they helped us just as much in return. They showed us what faith in God looks like, what generosity looks like, and what it’s like to be the face of Jesus in the world.
Working to build the Community Building at Albergue Las Memorias, Baja California’s only HIV/AIDS hospice. Source: author
While we help build the physical structure of a new house for a family, it is God who completes it. It is God who builds relationships within and between families. We just need to do our part to facilitate God’s will: to love one another, to do works of mercy for the least of this world, and to practice justice. We must recognize the dignity in each other – the housed and unhoused; first peoples and immigrants, both documented and undocumented; people of every background, race, ethnicity, creed, color, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic means, and marital status. It is not to say yes and do something else. It is not to be holier than thou. It is not to say something without fully understanding the word’s meaning and impact.
This Advent, as we joyfully wait for the coming reign of God and the incarnation of Jesus into a humble and lowly place, let us do the Father’s will by orienting our whole life – mind, spirit, and action– towards God. Let us practice the true criterion of Christian authenticity – the preferential option for the poor, marginalized, outcast, and excluded. In this way, we can be present, hear and see each other’s needs, and be sent by God so that all we do is for God’s glory. Or woe to us, the rebellious, polluted, and tyrannical city!
Prayer & ritual action:
Reflect on the Anawim: those around the world, around the country, around your community, and in your neighborhood. Imagine what it would be like to live on the margins and be overlooked or forgotten by society.
Reflect on the Anawim in your life: those you may encounter on the streets or in the news; possibly some in your professional life; and potentially others in your personal life, your family, and your home. Have any of them brought you joy? Fear? Sorrow? Let those and other feelings settle in. How would Jesus encounter each of the Anawim in your life?
In the upcoming Advent season and new year, what simple actions can you do by yourself, with a friend, and with the community to better connect with the Anawim in your life? How can you see the face of Christ in the Anawim in your life? How can you guarantee that others will see the face of Christ within you? Who will care for the Anawim if we don’t care for them directly, support those who care for them, and organize others to do the same?
House blessing at the end of a week of building a new home for a family. Source: author
R. Let my soul glory in the Lord
Lord God, you knit me together and formed me into a wonderfully made creation. R.
Lord God, you heard the cry of your people in Egypt and led them to freedom. R.
Lord God, you send prophets in every age to announce your will. R.
Lord Jesus, you ask us to follow your gratuitous, extravagant, and tradition transcending love. R.
Lord Jesus, you use your words and actions to break barriers and show us the “other” is our neighbor. R.
Lord Jesus, you give us an example of service by washing your disciple’s feet. R.
Lord Spirit, you anoint your children of every time and place to bring justice and good news to the Anawim. R.
Lord Spirit, you gather us into one body where we are all indispensable. R.
Lord Spirit, you are within us and give us gifts to give away to others. R.
God the Trinity, creator and shaper, carpenter and healer, guide and courage,
we ask that you look upon the multitudes of this world
who have too little to eat, too little shelter, and too little respect;
those who struggle each day to put food on the table, to be treated with dignity,
and to open the doors of welcome and opportunity.
We ask you to pour out your love on us all and to guide us;
open our eyes to see the Anawim’s plight, open our ears to hear you,
open our minds to imagine what can be, open our hearts to be filled with compassion,
and open our hands to build the kingdom.
And may our works unite with your will, so that all we do is for your glory.
In your holy name we pray. Amen.
Call to action:
Join us on a week-long trip to Tijuana to build homes, friendships, and community. We travel each summer around early to mid July from the Bay Area to Tijuana. Others join us from elsewhere along the way so please inquire on our website if you’d like to join regardless of your starting location. More information about the organization and what we do is shown below.
Typical night view of eastern Tijuana from where volunteers stay overnight during the week-long trip. Source: author
Organization website and overview:
http://www.tijuanaministry.org/
While engaging in community service, members of the Tijuana Ministry are invited into dialogue with community members to share our friendship, understanding, faith, hope and love to create long-lasting bonds with God's people on both sides of the US-Mexican border.
The Brothers And Sisters In Community Service (BASICS) Tijuana Ministry has four areas of focus: house building, children’s outreach program, mother’s outreach program, and social justice. Houses are built for families in desperate need and they are finished with painting inside and out, electricity, plumbing, and sewer. The mother’s program aims at building relationships and community among the women of Tijuana. Many families in the parish migrated from other parts of Mexico and South America looking for work. Many of the mothers don’t know each other and don’t have opportunities to socialize. The mother’s program was developed to help build a sense of community amongst the mothers. In addition to craft projects, the mother’s program also provides some lessons on health, nutrition, finance, relationships and catechism. The children’s outreach program centers on providing children in the area with safe, fun activities, as well as some educational content and catechism. The immersion experience allows travelers to interact with local residents and become aware of the issues of justice the poor of Tijuana face day to day. Tijuana Ministry provides an up-close opportunity to learn about local conditions and gain understanding of the difficulties faced by the local residents. We visit places such as the memorial at the US-Mexican Border; Casa del Migrante, a homeless shelter for migrants and recently deported men; and Albergue Las Memorias, the only HIV/AIDS hospice in Baja California. We also attend mass with the community and host discussions with local families.
A scene during the day at the children’s outreach program. Source: BASICS Tijuana Ministry
Note:
While it may not be feasible to take a week off of work in the summer to travel to Tijuana to help build houses and community across the border, there are other ways to help (*cough* donate *cough*) and even many other opportunities to care for the Anawim in your local area. Here are just a few ideas and suggestions:
Work with your local Catholic Worker organization and help them meet their needs and goals.
Build a house with Habitat for Humanity.
Volunteer at a local soup kitchen.
Advocate for the Anawim at your local government.
When encountering a person who is homeless, ask them their name.
