Greetings in the Peace of Christ! I write this with much peace and joy in how the Lord has blessed us lately here in Honduras.
This past weekend in Honduras, we had a Pan de Vida retreat which for those who arent familiar, is a 40+ hour weekend of Adoration of Jesus in His flesh and blood in the Eucharist with about 100 youth. It is jampacked full of talks, praise and worship, mass, and all things Catholic.....in actuality all things Christian.....for whether or not they believe in It, everyones soul desires the Eucharist, however at times we dont realize it through our own faults, or by the faults of those who may have taught us falsely under distortions of the faith or through traditions of other faiths...and this is precisely our mission here in Honduras, and throughout the world as Baptized Catholics....to spread the Good News to everyone, because we believe it is the truth and it is what will not only save us for eternity but will allow us to enjoy and find peace in this world for the short time we live in it.
This retreat does just that in its teaching and goal...to make Catholics aware of our role as missionaries for LIFE....and to focus all of our life in the Eucharist...believe it or not, as it may be the biggest distinction in Protestants and Catholics as well as the biggest arguement....it is the one part of our faith that will shine the truth of The Church......for even Martin Luther believed with his whole heart and soul in the Eucharist even during his breaking from the Church.....
In his words regarding people who decided to translate the Bible according to their church...
"Who, but the devil, hath granted such a license of interpreting the words of the Holy Scripture?
Who ever read in the Scriptures, that ¨my body¨ is the same as ¨the sign of my body¨? What language in the world ever spoke so? It is only then the devil, that imposeth upon us by these fanatical men....Not one of the Fathers, ever said...¨It is only break and wine¨ or ¨the body and blood of Christ is not fully present¨. Certainly in so many Fathers, and in so many writings, that the negative (Christ not fully present) would be found in at least ONE of them, had any of them thought The Body and Blood were not fully present. But they are all Unanimous."´
-Martin Luther (LUTHERS COLLECTED WORKS, Wittenburg Edition no. 7, page 391)
And we learned quickly while working here in Honduras that if our focus moves away for even a day from The Eucharist....the fruits begin to slip away...for it is The Eucharist that we focus ALL of our work and service towards, we are nothing in this battle here....and finding coverts to protestantism BECAUSE there arent enough priests for sufficient masses....is a sign to many that our work must reflect preperation for The Eucharist. Praise God for His gift to us and the ability we have to recieve every day if we want in the States...for if the people here had the oppurtunity ever day, they would change EVERYTHING in their schedules to attend mass or even Adore Him for an hour. This is the secret of poverty, the gift among what we see as injustice...the gift to rely on Him for everything....
Not only the retreat has been powerful since last weekend, this past 2 days I spent time in another part of Honduras, Siguatepeque with Maynor and his family. It is a beautiful place but the goal of the trip was to visit the seminary....and I must admit I am still in awe from what I experienced there....a seminary on the top of a mountain with crops of all sorts, animals of all sorts all maintained by the 20-28 year old seminarians....all completed by a giant waterfall at the top of the mountain.....I can understand why so many people might be turned off from seminary in the states...from the ones ive seen and heard about....they pale in comparison to what they should be.....for men to study 6-8 years of their life and Vocation.....I must admit, I feel a tugging on my heart....I need alot of prayers and much more time...but for the first time Jesus is teaching me to be open to His will in ANYTHING.....and I pray that we all together can learn how to live this way.....reckless abandon to His will, no matter what that means...changing our plans for our futures to serve Him how He wants, leaving jobs, careers, big houses, nice neighborhoods, friends, family, to be with Him in the specific ways He has for us.......I do ponder the idea much down here on how protestants can survive following the will of God as well as many of them do, for withouth Mass and the Eucharist everyday....I do not know what I would do.....that may be the one thing I am the most sure of in this moment, my incapability without His flesh and blood
Peace
Andrés
