Today's Marists 2024 Volume 8, Issue 2

stereotypes and deepen mutual respect. By engaging in
open and respectful dialogue, individuals can learn about
the rich diversity within each tradition and recognize the
shared values that underpin their respective beliefs.
Moreover, interfaith dialogue serves as a catalyst for
building bridges of understanding and solidarity across
religious divides. In a world plagued by conflicts fueled
by religious extremism and sectarianism, fostering
dialogue and cooperation among Jews, Christians and
Muslims is crucial for promoting peace and reconciliation.
By acknowledging and embracing the commonalities
between our faiths, we can work together to address
pressing global issues, such as the contemporary surge
in antisemitism, poverty, inequality and environmental
degradation, from a shared ethical framework.
Additionally, interfaith dialogue offers an opportunity for
personal and spiritual growth, as individuals engage in
self-reflection and deepen their understanding of their
own faith in relation to others. By encountering different
perspectives and engaging in meaningful conversations
with people of diverse backgrounds, individuals can
broaden their horizons, cultivate empathy and develop
a more nuanced understanding of complex theological
and ethical questions. This process of introspection and
learning not only enriches one’s own spiritual journey but
also fosters a deeper sense of interconnectedness with the
broader human family.
Furthermore, interfaith dialogue plays a crucial role
in promoting social cohesion and fostering inclusive
communities. By coming together to address common
concerns and work towards shared goals, members of
different faith communities can build relationships based
on trust, cooperation and mutual respect. This sense of
solidarity serves as a powerful antidote to the forces of
division and polarization that threaten to tear societies
apart, offering a vision of unity in diversity that celebrates
the dignity and worth of every individual.
In the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, interfaith
dialogue takes on added significance as a means of
promoting reconciliation and understanding between
two peoples who share a deeply contested land. By
bringing together Jewish, Christian and Muslim voices in
constructive dialogue, individuals can contribute to the
ongoing efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace based
on mutual recognition and respect for the rights and
aspirations of all parties involved.
In conclusion, Jewish, Christian and Muslim dialogue is of
paramount importance in today’s world, where the forces
of division and hatred threaten to tear communities apart.
By fostering mutual understanding, promoting peace and
reconciliation and building inclusive communities based
on shared values, interfaith dialogue offers a powerful
antidote to the prejudices and misconceptions that too
often fuel conflict and violence. As we strive to build a
more just and harmonious world, let us embrace the
transformative power of dialogue to bridge divides, heal
wounds and create a brighter future for all.
One Hundred, continued from page 9
Palm Sunday procession in the village of Tepezintla
pay for eight, nine, ten hours of work in the sunshine or in the rain in
a mountainous and ungrateful land, that does not provide enough to
survive from one year to the next. They give it gratefully because “I said
a little Mass!”
On the last day of the mission I was sick and could hardly stand. The
church was packed with dozens of people waiting in the sacristy.
Gathering the sheets of paper took almost an hour – there were more
than a hundred of them! Thea prayers of the faithful seemed to last
forever. I struggled to make it, but the people looked at me with big sad
eyes, begging with their eyes, attentive to hear their names, the name
that Totatzin (God) was hearing too! Why? Well, if He does not listen to
them...? The little father’s voice carefully pronounced each name. I tried
to do it with care, with love, as if they were my own loved ones. I felt that
in some new, unexpected way they already were. ....
A few hours later the parish priest came to see me off. I gave him all the
money from the intentions: “This is for you, Father, it’s money from the
parish”.
“No, no!” he says, “It’s yours, you have earned it, you celebrated the
Masses.”
“Father, I can’t take this money.” I protest, “To spend it on what? My
candy bars, my soft drinks? This money is sacred. It’s worth months of
work. How can I take it with me? It must stay here, with you, with these
people. And thank you for helping me discover this sacred world of my
indigenous brothers and sisters that I have totally ignored for more than
thirty-five years.”
I took the bus back to my bourgeois life, my comforts, my comfort zone
as a “person of reason”, a white city folk. While I only spent a few days in
the Sierra Norte of the state of Puebla, I do not take with me a memory,
I take with me a wound. A wound that will accompany me until the last
day of my life. A wound that has not healed, or perhaps a scar that still
bleeds; that of the poverty of my brothers and sisters, the hunger and
desperation drowned with so much “win”, the homemade fermented
alcohol made in these mountains. The wound of not having been able
to do more. I try to remember that I am a priest, not a social worker
or a union leader, that my mission is my mission, and everyone has a
unique role to play. My role now is to help everyone discover God’s love,
their response, their vocation, their responsibility. If we want things to
change, we must pay the price.
And despite everything, despite the pain that accompanies me, I am
also accompanied by the words that I learned and said so many times in
Nawatl: “Totazin Tio Xihua miyac!” (God loves you very much!)
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