Vamos Tod@s

Vamos todos al banquete,
a la mesa de la creación,
cada cual con su taburete,
tiene un puesto y una misión.

Standing in front of three crosses
With words written from
A simple homily once spoken
By Monsenor Romero
About a man from the campo
Who became a priest
And saw the suffering of the poor
Calling forth for justice
His name was Padre Rutillo Grande

Padre Rutillo came to Auguilares
Preaching the Gospel with his life
Teaching campesinos how to read
How to think from themselves
Speak
Finding the Word of God
In their suffering
Realizing the will of God was never to be
In misery
Never to be hungry
But to work for the Kingdom
To fight for justice and truth

The Reign of God
Where everyone can come
To the banquet
At the table of creation
With their own stool or seat
Knowing that we of course
Share this mission of life

Hoy me levanto muy temprano,
ya me espera la comunidad,
voy subiendo alegre la cuesta,
voy en busca de tu amistad.

I stood their reflecting
On the lives of the old man
And young boy
Who were killed with Padre Rutillo Grande
Contemplating the reality
They probably woke up early that morning
As they did each day
With their community
To work in fields tending corn and sugar cane
Finding the joys in the way of life
And walking in friendship
With Padre Rutillo down the road that night

Vamos todos al banquete,
a la mesa de la creación,
cada cual con su taburete,
tiene un puesto y una misión.

And here I am
Before the tombas
Of these three
Martyrs
Who laid down their lives
In love of their country
Love of their Savior
Suffered persecution
Oppression
From a military
Funded and trained by my own nation

I kneel here
With my soul deeply rooted
And my heart bleeding
Realizing the weight of my US
Privilege and responsibility
In the midst of this time of accompaniment

Listening to the stories
Of Oti
Share about her father
And how he once knew Padre Rutillo
How we came all this way
Just to sit and be present in the presence
Of his body
And how that meant so much

Contemplating the reality
Padre Rutillo was Monsenor Romero’s
Mejor amigo
And how Salvador changed
With the call of unica misa
To reflect upon the lives of these three martyrs
Who may have died
On March 12, 1977
But are resurrected
In the memory an commemoration
With every Eucharistic celebration

For we are all called to this eternal banquet
At this table of creation
Bringing our own seat and stool if need be
To be together breaking bread
In unity
Welcoming all of humanity
Especially those who condemn me
For we are called to be
Family
Una familia humana
Vamos tod@s
4.15.14

Memorial of Padre Rutillo, Nelson, and Manuel


Tomba de Padre Rutillo Grande


Tombas en La Ingelsia Paisnal

Masacre en El Mozote

The Massacre of El Mozote took place on 12-13 December of 1981. This massacre included the killing of men, women, and children. One of the only survivors was Rufina Amaya, whose testimony has been preserved by various historians. Her witness provides the accounts and details as to how people were executed including her own husband and children by the Salvadoran Army-with US training.

The account of the US is very different than the personal witness of Rufina Amaya and the stance of the Salvadoran Army; however, the reality remains that this massacre did in fact happen and the lives of over 900 people were lost in this single event. Mark Danner has written, “This massacre is perhaps the greatest of Modern Latin American history.”

For further reading consider
The Massacre at El Mozote by Mark Danner
The Promised Land by Scott Wright

With all of that being said, I would like to share with you my reflections on traveling to the site of the massacre at El Mozote.

This past November I had the opportunity to participate in a Protest and Demonstration to Close the School of the Americas (SOA) in Fort Benning, GA. SOA is now called WHINSEC. For more information on this this institution and how it is used as a means of US foreign policy as well as connected to human rights violations please see the link below:

My intention of going there was a long discerned decision from academic study and a spiritual calling in my heart. Part of my preparation in coming to El Salvador was in connection with attending this specific event. From the history of El Salvador and Guatemala that I had studied throughout my first two years at Regis, I knew that being present at the gates in Fort Benning was an important action to be in solidarity with the Salvadoran people I would be accompanying. Therefore, my intention was to hold in my heart and mind all the Salvadoran people I would encounter and grow in love with.

Committed to nonviolence and speaking out against social injustice, myself and a group from Regis University, dedicated our time to participating in this annual demonstration.

When I went to the site of the Massacre of El Mozote, I was reminded of a specific reflection from this experience. At the protest there was a road that led up to the main stage with booths on various social justice issues. In the middle of the street at one point were clothes laid out with different ages on top. This was intentionally created to remember the people who were massacred at El Mozote. There was an invitation to anyone who would like to reflect on these lives to put on a piece of clothing and lay in memory of that person. Two of my friends participated and later shared their experience. When I was standing in front of the memorial, reading the names of families massacred in El Mozote I thought of my friend Liam’s words. He said, “The most powerful thing for me was laying there and watching people walk past you. I kept thinking if I were really dead the world would just keep going, everything would just keep happening. That is why I think this is so important, because we are taking the time to stop and remember the lives that have been lost.”

My friend Liam’s words are very true and very much led me into my major reflection of the day. Often enough we do not take time to remember. We do not take time to grieve. The structure of our society allows for tragic events to be so impersonal that hearing about a Massacre like El Mozote can easily be overlooked because it happened years ago in a small Central American country. The reality is we are connected to this great tragedy and we cannot close our eyes to the fact the US was involved and we have responsibility. However, the structure of US culture constantly allows us to be distracted and removed from the reality of the poor and the actual accounts of their sufferings.

For instance, consider what you learned in your primary and high school education about US history. What do you remember? Perhaps some dates, significant events, brief overviews of wars or how the battles took place. But what do you remember of US Southwest history? What do you remember about the Trail of Tears? Or battles between Europeans and Native Americans? How do Native Americans live now? What do you know about the Chicano Latino Movement in the US?

Perhaps you are able to answer these questions, because of the gift of your education. But my major reflection was on this, the fact that I had to take a class on Chicana activists in Denver, CO in my third year of college to learn about a Mexican American woman from San Antonio, TX named Emma Tenayuca. If I did not take that class, I would still not know her story and she is from the very city I grew up in for eleven years of my life.

This in itself is a great injustice. The fact that our country is not telling the truth of our Latino history and with each generation more and more becomes lost and silenced. This is not only a problem within the US. Even here in El Salvador, the becarios who I live with only know Salvadoran history from participating in the Romero Program. For many of the Salvadoran students I went to Mozote with, it was their first time learning about this part of their history. And to see the deep impact of what this experience meant for each of them and listening to their reflection, reminded me of the countless times after my Chicana class my friends and I would be deeply moved by what we had just learned about.

This very dynamic demonstrated the power that the influence of assimilation and globalization is having on the world. The practices of the US are standards, which in many places are continuously trying to be emulated. Our indifference and mentality to sweep things under the rug, needs to be changed. Injustice, suffering, struggle are all real realities not only of our history but daily lives.

Therefore, from this we need to learn from the Salvadoran people, who at least have created memorials to remember. My Latino herman@s we need to listen to the stories of our abuelos and ask questions about where we come from. We need to seek the history that is slowly being lost by the forces of assimilation and sigue adelante con la lucha. Morning our sufferings and never forgetting, crying out presente because we carry this with us in the very blood of our veins. Nuestros raices son profundas! We must cry out for JUSTICA Y VERDAD!!!

Memorial at Mozote


Becaria- Ana Maria leading reflection


Becaria- Lucy sharing Salvadoran History