The Return
Upon my arrival in the United States, I faced a range of feelings, from the initial discomfort of "What am I doing here?" to a gradual return to my normal way of life. One of the biggest ways in which I attempted to continue my ISSLP experience in El Salvador was by taking Professor Vania Smith-Oka's class on Cultural Difference and Social Change. This class helped me to both process the ISSLP experience and create this website as a living memory of the people whom I met and the stories which I heard.
I wrote the two essays here at the beginning and at the end of Professor Smith-Oka's class. Please peruse them to glimpse my struggles in readjustment in August, and the ways in which I have grown into that by the end of November.
If you are interested in pursuing the themes which I discussed here further, I invite you to read the following books.
Pathologies of Power by Paul Farmer discusses structural violence in healthcare with regards to the poor.
Memories in Mosaic by Maria Lopez-Vigil is a fascinating read on Oscar Romero's life which combines vignettes from people who knew him in order to tell his story.
We Drink from Our Own Wells by Father Gustavo Gutierrez, often regarded as the founder of liberation theology, discusses this spirituality in depth.
Lastly, I leave you with this prayer, written by Bishop Ken Untener and said at the funeral of Romero.
The Romero Prayer
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.
I wrote the two essays here at the beginning and at the end of Professor Smith-Oka's class. Please peruse them to glimpse my struggles in readjustment in August, and the ways in which I have grown into that by the end of November.
If you are interested in pursuing the themes which I discussed here further, I invite you to read the following books.
Pathologies of Power by Paul Farmer discusses structural violence in healthcare with regards to the poor.
Memories in Mosaic by Maria Lopez-Vigil is a fascinating read on Oscar Romero's life which combines vignettes from people who knew him in order to tell his story.
We Drink from Our Own Wells by Father Gustavo Gutierrez, often regarded as the founder of liberation theology, discusses this spirituality in depth.
Lastly, I leave you with this prayer, written by Bishop Ken Untener and said at the funeral of Romero.
The Romero Prayer
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.