By Brother Rafael Huerta Ramos, A.A.
Then, Jesus sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick and told them: “Take nothing for the journey…” (Lk 9, 2).
Assumption-style mission was one of my motivations for entering the congregation, it has always been a time to share who I am with others. During this Holy Week I was in Tepetlapa, a town in the municipality of Atenango del Río, Guerrero.
It is a small town that is mainly dedicated to agriculture. From this experience I rescue three teachings: share what we are, be simple and assume our reality with joy.
On the other hand, the town helped me to live a Holy Week in a simple way, but with a lot of meaning. I myself asked myself, what else can I teach a community that shares food, lives taking care of each other, that knows each other, respects each other, believes in God and collaborates with each other? That is the real living of the gospel.
Sometimes in the great temples we get very distracted in making extravagances and great decorations, but on the night of Holy Thursday, only a small table, plants and candles were enough to have an evening of intimate and authentic encounter with Christ.
The people assume their reality, there is no ambition, they do not want big houses or millions of pesos, they recognize their wealth in what God has given them in the countryside. Any other person in the city would say that this is a conformist or mediocre thought, but many times we are ambitious without knowing it, we aspire to great riches without recognizing our essence. The town of Tepetlapa taught me that we don’t need too much to be happy in life.
Finally, in this mission I learned what the gospel says, to go to proclaim the kingdom without any attachment, without dragging anything along the way. The only thing we need to share life is in the heart and in the mind.